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 Since the last census in 1991, the population of Brazil has increased
by 1.6 percent, to total 169,544,433 people.
The total population of Brazil increased 22.7 million in relation
to the 1991 census—over 3 million more than the IBGE predicted.
There are increasingly more women than men because
the mortality rates for women is decreasing at a faster rate
with the better medical technology. And in the Southeast
90.5 percent of the population lives in cities.
By Kim Richardson
The population of Brazil has, since the 1991 census, increased by 1.6 percent to total
almost 170 million persons. Of this number, 81.2 percent live in cities, compared to a
Latin American total of 75 percent and a world total of 46 percent. While Brazilian
urbanization has historically been the byproduct of industrialization in the cities, the
rates of urbanization seem to have slowed. What is the dispersal of population in Brazil
and why has there been a deceleration of urbanization in Brazil? Why do women generally
outnumber men in urban—but not rural—areas?
By looking at the 2000 Census and the preliminary statistics released by the Brazilian
Institute of Geography and Statistics (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatísticas,
or IBGE), we find that urbanization has slowed because of a combination of diminished
family sizes and a rise in rural jobs not directly tied to agriculture. We also see that
because jobs are geared towards men in the countryside, women migrate in larger numbers to
the cities, a place where the mortality rate is higher for men due to violence and
accidents in the workplace. By analyzing these numbers—Brazil's population growth and
tendencies (including male to female rations), we can better understand the demographic
future of Brazil and her place in the world.
Total Population:
Since the last census in 1991, the population of Brazil has increased by 1.6 percent,
to total 169,544,433 people. This means that in the last nine years, there has been a
population increase of 22,718,968 in the country. As a whole, Latin America and the
Caribbean, in 1999, made up 8.5 percent of the world population. The total demographic
growth in Brazil for the past four decades are as follows:
1960s 2.8 percent
1970s 2.4 percent
1980s 1.9 percent
1990s 1.6 percent
Thus a slowing of urbanization can be seen.
In the 2000 Census, the North is the region which had the largest percentage of
increase—2.9 percent annually. The following is the average increase by region:
North 2.9 percent
Southeast 1.6 percent
Northeast 1.3 percent
South 1.4 percent
Center-West 2.4 percent
Thus, according to the IBGE, the Northeast increased by the lowest percentage due to
lower birth rates and migration to other cities, and the South was subsequently small
because it lost so many people to other regions. The growth of the Center-West, also high,
was mainly the product of growth in the periphery cities.
The states of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro increased their population mainly in the
interior, the percentage of which being greater than that of their respective state
capitals. In the other Brazilian states, the opposite is true; the capitals had a
population increase above that of their state averages. These demographic changes reflect
a process of decentralization of economic activities.
The urban population is 81.2 percent of Brazil. This is in comparison to 75 percent in
Latin American and 46 percent in the world. What this means, is that Brazil is one of the
most urbanized countries in the world. It was in 1970 that the IBGE registered, for the
first time, more people in urban than rural areas. This decade was marked by the civil
construction boom and industrialization. While the population concentration in the cities
has continued to grow—it was 75.6 percent ten years ago—there still persists
differences in the demographic distribution of geographic regions; while in the Southeast
90.5 percent of the population lives in cities, in the North only 69.7 percent do and the
Northeast this is only 69 percent.
Gender Ratios:
In Brazil, there are predominantly more women than men, with an average of 96.87 men
for every 100 women, or 86,120,890 women (50.8 percent of the population) versus
74,340,353 in 1991 (50.7 percent of the population). What this means, is that there are
2.7 million more women than men in Brazil. This is in comparison to 1991 where there were
97.5 men for every 100 women and 1980 when there were 98.74 men for every 100 women. There
are, then, increasingly more women than men in the country as a whole.
The reason for the increasing numbers of women (in comparison to men), according to
Alícia Bercovich, the coordinator of the 2000 Census, is because the mortality rates for
women is decreasing at a faster rate with the better medical technology. But it is more
than this; the numbers of women versus men is in direct correlation to the urban/rural
population in Brazil. In rural areas there are more men than women, while in urban areas
the opposite is the case. Thus since Brazil is 81.2 percent urban, there are and should be
more women than men in the nation as a whole.
