The article analyzes the multicultural competence of an individual based on his ethnic socialization. The authors note that multicultural competence determines the life orientation of an individual, the ability to orientate in various spheres of life, and determines the quality of personal relationships in a multicultural society and also presupposes the formation of a personality capable of high-quality, effective life activity in a multicultural society, motivated to understand, differentiate and take into account the differences of ethnic groups. In the course of the empirical research, the ethnic composition of the respondents’ families, self-identification of students with ethnic groups, the attitude of respondents to their ethnic groups / affiliations, the type of ethnic identity, its dominant components and multicultural competence of the individual were investigated. The study revealed significant differences in the parameters of ethnic identity and multicultural competence of mono-ethnic, bi-ethnic, zero, marginal groups, and their specificity and features were described.