Pardo Brazilians
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (82,277,333 43.13% of Brazil's population (2010 Census)) |
|
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Entire country; highest percentages found in the Center-Northern parts of Brazil (North, Northeast, Center-Western and Center-Northern part of the Southeast region). | |
| Languages | |
| Predominantly Portuguese. Before the late-18th century, predominantly língua geral. | |
| Religion | |
| 74% Roman Catholic · 18.2% Protestant · 5.6% irreligious · 2% other denominations (Kardecist, Umbanda, Candomblé) | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Brazilians |
In Brazil, Pardo (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈpaʁdu] or [ˈpaɾdu]) is an ethnic/skin color category used by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) in the Brazilian censuses. The term "pardo" is a complex one, more commonly used to refer to Brazilians of mixed ethnic ancestries. Pardo Brazilians represent a wide range of skin colours and backgrounds. They are typically a mixture of white Brazilian, Afro-Brazilian and Native Brazilian.
The other categories are branco ("white"), preto ("black"), amarelo ("yellow", meaning East Asians), and indígena ("indigene" or "indigenous person", meaning Amerindians). The term was and is still popular in Brazil.
Pardo was also a casta classification used in Colonial Spanish America from the 16th to 19th centuries. The term pardo was used primarily in small areas of Spanish America whose economy was based on slavery during the Spanish colonization period.
According to IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics), pardo is a broad classification that encompasses Multiracial Brazilians such as mulatos and cafuzos, as well as assimilated Amerindians known as caboclos, mixed with Europeans or not. The term "pardo" was first used in a Brazilian census in 1872. The following census, in 1890, replaced the word pardo by mestiço (that of mixed origins). The censuses of 1900 and 1920 did not ask about race, arguing that "the answers largely hid the truth".
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