The most substandard types of housing in Brazil—homes with walls made of repurposed wood and uncoated mud-brick houses—still shelter about 2.5 million people. The data comes from the 2022 Census conducted by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), released this Thursday (12).
The census also reveals that Black and mixed-race people are, proportionally, the majority of residents in these homes. Among self-declared Black individuals, 14.1% live in such housing, while the figure rises to 15.1% for mixed-race individuals. By contrast, the proportions drop to 10% for white people and 5.2% for Asian-descendants.
Overcrowding, defined as more than two residents per bedroom, along with the lack of a washing machine and internet access in the home, are also indicators of substandard living conditions.
The census data also highlights a proportional increase in the population living in higher-quality housing. In 2010, homes with coated walls housed 79% of the country’s residents; now, that figure has risen to 87%.
