Demography of an indigenous people in the Brazilian Amazon: the satére-mawé

Abstract

A participative sociodemographic census survey on the sateré-mawé population, carried out in 2002 and 2003, in two indigenous territories and four cities west of the state of Amazonas revealed demographic, economic, social and cultural information about the indigenous people. In all, 7,502 people were interviewed in their lands and 998 in urban areas. The present study aimed to analyze the sociodemographic characteristics of the sateré-mawé, including age and sex distribution, fertility, mortality, and migration. Most of the sateré-mawé are young, because of their high fertility and reduced aged population. There are intense, relatively recent, migratory flows, both towards the land occupied by the sateré-mawé and to nearby cities. Child mortality in the territory is high and uneven, higher in the head of one of the main rivers going through the sateré-mawé territory. The socioeconomic, infrastructural and nutritional characteristics of the sateré-mawé people also determine some elements of the levels and differentials in child mortality.