In the North region, where there are more rural areas than urban, for every 100 women
there are 116 men. In the Central-West, however, there are 99.38 men for every 100 women,
thus demonstrating the urbanization process. According to the IBGE Coordinator, this is
because of the nature of the rural work, which requires more physical force. While women
can migrate to the cities and often work in the service sectors in the more urban areas,
men tend to remain more in the rural areas. In the North region, then, since it is more
rural, claims more men than women.
Novo Progresso, in the south of Pará, is the city with the most number of men compared
to women in the country. According to IBGE, there are 14,984 men and 10,001 women. This
shows how women do not have the motivation to remain in the countryside—there is no
diversion, work, or other attractions, while men are more likely to succeed in finding
employment. The largest part of the male population in the city is outside the city limits
working in the mines or lumber mills. "The people that arrive here soon leave,
returning when the rains come and it is difficult to work in the forest," one
resident stated. Another example is in the state of Mato Grosso, where it is more rural,
and hence there are more than 68,986 more men than women
In contrast, the state that is the most urbanized, São Paulo, has the largest
proportion of women in the nation. One example is Águas de São Pedro, where 54.47
percent of the population are women. In the city of São Paulo alone there are 489,628
more women than men. In the city of Recife (the capital with the most women), for every
100 women there are 86 men.
In the city of Rio de Janeiro, there are 362,020 more women than men, or 88.35 men to
every 100 women. In the state as a whole, there are 92.07 men to every 100 women, the
reason being that in the capital, life expectancy for women is greater while many men die
of accidents resulting from violence. To expound on this more, in the urban areas of Rio,
there is an average of 91 men for every 100 women, while in the rural areas there are 108
men for every 100 women. Thus, in the northern parts of Rio where it is more rural there
are more men than women.
In sum, women to men ratios in Brazil are in direct proportion to urban to rural
ratios; in the rural areas there are more men and in the urban areas there are more women.
Thus, since Brazil is more urban than rural (81.2 percent more), there should be, and are,
more women than men.
Demography and Urbanization:
The percentage of the urban population (versus rural) has increased from 75.6 percent
in 1991 to 81.2 percent, according to the 2000 Census. Of the 169.5 million Brazilians,
40.3 million (23.81 percent) live in the capitals. A fourth of these, or 10,406,166
people, live in the largest city in the country, São Paulo. (The state of São
Paulo, incidentally, has 36.9 million people, or 21.8 percent of the Brazilian
population). In comparison, the smallest city in the nation is also in São Paulo; Borá,
with 795 residents.
According to Rosana Baeninger, researcher of the Center for Population Studies at the
State University of Campinas (Unicamp), the country today is in the third cycle of
urbanization marked by intra-regional movements. In other words, people establish
themselves in small cities and leave the region as they receive offers of work. The first
cycle began in the 1970s, marked by migrations from the North and Northeast, principally
in the direction of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. During this period, 30 million
Brazilians migrated. In the second wave, these migrants went to medium-sized cities and
the Southeast and, between 1980 and the beginning of the 1990s, received almost 10 million
migrants. In the last 10 years, the migrants went from cities of the same region or the
same state.
Today, (the third cycle), the movements that predominate are intra-regional movements,
between cities of regions, with economic vocations well established. There has been a
redistribution of the population for smaller cities and these cities can only be
understood by their vocations in the context of the region that they belong to. One
example is Campinas, in the interior of São Paulo. Even though it has great economic
strength, it did not achieve one million inhabitants in the 2000 census because its
neighbor cities, such as Sumaré and Paulínia, grew at more accelerated rates.
As previously stated, 90.5 percent of the population of the Southeast region lives in
cities while in the North and Northeast it is less than 70 percent. These numbers,
however, are misleading. Urban areas, according to the IBGE, are determined by city laws
which determine city boundaries. Did urban growth, then, increase because the cities
increased their boundaries, or did the boundaries remain the same and the populations
within them grow? According to Bernardete Waldvogel, the coordinator of the area of
population studies of Seade, there are many people living in urban areas that are
officially still rural because the city has not updated the definition of its urban
perimeters.
The following is a comparison of the inhabitants living in urban cities in the western
hemisphere:
United States 80 percent
Argentina 90 percent
Uruguay 91 percent
Paraguay 56 percent
Brazil 81.2 percent
However, the United States and Argentina determine urbanity based on areas with a
population of 2,500 or more, while the last three countries—Uruguay, Paraguay, and
Brazil, determine urbanity legislatively (by municipal legislations). For these last three
countries, then, determining urban population is not as defined as simple as in the United
States or Argentina.
