Brazil

Overview

According to the 2010 census of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, the Brazilian indigenous population is 896,917 indigenous persons, distributed among 305 ethnic groups, who speak 274 languages. Among indigenous persons over the age of five, only 37.4% speak an indigenous language, while 76.9% speak Portuguese.

Currently there are some 713 indigenous areas, with a total area of 117,387,341 ha. This means that 13.8% of the lands in the country have been reserved for indigenous peoples. The majority of these territories are concentrated in the Amazon: 419 areas forming 115,342,101 ha, which represent 23% of the Amazon territory and 98.33% of indigenous lands. The remaining 1.67% is distributed in the regions of the northeast, southeast, and south in states such as Mato Grosso do Sul and Goiás.

International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs, The Indigenous World 2019

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