page_title: Demographics of Brazil
section_title: Languages
hierarchical_section_title: Demographics of Brazil / Languages
context_page_description: The population of Brazil is very diverse, comprising many races and ethnic groups. In general, Brazilians trace their origins from three sources: Europeans, Amerindians and Africans. Historically, Brazil has experienced large degrees of ethnic and racial admixture, assimilation of cultures and syncretism. The Brazilian population is said to be one of the most mixed in the world.
  Brazil has conducted a periodical population census since 1872. Since 1940, this census has been carried out decennially. Scanned versions of the forms for each census distributed in Brazil since 1960 are available on-line from IPUMS International. With a total population of 211,531,000 as of 2020, Brazil is the sixth most populated country in the world.
context_section_description: Portuguese is the only official language of Brazil. It is spoken by nearly the entire population and is virtually the only language used in schools, newspapers, radio, TV and for all business and administrative purposes. Moreover, Brazil is the only Portuguese-speaking nation in the Americas, making the language an important part of Brazilian national identity.
  Many Amerindian languages are spoken daily in indigenous communities, primarily in Northern Brazil. Although many of these communities have significant contact with Portuguese, today there are incentives stimulating preservation and the teaching of native languages. According to SIL International, 133 Native American languages are currently endangered. Some of the largest indigenous language groups include Arawak, Carib, Macro-Gê and Tupi. In 2006, the City of São Gabriel da Cachoeira in the region of Cabeça do Cachorro (Northwestern region of the State of Amazonas), has adopted some indigenous languages as some of its other official languages along with Portuguese.
  Other languages are spoken by descendants of immigrants, who are usually bilingual, in small rural communities in Southern Brazil. The most important are the Brazilian German dialects, such as Riograndenser Hunsrückisch and the East Pomeranian dialect, and also the Talian, based on the Italian Venetian language. There are also bilingual speakers of Polish, Ukrainian and Russian in Southern Brazil, especially Paraná. In the city of São Paulo, Levantine Arabic, Japanese, Chinese and Korean can be heard in the immigrant neighborhoods, such as Liberdade. Yiddish and Hebrew are used by Jewish communities mainly in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre, Curitiba, Brasília, Belo Horizonte and Recife as well as the Vlax Romani dialect by Gypsy communities all across the nation.
caption: The Museum of the Portuguese Language in São Paulo.
exif: {"Image Make": "Hewlett-Packard", "Image Model": "HP PhotoSmart R707 (V01.00)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "PhotoScape", "Image DateTime": "2006:03:22 17:47:35", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "216", "EXIF ExposureTime": "183/25000", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Action", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF OECF": "[]", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2006:03:22 17:47:35", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2006:03:22 17:47:35", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "48515049", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "1817/256", "EXIF ApertureValue": "195/64", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "981/256", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "14/5", "EXIF SubjectDistance": "2011/500", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "D65", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "8", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0010", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2592", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1952", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48, 0]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "3372", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "27/1000000", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "27/1000000", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "3", "EXIF ExposureIndex": "200", "EXIF SensingMethod": "Not defined", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "39", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF DeviceSettingDescription": "[1, 0, 15, 0, 48, 48, 48, 48, 65, 48, 48, 48, 48, 55, 65, 48, 48, 48, 48, 56, ... ]", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "3"}