Data from the 2022 Demographic Census released this Friday (24) at Unicamp, in Campinas, by IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics), show the existence of 391 ethnicities, peoples or indigenous groups in Brazil. This number is 28% higher than that recorded in the 2010 Census, when 305 different ethnicities were cataloged. Among the most populous are Tikuna (74.061), Kokama (64.327) and Makuxi (53.446).
According to the data, in 2022, there were 295 indigenous languages spoken by indigenous people aged two or older, compared to the 274 languages identified in 2010. The total indigenous population in Brazil rose from 896.917 in 2010 to 1.694.836 people, the census shows.
IBGE Research Director Marta Antunes says several factors explain the increase in the number of ethnic groups. She notes that the data collection system has improved, but believes the growth in numbers is also due to other factors.
“Due to historical racism in Brazil, the indigenous condition is often hidden or disguised, but in this last decade we can see the opposite process – an ethnic affirmation, whether those in urban or rural situations, inside or outside indigenous territories,” she explained.
The board says, however, that the research identified the emergence of 75 new ethnicities—groups that hadn't appeared in the 2010 survey. It says these aren't isolated peoples. "They are primarily indigenous peoples who had stopped asserting their ethnonym; their belonging; who were diluted and who, little by little, are reaffirming their ethnic belonging, recovering their trajectory, their ancestry, and reconnecting with their parentage," it explains.
There are also cases of new ethnicities. "In the Northeast, there are cases of groups that have been mixing with each other and creating ethnonyms that combine two groups of origin," she says.
The Census showed that São Paulo is the federation unit with the largest number of ethnic groups (271), followed by Amazonas (259) and Bahia (233). It also showed that São Paulo is the municipality in the country with the largest concentration of ethnic groups, with a total of 194.
Outside the capitals, those with the highest numbers were Campinas, with 96 ethnic groups, Santarém (PA), with 87 and Iranduba (AM), with 77.
"Campinas is a place that attracts a lot of Indigenous students, here at Unicamp, but also at other universities in the surrounding area. There's also a migration process for work, which ends up settling some groups here—both temporary and permanent migrations. Furthermore, there are already documented processes of Pankararu groups, for example, who have their villages in the state of São Paulo and villages in Pernambuco and maintain a strong flow of movement. Therefore, there are different processes underway," explains Marta Antunes.
Diogo Pereira de Souza, an Indigenous student at the Institute of Chemistry, has been at Unicamp since 2022. Born in the Jaguapiru village in Dourados, Mato Grosso do Sul, he says that Indigenous populations are increasingly being pushed into urban areas. "I come from a place where 20 people live in an area of 3,5 hectares, in a space where Guarani, Terena, and Kaiowá coexist," he says. "These populations live confined," he complains.
Angelina Waliperê, a second-year architecture student at Unicamp, highlights the mental health of Indigenous students. "They deeply miss their land and their families, and they need constant support," she urges.
Fernando Damasco, manager of Traditional Territories and Protected Areas at the IBGE, attributes the increase in ethnic diversity in medium-sized cities to the presence of universities, inclusion policies, and indigenous mobilizations.
General data
The Census provides general data on sewage disposal, garbage disposal, and literacy. It also shows the level of birth registration among Indigenous people. It found that among the ethnic groups with the highest numbers of children under five years of age without birth registration, the Yanomami/Yanomán stand out, with 3.288 unregistered children, corresponding to 65,54%. Next come the Sanumá, belonging to the same ethnic group, with 879 unregistered children (97,34%), and the Makuxi, with 748 unregistered children (7,89%).
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