In the USA, surveys on ethnicity may ask, for example, whether you are American Indian, Asian, Black or African descent, Pacific Islander, White, Hispanic, etc. It is, naturally, very American-centric.
In the UK, a similar survey may ask whether you are white, Caribbean, African, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladesh, Chinese, Arab, etc., evidently matching the ethnic mix over there.
In India, one might be asked whether someone belongs to Upper Castes, Other Backward Castes, Scheduled Castes, Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, etc., quite uniquely Indian.
In Germany, it might be German, Turk, Pole, Russian, etc., reflecting the immigration situation over there.
In Spain, it might be Basque, Galician, Castilian, and Catalan, reflecting the cultural history of the country.
I thought the United Nations may provide an answer. But no luck so far. They have a lot of studies on how different countries understand and deal with the ethnic question. But so far I have not found a categorisation that can be applied across the world.
Amazing! It seems we are very far from understanding the situation across the world.
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