Ethnicity and social exclusion in Colombia in 2012–2017

This study aims to provide an approach to concepts and ways of measuring ethnicity and social exclusion that can be generalized to any context and time and, thus, make it possible to establish a statistically significant relation between these two categories. The methodology involves fuzzy sets and ordinary least squares regression, using data obtained from the Colombian National Quality of Life Survey for 2012–2017. At the 95% confidence level, it is concluded that when ethnicity increases by 1 percentage point, the degree of social exclusion in the country rises by 7 points. Other characteristics, such as having a darker skin tone, self-identifying with an ethnic group, being an immigrant and living in rural areas, produce similar effects.