“The Brazilian Census is one of the largest census operations in the world, in the sense of home visits, when you go door to door and put 180,000 census takers on the street. The Census is not from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). It is an institution that belongs to Brazil. The IBGE coordinates the Census, but it is the Census of Brazil.” The statement was made by the Director of Research at IBGE, Cimar Azeredo, who, in an interview with Brazil Agencyhighlighted the importance of the 13th Demographic Census, which will begin tomorrow (1st), with official launch at the Museum of Tomorrow, in Rio de Janeiro, accompanied by United Nations (UN) agencies.
For Azeredo, answering the Census is an act of citizenship. “It’s like voting, like taking out a document. It is essential that every citizen seeks to be registered and receives the census from the IBGE.”
The Census is an important operation for the country because it allows us to know the details of how the population lives, how many people there are and where they are. “It is important for society, for the government, for public and private companies, for public managers and the private sector. If you are going to open a company in a certain municipality, you need to know details about that municipality”.
vaccines
As an example, the Director of Research drew attention to the importance of the Census during the distribution of vaccines against covid-19. Without the updated Census, many mayors did not know exactly what the population of their cities was. As a result, some municipalities received too much vaccine and others, too little.
The pandemic was also responsible for the postponement of the Census, which should have taken place in 2020. For Azeredo, it is essential to update the amount of the population in each municipality. “Especially because the entire distribution of the number of councilors, of the number of deputies, all this depends on the Census numbers of the population estimate”.
The 13th Demographic Census of Brazil will be carried out for two and a half months. The perspective is to reach 50% of the country in the first month (August) and 90% in the second. The Census is due to end in October.
The first preliminary results related to population size by municipality should be published on December 30th of this year. The data will be sent to the Federal Audit Court (TCU) for the production of the Municipal Participation Fund and the State Participation Fund.
geolocation
Azeredo informed that the 2022 Census process will be done 100% digitally. “We are very proud of having managed to do, this time, not only the electronic collection, but each smartphone or mobile collection device (DMC), used to carry out the Census, will have a chip that will allow the direct transmission of collected data. This gives greater security.” If this equipment is lost or suffers an accident, the information has already been transferred.
Another important point is that, for the interview, the citizen must be domiciled. The expectation is to identify 76 million private households, according to the Director of Research at the IBGE.
In addition, all homes will be geolocated. With this, it is possible to know exactly the number of households in a given location. The tool can even be useful in disaster situations such as those that occurred in Brumadinho, in January 2019, and in Petrópolis, in March of this year.
“If we had captured the GPS marks in 2010, there would have been the markings of all the houses that were affected by the rains and it would even help the Civil Defense to identify where there could be a residence or not. This is a great novelty of the Brazilian Census for greater security and coverage of the operation. I think one of the key points of the Census is this capture of GPS coordinates,” he said.
census takers
All IBGE census takers will be identified with a cap, vest and badge. Inside the badge there is a QR Code that can be read by the cell phone. With this, the citizen can confirm the name and photo of the census taker and verify that he belongs to the Institute’s staff. In case of doubt, just call IBGE at the number 0800 721 8181.
specific questionnaire
Other novelties introduced by the 2022 Census include the greater identification of people living in quilombola communities and in indigenous communities, who will have specific questionnaires.
The Census also includes specific questions for people with disabilities and for people diagnosed by a healthcare professional with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
The Census consists of two questionnaires: a smaller one, which takes five minutes to complete; and a larger one, which takes around 16 minutes. About 10% of the population will need to answer the most complete questionnaire.
immigrants
The IBGE director stated that immigrants will be within the estimated population of 215 million people in the 2022 Census. According to him, the number may be lower due to the increase in mortality and the fall in fertility in the country.
In view of the high flow of Venezuelans entering the country via Roraima, the IBGE is carrying out a special work in that state on behalf of Operação Acolhida and the sheltered people. In this task, IBGE has the support of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), both agencies of the United Nations (UN), to carry out the Census in Roraima, with state government support.
Operation Acolhida is an operation launched by the Brazilian Army since February 2018 that aims to protect Venezuelans who cross the border, providing humanitarian aid to Venezuelan immigrants in vulnerable situations, refugees from the political, institutional and socioeconomic crisis that affects the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. .
As there are immigrants in other parts of Brazil, Cimar Azeredo informed that the IBGE follows the UN resident’s concept, referring to the person who has a domicile and is not away from the residence for a period longer than 12 months. “For sure, this Census will be very important so that we can identify this migrant population in the country”.
Technology
This year, IBGE has a data center to assist in the processing of information from the 2022 Demographic Census.
The technological framework designed for the Census will allow the results to be published more quickly, unlike what happened in previous editions.
The goal is to publish, in early 2023, the first information. In December 2022, preliminary Census results regarding the population will be released. The results on household, age pyramid, schooling and the labor market will be made available throughout 2023.
Still in the technological structure, there is a part related to data protection and security. The entire IBGE team, which reaches around 220 thousand people, was trained to show the codes of ethics and good practices in relation to secrecy and confidentiality.
The data inside the equipment is encrypted and will have a protection system. Even after the Census was carried out, the IBGE has a policy of secrecy and reliability, in addition to ethics committees, responsible for this issue internally.
“The population can rest assured that the information will never be made available. Confidentiality and secrecy of information are part of the creation of a statistical institute like the IBGE”, said Azeredo
Message
Azeredo, who was a census taker in 1980 and is now on the Research Directorate, says he is proud of the history he built within the IBGE and asks that the population receive the institute’s interviewer.
“The Census is fundamental for you, for the country, for everyone. It is important that a country knows itself. And it is essential to receive the census taker from the IBGE, to treat the census taker with cordiality, to respond correctly to the Census. If, by chance, your domicile is not registered, look for the IBGE, do not be left out. It’s not nice to be left out of the Census. The cool thing is to say that it was registered.”
