Racial and socioeconomic segregation: an analysis of three Brazilian Metropolitan areas

Resumen

Brazil is characterized by racial and socioeconomic segregation. The objective of the research presented here is to analyze socioeconomic and racial segregation in three metropolitan areas (Recife, Belo Horizonte and Porto Alegre). Microdata from the 2000 Brazilian Census was used for this analysis, as well as maps produced for the selected areas by groups of census tracts (áreas de ponderação), using Geographic Information Systems techniques. In general, results indicate that among those areas with a majority of whites, a high proportion of the population holds at least high school degree. Moreover, the nonwhite population lives farther away from the core of the municipality, compared to whites. Finally, whites tend to live in less elevated areas with more public infrastructure and a greater availability of major roads. An improvement to this research could be the inclusion of spatial analysis and statistical models to better understand the relationship between race and socioeconomic indicators. Keywords: Racial segregation; socioeconomic segregation; metropolitan areas; Brazil.