Newspaper Folha de São Paulo published a special section yesterday about racism in the country, with new data gathered by Datafolha this year, compared to a research conducted back in 1995. Here are some of the statistics featured in the new research.

In 1995, 50% of the people interviewed considered themselves white, 29% mixed, and 12% black. The number of people who considered themselves white dropped to 37% this year, and the number of people who considered themselves mixed and black rose to 36% and 14%, respectively. This data is cohesive with census researches from 2007, which noted that for the first time ever the number of mixed and black people was larger than the number of white people. One of the possible reasons for that change is the fact that in average mixed and black women have had more children than white women in the past ten years. Another reason is the fact that over the last 10 years people who used to identify themselves as white have started to think of themselves as mixed.

When asked if they had prejudice against black people, 3% of the people interviewed answered yes. In 1995, that number was 11%.

When asked if they had ever felt discriminated because of the color of their skin, 84% answered no. Out of the 16% who answered yes, 41% was black and 15% was mixed. The number of people who had answered that they felt discriminated because of skin color in 1995 was 22%.

According to census research from 2007, the 10% poorest population is constituted 68.1% of black and mixed people. Out of the 10% richest in the country, only of 21.9% is black or mixed. The numbers in 1995 were almost the same, 67.5% and 17.3%.

The number of black and mixed students at university level has risen from 18% to 31%. 51% of the people interviewed by Datafolha were in favor of affirmative action, while 39% were against it. 40% agreed with the idea that there should be a certain required percentage of black characters in movies, soaps, and advertising, while 50% disagreed.

150,000 black students are supposed to graduated and enter the job market until 2013, thanks to affirmative action. 49% of white people support the implementation of a system which would reserve 20% of all jobs in public and private companies to black people. 55% of black people interviewed supported the idea.

When asked which group suffers the most prejudice in the country, 56% answered blacks and mixed people, 21% answered poor people, and 8% answered homosexuals.

The Datafolha research interviewed 2,982 people in 213 cities across the country. I have read the entire section of Folha de São Paulo about it, and wish it were available in English so that I could post it here, especially considering there is often a racial debate in the comments section.