IBGE: announcement of initial results of the 2022 Census is a historic moment

The interim president of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) and director of research at the agency, Cimar Azeredo, classified the delivery of the first results of the 2022 Census as a historic and fundamental moment for the country. idea of ​​being carried out in three months and took ten months of field collection. Azeredo stated that despite this delay, the IBGE was able to speed up data delivery. “Never have we delivered a definitive result as quickly as now”.

As defined by law, censuses have to be carried out every ten years. After the 2010 edition, the IBGE prepared itself to carry out the 2020 survey, which did not happen. The covid-19 pandemic prevented census takers from going to field collection. Following recommendations from the Ministry of Health, the institute had to postpone the work expected for that year. “This is because pandemics are classified as acts of God or force majeure, already duly recognized in the domestic and international legal spheres”, informed the IBGE.

The following year, another issue prevented the census from taking place. The deep budget cut transferred data collection to 2022. The work, according to Azeredo, included a post-enumeration survey, which will be released for the first time. “The post-enumeration survey evaluates the Census. This is key. Censuses are not audited”, he commented, adding that with this measure, transparency guided the IBGE at all times in its work and, monthly, there was a release for the press to follow the progress of activities.

“This Census, I am sure, was a watershed for the IBGE. It’s the IBGE before and after the 2022 Census. The IBGE reinvented itself to carry out the survey. Despite all the problems, we are delivering an incredible product to society and we are very proud of it”, he said.

The technical manager of the 2022 Census, Luciano Tavares Duarte, reported that, in an unprecedented way, the result will bring data on the geographic coordinates of the addresses visited by census takers over the ten months of operation. “Seeing this portrait of human occupation throughout the national territory, from the highest concentrations in the South and Southeast regions to the population that lives on the banks of rivers in the Amazon region, is a very important portrait that we bring. It is unprecedented information, which we produce in this Census”.

According to the deputy president, the support given by the Ministry of Planning in the last five months was essential not only for releasing an additional R$ 350 million, which were not foreseen in the original budget, but also for participating in campaigns to encourage the population to respond to the Census.

According to Azeredo, with the additional resources it was possible to secure work on Yanomami lands, in a consortium between the Ministries of Planning, Indigenous Peoples, Justice and Defense and take the Census to over 2 million people living in slums. The IBGE president recalled that only one favela has not yet received census takers, but a strategy is already being set up to make this happen soon. For security reasons, he did not reveal the name of the community. “In these five months alone, with the help of the Ministry of Planning, we placed 2 million people living in favelas in the census operation.