Brazil’s census will not be finished this year, agency admits

Census takers walk toward secluded households in the state of Rio de Janeiro. Photo: Fernanda Frazão/ABr

The 2022 census will not be completed this year, according to Brazil’s official statistics bureau IBGE. Cimar Azeredo Pereira, IBGE’s research director, on Wednesday said in a press conference that census takers will keep working until January 2023.

The agency said in a statement it has so far collected data from 78 percent of the population. Surveying is below average in some of Brazil’s most populous states, such as São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The IBGE has also admitted that it is facing difficulties due to a “lack of personnel to perform census-taking duties in certain locations.”

Moreover, around 2.5 percent of households have refused to answer questions from IBGE’s pollsters, a percentage the agency hopes to reduce.

The agency, which began carrying out the census in August, expected to be finished by October. However, the lack of workers led IBGE to postpone the survey until December, a deadline now extended again.

A presidential decree sanctioned by Congress allowed the government to extend the contracts of 393 census takers in order to complete the survey. Overall, the endeavor employed over 60,000 workers in early December.

Carried out every 10 years, censuses are pivotal for policymaking. It’s how the government decides on anything from school funding to vaccine policies or electoral districting. The census was first delayed in 2020 because of the pandemic. The following year, the Jair Bolsonaro administration did not include funds for the census in the budget, delaying it for an additional year.

IBGE temporary workers have complained of delays in receiving transport reimbursement and pay for completed sectors and training. The low level of remuneration has been a cause for protest, even leading to a strike on September 1.