IBGE releases the results of Population Count 2007 and Brazil’s Federal Register publishes a list with the 26 states and the Federal District, and also with the 5,564 Brazilian municipalities.

IBGE releases the results of Population Count 2007 and Brazil’s Federal Register publishes a list with the 26 states and the Federal District, and also with the 5,564 Brazilian municipalities, according to Complementary Law no. 59, of December 22, 1988 and article 102 of Law no. 8443 of July 16, 1992. Mayors will be informed by means of an official statement from IBGE about the population in their municipalities. City government representatives will have a period of up to 20 days to submit possible complaints to IBGE, which will come to a proper conclusion concerning them.

Finally, on October 31, IBGE will send the final results to the Brazilian Court of Audit (TCU), which will use them as a calculation basis for the shares of the Municipality Participation Fund (FPM). In December, after the consolidation of numbers has been finished by IBGE, data about the population and other investigated variables will be released.

The Count occurred in 5 414 municipalities with up to 170 thousand inhabitants and in 21 municipalities of 14 states in which one or two municipalities surpassed the minimum number of inhabitants, allowing the population of these states to be counted based on the results of the Population Count. Besides the population investigated by the Census and covered by the Count, the results released by IBGE an estimated percentage representing the so-called closed households, in areas in which it was not possible to interview the dwellers.

For the municipalities in which the Count was not conducted, IBGE made estimates for 2007. The description of the methodology used for this estimate, as well as the technical note entitled “Methodology for the Estimation of Dwellers in Closed Households” can be found on the IBGE web site (Resident Population in 2007).

Censuses 2007 also comprised the data collection of the 10^th Census of Agriculture, which will present information such as the number of establishments, overall area (ha), legal conditions of the land (private, waiting for title, leased, shared, occupied), use of land (crops, pastures, woods and forests, irrigated area), employed persons (total, related and not-related persons), tractors, number of animals (cattle, buffaloes, goats, sheep, hogs and pigs and poultry), animal production (milk, eggs, wool) and vegetation production.

Besides showing a scenario of the reality in the country, Census 2007 are used to produce essential information for the development of public policies and for decision making concerning investments by either private or governmental spheres. The main technological innovation introduced this year is the use, by field staff, of about 82 thousand handheld computers (PDA’s). Although this digital equipment has been previously used in other IBGE surveys, this is the first time the institution has used this resource in a census operation. PDA’s have brought several advantages, such as the possibility of real-time evaluation of data. It allows the correction of inconsistencies during the interview, and the filling out of all the compulsory questionnaire sections, avoiding, as a consequence, mistakes caused by lack of answers due to interviewer’s mistakes.

Being equipped with GPS (Global Positioning System), the PDA’s allow the exact location of census takers in data collecting areas, as well as the precise reception of geographic coordinates of establishments and households in the rural area. There have been several advantages in electronic data collection, especially concerning the speed of the interviews of the information processing and the dissemination of results to society. The IBGE data collection network has 1,111 units with microcomputers and broadband internet access, among which 700 have satellite transmission. The PDA’s are already being used in other surveys, such as the National Household Sample Survey 2007 (PNAD 2007) and the National Consumer Price Index.

¹ Rio Branco (AC), Arapiraca (AL), Maceió (AL), Manaus (AM), Macapá (AP), Imperatriz (MA), São Luís (MA), Campo Grande (MS), Dourados (MS), Cuiabá (MT), Várzea Grande (MT), Campina Grande (PB), João Pessoa (PB), Teresina (PI), Mossoró (RN), Natal (RN), Porto Velho (RO), Boa Vista (RR), Aracaju (SE), Nossa Senhora Do Socorro (SE), Palmas (TO).