Due to the influence of European colonization and the propagation of Africans or "darker people" as being of the lowest caste, having African ancestry is often not desired in the Dominican Republic, which can also be said of many other parts of the Latin America and even the United States, where African American men often prefer "lightskinned" mixed Mulatto looking women, as well as Africa and the Caribbean, where blacks often bleach their skin. Approximately 80% of Dominicans have some degree of both African and European admixture, however, few people self-identify as being black. In Dominican Republic, racial categories differ significantly from that in North America. In the United States, the one-drop rule applies in such that if a person has any degree of African blood in them they are considered black. Which is seen as inaccurate from people in the Dominican Republic and many other Latin American countries, as Mulattos have just as much European ancestry as African. In Latin America there is more flexibility in how people racially categorize themselves. In the Dominican Republic a person who has some degree of black ancestry can identify as non-black if appearance wise they can pass of as being another racial category or is racially ambiguous.