One reason for the increased rate of urbanization in Brazil is a result of increased
industrialization. For example, the city of Porto Real has grown at a rate of 5.12
percent, which accompanied the installation of the Peugeot factory. Porto Real's neighbor
city, Resende, also had increased immigration due to the installation of the Volkswagen
factory. Thus instead of rural migration to the capital cities, laborers are now tending
to remain in the smaller cities where they can find work with this new industrial boom.
Although many Brazilians are leaving the countryside for the cities to work, the urban
growth is also the result of the increase in urban perimeters as rural areas are
increasingly incorporated into the city. People that live in rural areas don't necessarily
work in agriculture, since the 1990s have epitomized the fall of agricultural employment.
However, those that live in rural areas are now often working in other areas such as rural
tourism (rural vacation hotels, condos, and domestic work in country estates).
In addition, many rural dwellers are now commuting to the cities to work. According to
Romualdo Rezende, the head of the Division of Research of the state of Rio de Janeiro,
"We are observing a tendency for concentration along the coasts, principally of
retired people that leave the capital and of people that come to these areas with the
possibility of economic growth through tourism."
The frantic migration ceased with the increase in non-agricultural activities in the
Interior and with the aging of the inhabitants of the rural zones. Brazil is still,
however, one of the most urban countries in the world, although the rates of increased
urbanization have slowed. And, because the urban areas are determined by boundaries rather
than actual population, the total urban population may or may not actually be 81.2
percent.
Brasília and the Center-West:
Since the 1970s, there has been a decentralization of migration with the increase of
industrialization projects. The supreme example is the Center-West region. Between the
1940s and 1960s, the region was an expansion of small ownerships involved in the growing
of coffee. According to IBGE technicians, migrations to the Central-West in the last few
decades were motivated by the opening up of new agricultural areas in states such as Mato
Grosso and Goiás. This has diminished lately, and what is bringing immigrations in now is
Brasília. Since 1991, the city has increased 2.7 percent per year, more than the regional
average.
Part of the migration to the Federal District can be accredited to the donation of
urban lots to the lower classes that has been accumulating momentum in the 1990s. Today
there is a new type of people migrating to the Center-West: qualified people that transfer
from other regions of the country for the large and medium urban centers, according to the
sociologist Aspásia Camargo. This is unique to the Center-West region, since in the rest
of Brazil, immigration tends to be intra-, rather than inter-regional. Since 1991, there
has been a 2.4 percent increase in population in the Federal District, or 42,000
inhabitants (the second largest increase in the country).
The four cities from the Federal District that grew the most from 1991 to 2000 were:
1. Recanto das Emas (51.88 percent) to total today 92,996 inhabitants.
2. Riacho Fundo (54.96 percent) to total today 41,378 inhabitants.
3. Santa Maria (24.32 percent) to total today 98,228 inhabitants.
4. São Sebastião (15.56 percent) to total today 60,000 inhabitants.
What does this all mean? That each year Recanto das Emas, for example, grew a little
over one-half in relation to the number of inhabitants the year before. Thus this city
grew from 2,239 inhabitants in 1991 to 92,996 in 2000.
These cities, demographer Ana Maria Nogales of the Department of Statistics of the
University of Brasília stated, came about due to the governments' solution to the
problems of invasion (squatters). In these cities, then, the growth was not spontaneous,
but was directed by the government. They have grown up as bedroom communities, with only
small, basic-necessity businesses (such as small bars and neighborhood bakeries) with the
inhabitants traveling to the Plano Piloto to work. The Plano Piloto, the administrative
region of Brasília, "grew" at an annual percentage of 1 percent. In other
words, the Plano was reduced from 213,083 in 1991 to 196,691 inhabitants in 2000. Why is
this? According to Ana Maria, this is because there have been relatively low numbers of
births in the Plano Piloto and the middle classes that marry cannot find a place for their
new families to live. So they go to neighboring cities, such as (and especially)
Sobradinho, the city that, in growth, is the sixth largest growing in the last decade (an
average growth rate of 5.25 percent to equal 128,682 inhabitants today).
