IBGE census: Brazil's population grows by 6.45% to 203 million

According to the 2022 census, Brazil's population has reached 203,062,512, an increase of 12.3 million since the last data collection for the 2010 census. The information was published on Wednesday, 28 June, by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). The difference of 6.5 per cent means that the average population growth in recent years was 0.52 per cent, the lowest recorded in the country since 1872, when the first census was taken.

The data have a reference date of 31 July 2022 and are part of the first results of the Population and Household Census 2022. According to IBGE, they "provide a set of basic information on the total population of households in a country at different geographical levels, as well as several indicators derived from this information, such as average number of inhabitants per household, population density and annual population growth rate".

São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro were ranked as the three most populous states in the country, with 39.9 per cent of the population. "In the state of Sao Paulo alone, 44 million 420,459 people were registered in the census, which is 21 per cent. This is a fifth of the country's population," said the institute.

Despite having the smallest population, the state with the highest population growth was Roraima, where the average annual growth rate reached 2.92 per cent during the period, the only state where the rate exceeded 2 per cent a year.

The number of households in the country has also increased. According to the 2022 census, it has increased by 34 per cent compared to the 2010 census to 90.7 million people.

The country's demographic density in the last census was 23.8 inhabitants per square kilometre (km²). According to IBGE, the figure remains uneven across regions. "In the north, which covers 3,850,593 km², or 45.2 per cent of the country, the density is 4.5 inhabitants per km². In the most densely populated region, in the South East, the average is 91.8 inhabitants per km²," says the IBGE report.

A total of 62,388,143 basic questionnaires were completed, representing 88.9 per cent. This questionnaire had 26 questions and a time limit of six minutes. The extended questionnaire took 16 minutes and contained 77 questions. A total of 7,772,064 people, or 11.1 per cent, completed the questionnaire, as reported by Toda Palavra, a partner of TV BRICS.

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