For the first time, non-white people make up the majority of Brazil's population, according to preliminary results of the 2010 census

Out of around 191 million Brazilians, 91 million identified themselves as white, 82 million as mixed race and 15 million as black. Whites fell from 53.7% of the population in 2000 to 47.7% in 2010. The number of people identifying as black rose from 6.2% to 7.6%, while the number saying that they were of mixed race rose from 38.5% to 43.1%. Among minority groups, 2 million Brazilians identified themselves as Asian, and 817,000 as indigenous. More than half of the population earned less than the minimum wage and, on average, white and Asian Brazilians earned twice as much as black or mixed-race Brazilians. Brazil is one of the most ethnically-diverse countries in the world and many Brazilians regard their nation as a "racial democracy" where there is little overt racism. Nonetheless black Brazilians - the descendants of African slaves brought over during Portuguese colonial rule - are much more likely to be poor and rarely reach the top levels of business or politics.