Brasília, where 196,600 inhabitants of the Federal District live, was not on the list
of the 10 administrative regions that had the largest population increases from 1991-2000.
Brasília, in the last decade, had a growth of 0.89 percent—it lost inhabitants to
the satellite cities which grew at 3.25 percent annually. Recanto das Emas, a
city-satellite of Brasília, more than doubled its population, registering the largest
increase of all the Federal District—52.88 percent.
The Southeast:
Beginning in the 1940s when a mere 30 percent of the population of Brazil was
considered urban, there began a gradual increase in urbanization, exacerbated in the 1950s
with the development of the auto industry in São Paulo. This attracted people from rural
areas, principally from the north of Minas Gerais and the Northeast. Today, however, there
is a change; the rural population increase is a world tendency. Family workers are
diversifying—some still work in agriculture and others choose urban occupations. In
São Paulo, the number of rural workers has increased 0.78 percent in the last 9 years
after 30 years of decrease.
In addition, the facts show decentralization in population growth, although this
doesn't mean that the larger cities are not overflowing or that migration between the
states has stopped. What this means, is that in the cities such as São Paulo and Rio that
traditionally attract waves of immigrants from other regions, demonstrate a smaller growth
rate throughout the 1990s (São Paulo at 0.85 percent and Rio at 0.73 percent). The
expansion rate of these two largest Brazilian cities is lower than that of their
states—this means that it is largely the interior cities of these states that are
responsible for their states' population growth.
Of the state of São Paulo, the ten most populous cities hold 44.37 percent of the
state population, or 16 million people. Of course, these five form part of the São Paulo
city region (São Paulo, Guarulhos, São Bernardo do Campo, Osasco, and Santo André),
which together make up 28.15 percent of the state population. But the ten cities that grew
the most were small and medium-sized cities. For example, Bertioga grew to 30,900
inhabitants with an average growth of 11.76 percent per year. And six of the cities
increased in population due to the tourism industry and two (Porto Real and Itatiaia)
because of new automobile industries.
São Paulo:
According to the 2000 Census, the state of São Paulo has 5.4 million more inhabitants
than in 1991 and three times more than in 1960. In the 1980s, the state (SP) received 3
million migrants, principally from the North and Northeast. In the last decade, one
million people arrived in São Paulo while 600,000 left. Today the state has 36,966,527
inhabitants.
With 21.8 percent of the nation's population, São Paulo not only continues to be the
largest and most urban of the Brazilian states, but also has a growth rate higher than the
national average (1.78 percent compared to the nation's 1.6 percent). From 1996 to the
present, however, the state growth rate has fallen. The city of São Paulo has grown less
in his last decade than in previous decades—1.85 percent compared to 2.56 percent in
the 1980s and 4.51 percent in the 1970s. The degree of urbanization in the state has thus
increased 17.79 percent in the last 9 years to equal a total of five million people.
In 1991, São Paulo was 92.80 percent urban; in 2000 it is 93.41 percent and continues
as the most urban of the Brazilian states. According to IBGE, there are two reasons for
the increase in urbanization of the state—industrialization and better
transportation. (The state spent $10.7 billion on industrialization in the last six
years).
The rural population in São Paulo is increasing—0.78 percent per year in the last
nine years, while the three previous censuses showed between _2.01 percent and _3.10
percent reduction per year. This 0.78 percent increase shows that people are still leaving
the rural areas, although less than before. In the state of São Paulo, the population
growth transferred progressively from large to small cities. In the last few years, the
population of São Paulo has grown more in the outer peripheries where there does not
exist an adequate infrastructure. The more central areas, in contrast, lost dwellers.
Indeed, São Paulo is a city which has a population larger than that of most states, which
a population of 10,406,166. In fact, there are only four states in the entire country with
populations larger than this city:
1. Bahia (13,066,764)
2. Minas Gerais (17,835,488)
3. Rio de Janeiro (14,367,225)
4. São Paulo (36,966,527)
However, although the city of São Paulo is demographically enormous, it, as well as
Rio de Janeiro, have shown the least average in increase of the capitals. (0.85 percent
and 0.75 percent increase respectively). Their growth also remained below their states'
average. Thus it is the cities in the interior of these states that are responsible for
the population growth. According to analyst Luiz Antônio Oliveira, head of the Department
of Population and Social Indicators of the IBGE, the reason for this is that, as a
reality, São Paulo has nowhere else to grow and rural areas are invaded by the city. Thus
while São Paulo grew 6 percent since 1996, it is increasing in population badly. For
example, it has grown more in Anhangüera (in the West Zone) and less in Campo Belo (in
the South Zone). Thus this shows that the city is increasing (in population) the most
where there is not adequate infrastructure. São Paulo, then, has grown mostly in the
peripheries where infrastructure is weak.
