In 2020, at least 416,000 Brazilians living in the United States declared themselves as “Hispanics or Latinos” in the American household survey known as American Community Survey (ACS). This number caught everyone's attention, since in 2019 only 14,000 Brazilians were classified in this way.
This significant increase in 2020 was due to an error in the US Census processing of the ACS. This mistake revealed a disparity between the official American classification and the identity of Brazilians, which seems to be very common for Americans.
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The subject was approached in an article published in April by the institute of search Pew Research Center.
As Brazilians, we understand as “Latin” the languages that originate in Latin, a language derived from Ancient Rome. Why, then, are Brazilians not Latinos in the United States?
Brazilians are not Latinos in the US
According to the official definition of the federal government of the United States, Brazilians are not categorized as Hispanic or Latino. This definition only covers people of “Spanish culture or origin”, such as Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, South Americans or Central Americans, regardless of location.
Therefore, Brazilians do not fit this official US government classification.
In practice, when people report their ethnicity as Brazilian in surveys Census Bureau in the United States, they are often recategorized or “coded” as non-Hispanic or Latina. This is due to the federal government's official definition, which excludes Brazilians from the classification of Hispanics or Latinos. This reallocation also happens to those born in Portugal, the Philippines and Belize.
In fact, the classification of Brazilians as Hispanic or Latino in the United States can be confusing due to the difference between the official definition of the American government and the interpretation that Brazilians have of the term “Latin”.
While, for the US government, the classification of Hispanic or Latino is associated with Spanish culture or origin, for Brazilians, the term “Latin” is related to the fact that they are Latin American and speak a language derived from Latin, Portuguese.
This difference in understanding can lead to discrepancies in the classification of Brazilians in surveys and demographic surveys in the United States.
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