Among adult Brazilians, 18.4% have completed higher education
Among Brazilians over the age of 25, 18.4 percent have completed higher education, according to the 2022 Demographic Census released on Wednesday (Feb. 26) by the Brazilian government´s statistics agency IBGE. The survey highlights progress compared to previous censuses.
In 2000, only 6.8 percent of adults (aged 25 and over) had higher education, and by 2010, this figure had risen to 11.3 percent. Despite this progress, four out of five Brazilians still do not have a degree.
IBGE researcher Bruno Perez notes that a significant portion of this population without higher education consists of older individuals.
“We know that an older population faced greater barriers to education in their youth. As a result, this demographic significantly impacts the proportion of individuals aged 25 and over with completed higher education. This factor is reflected in the decades-long accumulation of data,” says Perez.
The 2022 Census also reveals that 32.3 percent of individuals aged 25 and over had completed secondary education or incomplete higher education, up from 16.3 percent in 2000. Additionally, 14 percent had completed primary education or incomplete secondary education, an increase from 12.8 percent in 2000.
The percentage of individuals with no education or incomplete primary education dropped from 63.2 percent in 2000 to 35.2 percent in 2022.
Color and race
An analysis of the 2022 Census data by color and race reveals that white individuals still have greater access to higher education than black and brown individuals.
The completion of higher education is as follows:
25.8% of white individuals
11.7% of black individuals
12.3% of brown individuals
It is worth noting, however, that the increase in higher education access among the black population has outpaced that of whites over the past two decades. The percentage of white individuals with a university degree grew 2.6 times during this period, from 9.9 percent in 2000. In contrast, the percentage of black individuals with higher education increased by around five times. In 2000, only 2.1 percent of black individuals and 2.4 percent of brown individuals had completed higher education, according to IBGE.
The 2022 Census reveals that 56.4 percent of young people aged 18 to 24 were enrolled in a higher education program in the year of the survey.
Careers
In 2022, the majority of Brazilians with a higher education degree held qualifications in business, administration, and law (8.5 million), health and well-being (4.1 million), and education (3.6 million).
The courses with the most graduates in Brazil were management and administration (4.1 million), general teacher training (3.1 million), and law (2.5 million).
There is a significant racial disparity in some courses. Among graduates in medicine (75.5%), economics (75.2%), and dentistry (74.4%), three out of four were white. In contrast, black individuals (both black and brown) made up 21.9 percent, 22.3 percent, and 22.7 percent of graduates in these fields, respectively.
Courses with more balanced participation between black and white individuals included social work (47.2% white and 52% black), religion and theology (48.2% white and 50.8% black), and teacher training (52.8% white and 46.4% black).
In terms of gender, mechanical engineering and metallurgy have the highest proportion of male graduates (92.6%), while women make up a larger proportion in teacher training courses (92.8%) and social work (93%).
In recent years, women’s participation has increased in some courses. In medicine, for example, women made up 49.9 percent of all graduates in the field. Among doctors aged 29 and younger, 60.2 percent were women.
