The Xavante indigenous population in Mato Grosso: health-related sociodemographic characteristics

Objective  To compare Xavante sociodemographic indicators from six indigenous lands with the non-indigenous population residing in rural areas of four adjacent microregions.

Method  This is an ecological cross-sectional study, with comparative analyzes between indigenous and non-indigenous residents in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil. Age and sex structure, literacy rate, income, household sanitation conditions and mortality were compared.

Results  A total of 14,905 Xavante people and 78,106 non-indigenous people (white, black, yellow and brown) residing in rural areas were characterized. The age structure revealed divergent patterns, 40.0% of Xavante were under 10 years old, against 15.0% of non-indigenous people in the same age group. Regarding non-indigenous people, the Xavante had a higher illiteracy rate (31.3% vs. 9.9%), and 84.1% of the households did not have a bathroom or toilet, 39.6% of Xavante people did not declare an income against 6.5% for the non-indigenous.

Conclusion and implication for practice  Data on ethnicity, collected for the first time by a census, are essential for demographic analyzes of specific segments of the population, and in the case of the Xavante, they reveal inequalities in relation to non-indigenous people.

Keywords:
Indigenous Peoples; Xavante; Demographic Census; Health