[5][6] The infant mortality in French Guiana is higher than in metropolitan France:[7] At birth, life expectancy is 76.2 years for male children, and 82.8 for female (figures for 2011).
Estimates of the percentages of French Guiana ethnic composition vary, a situation compounded by the large proportion of immigrants.
Creoles, or Mulattoes (people of mixed African and French ancestry), are the largest ethnic group, though estimates vary as to the exact percentage, depending upon whether the large Haitian community is included as well.
The vast majority of these are of French heritage, though there are also people of Dutch, British, Spanish and Portuguese ancestry.
The main Asian communities are the Chinese (about 3-4%, primarily from Zhejiang province in mainland China and Hong Kong) and Hmong[9] from Laos (1-2%).
The main groups living in the interior are the Maroons (formerly called "Bush Negroes") who are from African descent, and Amerindians.
Smaller groups included people with nationality of Guyana (1.7%), Colombia (1.0%), China (0.5%), the Dominican Republic (0.4%) and Peru (0.2%).