JUDITH MORRISON Race and Ethnicity by the Numbers
BRAZIL SHOWS THE WAY AND
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
Despite challenges, several countries in the region have made advances in data collec- tion. Brazil, with over two decades of solid experience collecting statistics on race and ethnicity, is leading Latin America in data
collection and analysis of race and ethnicity statistics.
With the largest Afro-descendant population in Latin
America, and the second largest in the world, race and ethnicity data are taken seriously in Brazil. They are well-collected, analyzed and effectively disseminated. The 2010
census shows that 97 million Brazilians, or 50. 7 percent of
the population, define themselves as black or mixed race.
Civil society has taken on racial identification in the
census as an important element for policy change in the
country and has emphasized the importance of classification and self-identification since the 1990s. During the
1991 census in Brazil, the slogan “Não deixe sua cor passar
em branco: Responda com bom C/senso” (“Don’t let your
color pass as white: respond with good sense”) was promoted by civil society groups to urge Brazilians to accurately report their race in the census by checking the color
that most reflected their skin tone and racial identity. 6
This emphasis on quality self-identification has led
to the creation of policy tools that have been successfully tested in recent national policy initiatives. The
conditional cash transfer program Bolsa Família (Family
Allowance) has done an excellent job of targeting Afro-descendants and the Indigenous poor by using quality
data found in household surveys, census data, and the
Ministry of Social Development’s cadastro único survey
of low-income families. But this is only possible if these
populations are counted. Recent estimates by the
Labo-ratório de Análises Econômicas, Sociais e Estatísticas das
Relações Raciais (LAESER), led by Marcelo Paixão, used
government statistics to demonstrate that Afro-Brazil-
The conditional cash transfer
ians are more likely than whites to receive Bolsa Família benefits—an important tool to alleviate poverty. 7
In Brazil, 18 percent of all families receive Bolsa Família; 9. 8 percent of white families receive transfers, while
24 percent of Afro-Brazilian families get them. In regions
of the country with the highest levels of beneficiaries,
such as the north and northeast, Afro-Brazilians make
up a significant percentage of cash transfer recipients.
This distribution is aligned with poverty statistics that
demonstrate income disparities by race. In the northeast,
34. 6 percent of all families receive Bolsa Família; 36. 1 percent of black families participate, compared to 21. 8 percent of white families. In the north, where 25. 3 percent
of all families receive Bolsa Família, the ratio is 27. 4 percent of black families to 11. 9 percent of white families.
Launched in August 2011, Brasil sem Miséria is an
extension of Bolsa Família and aims to reach an even
larger segment of the poorest of the poor, specifically
individuals who have the most limited access to government services. This new program defines extreme
poverty as households that earn less than $50 ( 70 reais)
per person and has the goal of reaching 16. 2 million Brazilians living in extreme poverty.
The launch of Brasil sem Miséria was accompanied by
an important data analysis exercise conducted by
Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE), the government statistics agency, which is a major component of
the government media campaign and outreach strategy.
The government has established program goals based
on IBGE definitions of poverty, setting a target that 2
percent of recipients of the program will be Indigenous
and 70. 8 percent will be Afro-Brazilian.
Detailed information on race and ethnicity through
household survey data and the census is also used to
construct and validate market research studies, such as
the Fundo Baobá-Data Popular survey, launched in November 2011, which demonstrates that 44. 9 percent of
Afro-Brazilians are now middle class (classe C )—an 11. 2
percent increase since 2004—compared to an increase
of only 6. 4 percent for non-Afro-Bra-zilians during the same period. This
study also shows that the Afro-Brazilian consumer market represented
$369 billion (673 billion reais) in 2011,
while in 2009 this amount was $320
billion (584 billion reais) and $203
billion (370 billion reais) in 2004.8
Improved understanding of the
needs of these emerging Afro-Bra-
program Bolsa Família has done an
excellent job of targeting the Afro-
descendant and Indigenous poor.
AMERICASQUARTERLY.ORG
127 Americas Quarterly SPRING 2012
