Culture
Brazil's Population Is Now Majority Minority
Preliminary results from 2010 census shows the mixed-race and black population has tipped the scale at the same time the country's cities saw remarkably high growth rates
Preliminary numbers from the 2010 Brazilian census show that the country’s minorities, namely its mixed race and black population, has become the majority. An estimated 50.7 percent of Brazilians now identify as either mixed race or black, amounting to about 97 million of the nation’s 190 million people.
The tipped scale is being largely attributed to more African-Brazilians feeling more comfortable self-identifying as black or mixed race. The country’s long history of racism and slavery remains a dividing line in Brazilian culture, but these new figures suggest at least a slight shift, as the Guardian notes: