80-85% of Haitians are of African descent, and the remaining
20-15% of the population are mostly of mixed-race background. A
small percentage of the non-black population consists primarily
of White Haitians; mostly of Western European (French, German,
Polish, Portuguese and Spanish), and Arab, Armenian,or Jewish
origin. Haitians of east Asian descent or East Indian origin
number approximately 400. One of Haiti's two official languages
is French, which is the principal written and administratively
authorised language. It is spoken by all educated Haitians, is
spoken in schools, and is used in the business sector. It is
also used in ceremonious events such as weddings, graduations
and church masses. The second is the recently standardised
Haitian Creole, which is spoken by virtually the entire
population of Haiti. Haitian Creole is one of the French-based
creole languages, it is strongly related to French and Spanish,
with influence from west African languages, Taíno and almost
every European language. Haitian