Afro-Brazilians (Portuguese: Afro-brasileiros; pronounced [ˈafɾo bɾaziˈle(j)ɾus]), also known as Black Brazilians (Portuguese: Brasileiros negros), are Brazilians of total or predominantly Sub-Saharan African ancestry. Most multiracial Brazilians also have a range of degree of African ancestry. Brazilians whose African features are more evident are generally seen by others as Black and may identify themselves as such using the term preto, for instance. Those with less noticeable African features may not be seen as such, but nevertheless choose to identify themselves using the term pardo, negro, or afrodescendente. However, Brazilians rarely use the term "Afro-Brazilian" as a term of ethnic identity and never in informal discourse.
Preto ("black") and pardo ("brown/mixed") are among five ethnic categories used by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), along with branco ("white"), amarelo ("yellow", ethnic East Asian), and indígena (indigenous). In the 2022 census, 20.7 million Brazilians (10,2% of the population) identified as preto, while 92.1 million (45,3% of the population) identified as pardo, together making up 55.5% of Brazil's population. The term preto is usually used to refer to those with the darkest skin colour, so as a result of this many Brazilians of African descent identify themselves as pardos. The Brazilian Black Movement considers pretos and pardos together as part of a single category: negros (Blacks). In 2010, this perspective gained official recognition when Brazilian Congress passed a law creating the Statute of Racial Equality. However, this definition is contested since a portion of pardos are acculturated indigenous people or people with indigenous and European rather than African ancestry, especially in Northern Brazil. A survey from 2002 revealed that if the pardo category were removed from the census, at least half of those identifying as pardo would instead choose to identify as black. Another survey from 2024 showed that only 40% of pardos consider themselves Black.
