Abstract

In the history of national censuses in Brazil, the first of which took place in 1872, the Indigenous population was included in various ways, usually subsumed under the parda [mixed-race] category or variants. It was only after the 1991 census that the category “Indigenous” has been systematically accounted for. In recent times, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) has continuously collected data on the Indigenous population in four censuses, namely: 1991, 2000, 2010, and 2022. It is a relatively short historical series, but of enormous significance and implication in terms of demographic visibility for this population. These developments align with changes introduced after the 1988 Brazilian Federal Constitution, which recognized Indigenous peoples' social organization, customs, languages, and traditions. Making Indigenous peoples visible in public statistics is thus part of this national historical and sociopolitical process, which is also associated with the increased focus on Indigenous populations internationally and in Latin America, with an effort by statistical institutes to promote methodological changes in the censuses, seeking to portray ethnic-racial diversity. As for detailed ethnic and sociocultural characteristics, it was only after the 2010 census that data such as specific ethnic belonging and Indigenous languages spoken in households began to be collected. In the 2022 census, the topics investigated were expanded, with the creation of a specific questionnaire on Indigenous communities. When approaching the results of the 2022 census about the Indigenous population in Brazil, with its number of over 1.5 million, it is essential to consider the populations totals recorded in previous censuses for a comparative perspective: 294,148 in 1991; 734,127 in 2000; and 896,917 in 2010. In 2022, the Indigenous population is almost six times larger than in the 1990s, and almost double compared to 2010. If in 2010 the Indigenous population constituted 0.4% of the national population, it grew to 0.8% in 2022. Nevertheless, Brazil remains one of the countries in the Americas with the lowest proportion of its population made up of Indigenous people. These census variations cannot be interpreted as deriving solely from interrelations between demographic factors, such as birth and mortality, nor due to migration. Demographic changes in the Indigenous population are certainly closely linked to methodological issues, both in terms of survey coverage and capillarity at a territorial level, as well as the content of the questions and the greater number of people recognizing themselves as Indigenous. Much effort has been made in the production of statistics on Indigenous peoples in Brazil over recent decades, but there is one aspect in particular where the advances have been few: there are practically no Indigenous demographers in the country. At a moment when the theme of the sovereignty of statistical and demographic data is gaining strength in international debates on the Indigenous issue, it is essential that progress is made in Brazil in terms of expanding Indigenous participation at all the different levels involved in the production, systemization, analysis and divulgation of demographic data.