Brazil census shows population growth at its slowest level since 1872

SAO PAULO, June 28 (Reuters) – Brazil’s annual population growth slowed in the past decade to its lowest level since records began 150 years ago, the government statistics agency said on Wednesday, as people in one of the most populous countries in the world has fewer children.

The largest nation in Latin America had 203,062,512 inhabitants in August 2022, said the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IGBE), 6.5% more than the last census in 2010 but below 213.3 million. projected in 2021.

The United Nations Population Fund estimated that Brazil was the seventh most populous country in the world as of mid-2023.

Annual population growth between 2010 and 2022 reached 0.52%, the IGBE said, the lowest since the series began in 1872. Brazil’s population growth has slowed since the 1960s, , according to the agency, reflects lower birth rates.

“In 2022, the annual growth rate has been reduced to less than half of what it was in 2010 (1.17%),” the census technical coordinator, Luciano Duarte, said in a statement.

The southeast of Brazil remains its most populous region, hosting about 41.8% of its total population or 84.8 million people. There are the largest cities in Brazil, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

The least populated region is the center-west of the country, known for its enormous agricultural production, with 16.3 million inhabitants, the IBGE added.

Brazil traditionally publishes a new census every ten years, but the one scheduled for 2020 has been postponed to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a lack of government funding.

Reporting by Gabriel Araujo; Edited by Steven Grattan and Emma Rumney

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