In addition, according to professor José Roberto Graziano, during the month of
September of this year, each five people that lived in rural areas in the state of São
Paulo, only two were working in agriculture in 1990, which shows this change. The service
sector is one of the principle explanations for the increase in the rural population.
What is new is that the state population growth is transferring from the largest cities
to the smallest and medium-sized ones. The population of São Paulo, the third largest
city in the world, increased at 1.41 percent annually. São Paulo has, today, 6 percent
more inhabitants than in 1996 (when there were 9,839,066 inhabitants in the city compared
to today's 10 ½ million). It is also growing the most where there does not exist adequate
infrastructure and people are moving out of the central areas. The former municipal
secretary of habitation Ermínia Maricato stated that "The city is growing in a
perverse way," with the central areas losing population—bairros
(neighborhoods) such as Pari, Brás, Sé, and Barra Funda.
Rio de Janeiro:
In the last nine years, the population of the state of Rio de Janeiro has increased by
1.5 million (1,559,519). IBGE has noticed that the rural exodus has diminished and the
coastal population has increased—the urban growth in Rio has been 1.39 percent. The
state of Rio de Janeiro has the largest degree of urbanization in the country—96
percent. In the rural areas, the number of domiciles has fallen from 608,065 to 569,056,
the smallest percentage of decrease since the decade of the 1960s (0.74 percent currently
compared to 3.73 percent in the 1991 census). The reason for this, according to Romualdo
Rezende, the head of the Division of Research of the state of Rio de Janeiro, is due to
the industrialization and economic growth in the interior of the state.
Traditionally, Rio has a negative migration average, meaning more people leave the
state than arrive. The Census 2000, however, shows a change in this. The ten most populous
cities in Rio (in 2000) claimed 10 million people, or 74.5 percent of the state
population. (The capital claims 40.72 percent of the state's population).
The augment in Rio's population is a result of economic expansion—of the 10 cities
that grew the most in the state, two are situated in Bacia de Campos (Rio das Ostras &
Casemiro de Abreu), which thrives off the petroleum boom. The population of the state of
Rio grew 12 percent in nine years thanks to the recuperation of the state's economy, with
the development of the tourist and petroleum sectors as well as the arrival of new
industries. The number of inhabitants grew from 12,807,706 in 1991 to 14,367,225 this
year.
However, although these numbers may seem high, Rio de Janeiro is the state that grew
the least. It achieved 14,367,225, 1.30 percent annual increase. From 1980-1991, the
increase was 1.15 percent per year. The population of the city of Rio de Janeiro
has increased only 1.3 percent annually while the nation has increased 1.6 percent. The
reason for this is that Rio has a low fertility rate, with 2.1 children per woman average.
(Incidentally, in the city of Rio de Janeiro, there are 88.35 men to 100 women, compared
to the state average of 92.07 men to 100 women). Because of the low birth rate in Rio,
then, the population growth rate is expected to stagnate in the next twenty or thirty
years.
North, Northeast, and South:
As has been stated, the capitals of the Northeast and North have growth more than the
average of that of their respective states. The North region had the largest population
growth of the decade—an annual average of 2.9 percent. The Northeast (1.3 percent),
the South (1.4 percent) and the Southeast (1.6 percent) had the smallest annual growth
rates. But 16 other states, mostly in the North and Northeast, have capitals which show
growth rates much larger than their state averages.
The South, much like the North and Northeast, is traditionally rural, although its
population growth was much less these past nine years. Besides the decentralization in Rio
Grande do Sul, the increase in the number of cities also contributed to the number of
non-agricultural-oriented jobs—from 1987-1999, 243 municipalities were created in the
state. 18.4 percent of the 10,179,801 gauchos live in rural areas. This was 23.5 percent
in 1991 and 32.5 percent in 1980. In other words, the South shows a trend of increasing
growth in cities and non-agricultural rural and small city work.
