The authors determined the frequency of genes and haplotypes of the HLA system in 965 panamanian men and women not related to each other, between 6 and 65 years of age. The HLA-A locus genes with the highest frequency (f) were A2, with f 0.1763; A24, f 0.1584; A30, f 0.1340; A23, f 0.1069; A3, f 0.0774. The other 20 genes each had less than 0.07. The genes with the highest frequency for locus HLA-B were B35, f 0.1946; B44, f 0.0904; B7, f 0.0774; B60 and B61, f 0.0582. For locus HLA-C, the most frequent genes were Cw3 with f 0.1549 and Cw4, f 0.1444. For locus HLA-DR, the most frequent genes were DR2 with f 0.1283; DR3, f 0.0620; DR7, f 0.0409. The most frequent haplotypes in the panamanian population were A2-B35 with f 0.0382; A3-B35, f 0.0191; A24-35, f 0.0287; A24-B61, f 0.0239; A29-B44, f 0.0287; A30-B42, f 0.0239; A23-B44, f 0.0191; A1-B8, f 0.0143. The authors conclude that the panamanian population exhibits a high degree of polymorphism for loci HLA-A, B and C, while for locu HLA-DR the frequency is the median when compared with that in caucasian, negro and oriental groups; and that, according to locus, predominant genes originating from these groups and found, corroborating the multiracial origen of the panamanian population.