Brazil: population by ethnicity and slave status 1872| ��ƽ��

Population of Brazil by ethnicity and slave status in 1872

Characteristic	Population
Free non-white	4,245,428
White	3,787,289
Slave non-white*	1,510,810

Download

Source

Show detailed source information?

Already a member?

Source

Release date

December 2020

More information

Region

Brazil

Survey time period

1872

Supplementary notes

The term "colored" was used by the source, but has been changed to "non-white" to reflect modern attitudes. This data does not appear to include indigenous people, or those of mixed white and indigenous descent ("caboclo"). A figure of 386,955 was given separately for Brazil's total caboclo population in 1872.

The "Slave non-white" entries per region total at 1,510,833: this suggests an error of 23 with either the overall "Slave non-white" total, or one of the individual entries.

Release date is most recent date of data access

Citation formats

Brazil conducted its first nationwide census in 1872, just 16 years before slavery's official abolition in 1888. Modern estimates place Brazil's total population in 1872 at approximately 10.3 million; the exclusion of non-white infants and indigenous populations from the census is likely the cause of this deficit. The 1872 census showed that non-whites made up the majority of Brazil's population at this time, at roughly 5.75 million, compared to the white population of 3.79 million. Of these 5.75 million, over 4.2 million were free, compared to 1.5 million living in slavery; this gives a ratio of almost three free non-whites for every one slave. To compare, in the United States in 1860, there were at least eight slaves for every one free person of color in the years leading up to slavery's nationwide abolition.