Census Finds Consensual Unions Now Outnumber Formal Marriages in Brazil

Overview

• Consensual unions became the most common form of partnership in 2022, reaching 38.9% versus 37.9% for civil-and-religious marriages.
• Couples without children nearly doubled since 2000 to about a quarter of families, while couples with children fell below half for the first time.
• Same-sex conjugal unions grew from 58,000 in 2010 to 480,000 in 2022, or 0.7% of households, with 58% formed by women.
• One-person households tripled to 13.6 million, representing 19.1% of all households in 2022.
• Overall, 51.3% of people aged 10 or older lived in a union, and the census recorded 34,000 children aged 10–14 in unions based on self-reports, a figure the IBGE cautions does not imply legal status.