History
There are several types of censuses possible, such as: agricultural census, electoral census, school census, demographic census, etc. At this point we will only address the census or demographic census, which is a survey of the population of a particular country or territory and which enables the collection of various information, such as the number of inhabitants, the number of men, women, children and elderly people, where and how these people live and the work they do, among others stuff. This study is normally carried out every ten years in most countries.
According to the UN definition, "a population census can be defined as the set of operations that consist of collecting, grouping and publish demographic, economic and social data relating to a specific time or in certain periods, to all the inhabitants of a country or territory". The census is a periodic count and takes place in Brazil every ten years.
The official body of the Brazilian government responsible for planning, systematizing, organizing and analyzing data is the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics). In this year of 2010 we will carry out the 12th Demographic Census, from August 1st to October 31st.
The Census is the most complete source of information that the country has to know the living conditions of the population in urban and rural areas of the current 5,565 Brazilian municipalities.
The first Census in Brazil was carried out in 1872 and revealed that at the time of the Empire there were 10,112,061 inhabitants. We started the 20th century with 17,318,556 inhabitants (1900) and ended the same century with 169,799,170 inhabitants (2000).
The Census is nothing more than a great portrait in extension and depth of the Brazilian population and its characteristics and, at the same time, it is the basis on which all public and private planning for the next decade.
Do not stop now... There's more after the advertising ;)
In short, the Census will tell us how many we are, what we are like, where we are and how we live.
Goals
Censuses show the evolution of a country's population and the age structure of that population; the level of education, health, employment and income; visual, hearing and locomotor impairment; housing conditions and access to public sanitation, drinking water, electricity, telephone and internet services. In addition to checking the existence of pavement, public lighting, open sewer, garbage dump near each street.
The 2010 census will innovate in the use of a handheld computer that will be equipped with GPS and will capture the location coordinates of schools and rural health establishments, generating a registry with information about these units to integrate and feed information systems of various bodies.
Methodology and universe
Going through a country like Brazil, of continental dimensions, with about 8 million km² of a heterogeneous territory and often difficult to access, is a task that involves large numbers and logistics of war. See, below, the numbers that show the dimensions of the 2010 Census, according to the IBGE.
- Universe to be registered: the entire Brazilian National Territory
- Number of municipalities: 5,565 municipalities
- Number of households: approximately 58 million
- Hired and trained personnel: approximately 240 thousand people (collection, supervision, support and administrative)
- Estimated budget: BRL 1.4 billion
- Technology: hundreds of computers on the national network, broadband communication network and 220,000 handheld computers equipped with GPS receivers.
Orson Camargo
Brazil School Collaborator
Graduated in Sociology and Politics from the School of Sociology and Politics of São Paulo – FESPSP
Master in Sociology from the State University of Campinas - UNICAMP
Sociology - Brazil School
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
CAMARGO, Orson. "Census, population count"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/sociologia/censo-contagem-populacao.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.
