Census 2022: Brazil’s population surpasses 203 mi
Brazil’s 2022 Census shows that the country’s population has reached 203,062,512 people—up 12.3 million since the previous census, in 2010. The figures were released Wednesday (Jun. 28) by statistics bureau IBGE. The 6.5 percent difference means the average population growth in recent years stood at 0.52 percent—the lowest since 1872, when the nation’s first census was conducted.
The data have a reference date of July 31, 2022. According to IBGE, they provide “an overview of the total number of people in households across the country at different geographical levels and in a range of breakdowns, followed by the resulting indicators—such as the average number of residents per household, population density, and the annual growth rate of the population.”
Regions
With 84.8 million people, Brazil’s Southeast remained the most populous. The total number of inhabitants is equivalent to 41.8 percent of the Brazilian population. Next on the list are the Northeast (26.9%), the South (14.7%), and the North (8.5%). The least populated region is the Central-West, with 16.3 million people, 8.02 percent.
Between 2010 and 2022, the annual population growth was not uniform among the regions. Despite being less populated, the Central-West displayed the highest growth, and had an average rate of 1.2 percent a year over the last 12 years.
“In the annual growth rate by region, we observe that the North, which grew the most between 1991 and 2000 and between 2000 and 2010, loses its position to the Central-West, which registered a growth of 23 percent a year over the last 12 years,” 2022 Census Technical Manager Luciano Tavares Duarte said while presenting the results during an interview.
The smallest population growths were seen in the Northeast and the Southeast. Their rates were lower than the yearly 0.52 percent national average.
“In line with the historic downward trend for total population growth, the rates for the five large regions are lower than those estimated for the two previous periods between censuses,” the IBGE reported.
São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro are the three most populous states in Brazil, and concentrate 39.9 percent of the population. “São Paulo state alone, with 44,420,459 people surveyed by the census (21%), accounts for one fifth of the population,” Duarte pointed out.
Demographic density
Brazil’s demographic density in the last census survey was estimated at 23.8 people per square kilometer (km²). The number continues to be unequal among regions. “In the North, which has an area of 3,850,593 km²—45.2 percent of the country’s territory—the density is 4.5 inhabitants/km². In the most populous region—the Southeast—the average stands at 91.8 inhabitants/km²,” the agency stated.