The Census:
The total population of Brazil increased 22.7 million in relation to the 1991
census—over 3 million more than the IBGE predicted. "The difference of three
million people resulted from the quality of information and a larger coverage of the
census," stated Martus Tavares, the Minister of Planning. The IBGE originally
predicted that Brazil would have 167 million inhabitants.
According to the president of the institute, Sérgio Besserman, the facts collected
this year are more precise than that of previous censuses, because of new technology and
management techniques. "We are inaugurating a new era of the census." In order
to count the population, IBGE divided the country in 215,811 sections, each one under the
responsibility of a census-taker. There were 5,507 digitalized maps produced and 6,823
places to collect formulas. 54,332,651 domiciles received visits from workers. Even people
living under the viaducts were counted, since IBGE considered them to regard their living
quarters as "fixed residences."
The 2000 census cost the federal government $350 million and is taking three years to
complete. The largest portion of the costs, $242.5 million, was concentrated this year in
the payment of the salaries of 230,000 people contracted by IBGE as census takers, who
worked between August and November.
The 2000 census will only be completely finished in 2002, so all of these are
preliminary numbers. During the next two years, the IBGE will divulge other results from
the census. In April of 2001 the average inhabitants per domicile, the number of occupied,
closed, and empty domiciles—as well as occasionally used—will be divulged. And
in August, the literacy rates, levels of education, sanitation and home garbage collection
will be announced. The census will inform us about composition of family, color, religion,
education, and migration, among other things.
According to Marta Tavares, the Minister of Planning, "The more we know about the
reality of our country, the better conditions we will have to focus and make adequate
public spending." Regina Monteiro, architect and urbanist of the Defense Movement of
São Paulo (Movimento Defenda São Paulo), stated "Half the population lives in an
irregular form. We need to know where these people are and why they are there." The
demographic conclusions from the census will determine alterations in the public policies
and in the decisions of private investment.
The Future of Brazil:
According to Vianna (president of IBGE), in 1984 each woman had an average of 3.5
children. This is in comparison to 2.6 children per woman in 1990 and 2.2 children per
woman in 2000. But this does not necessarily mean a lower rate of population increase,
however, since these numbers are also accompanied with an increase in life
expectancy—in the beginning of this century, it was around 35 years. Today, however,
it is 72.3 years for women and 64.6 years for men.
The state of Rio averages 2.1 children per woman. The capital is 1.9 children and in
Brazil overall, it is between 2.2 and 2.3 children. Between 1960-1970, Rio was 3.13
children average while Brazil was 5.22. From 1970-1980, Rio was 2.3 while Brazil was 2.48,
and 1980-1990 Rio was 1.15 while Brazil was 1.3. Thus we see that family size in Brazil is
dramatically decreasing.
Latin America is the second fastest growing continent in the world, growing, as has
Brazil, at 1.6 percent annually. In the first place is Africa, with 2.4 percent, and the
growth of the world population is 1.3 percent. According to the UN, Brazil is the fifth
largest country (in terms of inhabitants) in the world. According to UN estimates, Brazil
could have 244,230,000 inhabitants by 2050. Technicians of the IBGE say that for the
population to remain stable, each family should have the equivalent of 2.1 children. But
the Brazilian average is more than that. Latin America and the Caribbean, in 1999, made up
8.5 percent of the world population and should be 9.1 percent in 2050 and 9.4 percent in
2150. Europe, on the other hand, makes up 12.2 percent of the world population but should
be 7 percent in 2050 and 5.3 percent in 2150. North America today comprises 5.1 percent of
the total world population and will be 4.4 percent in 2050 and 4.1 percent in 2150.
Why is the growth rate slowing? According to Alícia Bercovich, this is due to cultural
reasons, such as the diminution in the number of children that contributes to the slowing
in population increase. "There are cultural reasons, such as the diminution of the
number of children, which contributes to the deceleration," said Alícia.
In sum, the industrialization of Brazilian cities in the 1940s and 1950s turned Brazil
into one of the largest and most urban countries in the world. Today, however, the rates
of urbanization are decreasing, with the growth of non-agriculturally oriented jobs in the
countryside. While Brazil has more women than men among her population, this is mainly
confined to the cities; in the rural areas, men continue to dominate the population.
The author is a graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin
and is currently researching labor and immigration in state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The
author can be contacted at krichardson@mail.utexas.edu
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