The reality of racial inequality in Brazil’s civil service

Welcome to the “Number of the Week,” where we choose a single figure that helps understand what is going on in Brazil. This week, we discuss the scale of racial inequality in the country. 

35.1%

of federal servants are black or mixed-raced

Racial inequality remains a defining trait of Brazilian society. The civil service reflects this gap between whites and non-whites in Brazil. While black and mixed-raced people represent 55.4 percent of the country’s workforce and 54.2 percent of employed people, they remain underrepresented in public institutions. 

“The participation of black men and women in the [Brazilian] bureaucratic corps has increased over time, but they remain in the minority and are underrepresented across practically all indicators, when comparing the participation of this group with the population and workforce as a whole,” explain researchers from the Institute of...