Dutch Caribbean people originated to North America from one of six Dutch Caribbean islands, which include Sint Eustatius, Saba, Bonaire, Sint Maarten, Curacao, or Aruba. Currently, there are two main divisions in the Dutch Caribbean: (1) those islands that have the status of being constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, (2) those islands that have the status of being special municipalities of the Netherlands alone, as distinct from the Kingdom in its entirety.

Most of the population is descended from Dutch and to a lesser extent of Indians, Africans, Spanish, Portuguese, English, French, and Sephardic Jewish ancestors. They speak Dutch along with several different creole language which incorporates words from Portuguese, West African languages, Dutch, and Spanish. English is known by many. They also may be conversant in Portuguese, Chinese, German, Spanish, or French.

A large majority claim Roman Catholicism as their religion, which is often in name only.