Central America and the Caribbean has an area of 2,716,997 square kilometers (1,048,932 sq mi) and a combined population of 194,452,034 people. The region consists of 21 independent states - Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and the island states of the Lesser Antilles – as well as fourteen non-sovereign territories. For at least 15,000 years before European colonization began in the late 15th century, Central America and the Caribbean was inhabited by indigenous people who belonged to one or more of roughly 30 language groups. However, shortly after European colonization indigenous people rapidly declined as a result of disease, government policies, destruction of traditional lifeways, and other actions. Today, the indigenous people of Central America and the Caribbean comprise approximately 8% (17 million) of the total population. Like their indigenous brothers and sisters, they face a number of common struggles: sovereignty, the right to self-determination, preservation of language and heritage, rights to land and natural resources, impacts from climate change and environmental damage, and recognition within local, federal, and international governments and laws.