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The Census of transparency and overcoming

At 87 years of age, the IBGE consolidated itself as a data provider and as a reference for information and transformations in Brazil - and overcame it on July 28, at the Museum of Tomorrow, in Rio de Janeiro. In the Museum, the IBGE began a historical journey of releases of the Population Census. The first - and coming - results allow to state that its database became bigger, richer and more relevant - on duty of Brazil. If the IBGE already provided a complete and current vision of Brazil, now the vision became clearer. The Census establishes itself as a reliable source for the knowledge of life conditions of the population. It is the Census that informs how many we are, where we live, how we live and what we need. A product of the huge effort of a legion of IBGE enumerators and officers.

The GPS coordinates of every urban and rural household were captured for the first time ever. The Census put the age, sex and color of Brazil on the map. The indigenous, quilombolas and residents in agglomerates. The income classes. The Brazil that knows to read and write (and the one that should know). The Brazil that attends school (and the one that needs to attend). The Brazil that works (and the one that wants to work). The Brazil of houses with bathroom, sewage, piped water (and the one that lacks essential services). The Brazil that has faith (and the one without religion). And the Brazil of persons with disability. Also for the first time, persons diagnosed with autism spectrum will be on the map.

All this was only possible because the society - the majority one - opened their doors to the Census. The IBGE thanks the families that hosted the enumerators and supervisors, as well as all the officers dedicated to the Census. The IBGE also thanks the support of several ministries, especially that of Planning. The Census Advisory Commission and the Experts Workgroup should be highlighted. The national and international institutions that provided the IBGE with moral encouragement and methodological confidence. And the press that critically and honestly reported many challenges - exacerbated in these times of shortage of resources and excess of misinformation.

Punctual issues can be raised. However, the technical and technological operation of the Census cannot be doubted. It would be like questioning the electronic ballots. It is not time for a census denialism. It should be understood and accepted that, like in a competition that some win and some lose, in the Census some grow and some reduce. It is not possible to please at the same time those that lose or maintain the ranking in the Municipal Revenue Sharing Fund, because the rules and parameters of the FPM are not established by the IBGE.

The IBGE´s mission - daily verbalized proudly by the IBGEans - is to portray Brazil with information required to know its reality and to the exercise of citizenship. Under the mantle of this Census/Sense of transparency and overcoming - grounded in science, not in narrative - it is possible to conclude that the IBGE honored its nearly-secular reputation. By revealing the true size of Brazil with the Census, the IBGE reaffirms its own size.