“We’ll continue to exist,” says demographer on indigenous future
The number of Brazilians who identify as indigenous has grown almost sixfold in the last 30 years. In 1991, they numbered just over 294 thousand, according to the Demographic Census at the time. By 2022, they had reached 1.694 million, statistics bureau IBGE reported.The surge is largely attributed to changes in the way the survey is carried out every ten years—innovations implemented since 1991, when “indigenous” became an option under race and skin color. A milestone for many experts and authorities, this is the year when indigenous people began to be included as such in the Brazilian census, rather than under other categories, like “brown.” The IBGE, however, also points out that “some indigenous peoples have shown a significant [population] increase due to high fertility rates.”“Th...