Data And Statistics In Brazil
Despite IBGE - Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics - being the major actor in Data and Statistics gathering in Brazil, still, there are many private companies that provide information for niches. In this article, we will take a look at the sector of Data and Statistics in Brazil.
State actors
IBGE
The Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística, which is Portuguese for Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, IBGE, is the main provider of data and statistics in the country, serving the needs of different segments of civil society, as well as the organs of federal, state, and local government levels.
The IBGE acts under the Ministry of Planning, Budget and Administration and has the following structure:
- 27 State Units
- 27 Sectors for Documentation and Information Dissemination
- Six Cartography Managing Units in: Bahia, Ceará, Goiânia, Pará, Santa Catarina and Federal District
- Five Natural Resources Managing Units in: Bahia, Goiânia, Pará, Santa Catarina and th Federal District
- 581 Research and Dissemination Agencies, spread in all major cities
It has an annual budget of around BRL 1.5 billion and employs around 10.000 people throughout Brazil.
Since 1938, when it was founded, IBGE has identified and analysed the territory, counted the population, showed how the domestic economy has evolved, and disclosed the living conditions of the people.
The IBGE website possesses indicators about national accounts, the farming and cattle raising sector, industry, trade and services, price indexes, employment and income. It is also possible to find geographical information, social indicators and demographic census.
The main activity that the IBGE performs is the population census, occurring every 10 years. The results of the last population census begun to be released in December 2010. Over 190.000 census collectors visited more than 65 million households in all 5.565 Brazilian municipalities.
Other major state actors
Central Bank of Brazil, part of the National Financial System , exerts the function of monetary authority of the country. On their website they provide an updated series about the economic activity, market expectation, credit indicators, financial market, capital market, foreign sector, international market, monetary indicators and public finances.
Institute of Applied Economic Research, IPEA, works conjointly with other bodies and institutions for the production of studies, research and data related to the economic area. On IPEA's website, we find its main database, the IPEA-data, with macroeconomic and financial data. The main themes are population, employment, wages and income, production, consumption and sales, national accounts, public finances, price indexes, interests, currencies, balance of payments and international economy.
The National Treasury Office constitutes the main body of the Federal Finance Administration System and of the Federal Accounting System. The data found in its website include the National Treasury result, public debt, General Government, data about the States and Municipalities, financial programming, expenditures with personnel (budgetary execution) and Governmental accounting.
The Securities and Exchange Commission, CVM, has the function to bring discipline to the securities market and to follow up the operation of open capital companies, investors and intermediaries. On its website, regulations, information about open capital companies and their financial statements, historical data covering the issuing of securities, and varied data about the investment funds industry can be found.
Superintendence of Complementary Pension, PREVIC, is a government entity responsible for the oversight and supervision of the activities of pension funds. It is subordinated to the Ministry of Social Security and periodically publishes statistical reports about the sector.
All 10 National Regulatory Agencies:
- ANATEL (National Agency for Telecommunications)
- ANEEL (National Agency for Electric Power)
- ANP (National Agency for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels)
- ANVISA (National Agency for Health Surveillance)
- ANS (National Agency for Supplementary Health)
- ANA (National Agency for Water)
- ANTAQ (National Agency for Waterway Transportation)
- ANTT (National Agency for Terrestrial Transportation)
- ANCINE (National Agency for Cinema)
- ANAC (National Agency for Civil Aviation)
The Bureau of Foreign Exchange produces relevant information about all of Brazil’s exports and Brazil’s balance of trade.
Private actors
According to ABEP, the Brazilian Association for Survey Companies, there are currently 178 survey companies authorized to work in Brazil.
IBOPE is the largest private research company in Latin America and the 13th largest in the world. IBOPE releases data and statistics about the media, public opinion, products and services, brands, consumption and election polls.
Since 1988, Vox Populi has covered state, municipal, and presidential elections in the country. It recently joined the Carta Capital magazine and the Bandeirantes television network to conduct research on social issues.
Datafolha was created as a research and data processing department for Grupo Folha with the goal of providing data and statistics and serve as a planning tool for the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo and other media companies. It now works as an independent company producing surveys in the areas of public opinion, election polls, products and services, vehicles, wages, prices, and sports
Nielsen is a German-American company studying consumer habits in more than 100 countries. In Brazil, besides its normal consumption habits surveys, Nielsen partnered with IBOPE for measuring statistics about the internet.
TNS is a British leading market research and market information group. They are present in over 75 countries and employ around 14.000 people. TNS concentrates in qualitative surveys which produce data about Consumption, Technology, Finances, Vehicles, Retail and Healthcare.
The GfK group is Germany’s largest market research institute, and the fourth largest market research organisation in the world. It entered the Brazilian market in 2002, but, in December 2013, it signed a major five-year agreement with Record, SBT, RedeTV, and Band, four of the five major television networks in Brazil.
Gallup, Inc. is an American research-based, global performance-management consulting company. It is famous for its public opinion polls around the world. Some of Gallup's key practice areas are employee engagement, customer engagement, talent management, and well-being.
Outdated numbers
There is a recurrent problem about surveys in Brazil: outdated numbers and publications that take long to be updated. Actually, this problem mostly encompasses data about the population, such as demographic census, which is done every 10 years, and their habits, except consumption habits.
This can be explained as Brazil is a country with continental dimensions. On that account, many surveys are qualitative and not quantitative, as qualitative statistics tend to be valid for a longer period.