Indigenous residents in "improvised" households according to the 2010 Brazilian National Census

Abstract

Brazilian national censuses classify households according to three categories: "permanent", "improvised", and "collective". This classification scheme is relevant for analysis of health profiles because detailed sanitation data are only collected for the subset of "permanent" households. Based on data from the 2010 Brazilian National Census, in this paper we investigate sociodemographic characteristics (sex, age, literacy, per capita income, and ethnic affiliation) of Indigenous persons residing in households classified as "improvised". The occurrence of indigenous residents in "improvised" households (3.3 per thousand Indigenous individuals) was twice that observed for non Indigenous persons (1.5 per thousand individuals). Indigenous persons residing in "improvised" households presented lower literacy rates and per capita income, especially in urban areas and outside Indigenous reserves. Guarani Kaiowá e Kaingang in urban areas and outside Indigenous reserves had greater proportions of individuals residing in "improvised" households (82.0 and 90.9 per thousand, respectively). While the higher frequencies of Indigenous persons living in "improvised" households may involve problems in defining and applying these categories, it is possible that Indigenous persons living in "improvised" households, especially in urban areas and outside indigenous reservations, are more socioeconomically vulnerable.

Keywords:
indigenous population; censuses; social inequity