Indigenous People: Shavante Indians of Brazil

Brazil's population is very diverse, comprising many races and ethnic groups. In general, Brazilians trace their origins from four sources: Amerindians, Europeans, Africans and Asians.

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.

Historically, Brazil has experienced large degrees of ethnic and racial miscegenation, assimilation of cultures and syncretism.

South America has an estimated population of 385 million (as of 2005) and a rate of population growth of about 0.6% per year.^{[citation needed]}