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Mestizo is a term of Spanish origin describing peoples of mixed race background. In Hispanic America, the term originally referred to the children of one European and one American Indian parent. Later the term became common for all people of mixed European and indigenous ancestry in the Spanish American colonies.
Mestizos officially make up the majority of the population of Chile (90%), Colombia (58%), Ecuador (65%), El Salvador (94%), Honduras (90%), Mexico (60%), Nicaragua (69%), Panama (70%), Paraguay (95%) and Venezuela (67%). For other Latin American countries where mestizos don't constitute a majority, they nonetheless represent a significant portion of the population, with the possible exception of Cuba and the Dominican Republic.(N.B.: In Honduras, and to some degree Panama, the mestizo population has absorbed the presence of Africans who were taken there as slaves during the colonial era.)
Many Americans of Hispanic and Latino origin identify themselves as mestizos as well, particularly those who also identify as Chicano.
In the Philippines, the term refers to people of mixed Malay and Chinese or Spanish descent. However, colloquially, the term "mestizo" (sometimes mestiso; mestiza for females) refers to a person of mixed ancestry (not just Spanish or Chinese) and who has a light skin color.