For every 10 medical students in the state of São Paulo, eight (84.5%) are white, according to the Medical Demography 2026 study, from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of São Paulo (FMUSP). Blacks (the sum of blacks and browns) correspond to 12.6% of students, while yellow and indigenous students represent 2.7% and 0.2%, respectively.
In all years analyzed, from 2015 to 2024, the majority of students identified as white. Compared to national data on medical students by race/color in 2023 (68.6% white students and 29.2% black students), the difference between these groups in São Paulo was even more pronounced.
In the state, in 9 years, white hegemony has fallen by only 2.5 percentage points. In absolute terms, the black population among medical students in São Paulo increased from 1,433 in 2015 to 6,824 in 2024 – the proportion increased from 8% to 12.6% during the period.
Natives and yellows are minorities among the students in the course. With only 2.7% representatives, yellow students have lost 2.2 percentage points since 2015. Over the same period, indigenous students have only increased by 0.1%.
Public x private education
Based on the analysis of the nature of educational institutions, the research showed a higher frequency of black students in public universities than in private universities. In 2015, the difference was 10.2% versus 7.4%, while in 2024, public institutions had 23.2% black and mixed race students, and private institutions 11.6%.
In public schools, there has been a decrease in the number of white students and an increase in the number of mixed-race students. The presence of mixed race people has also increased in private universities, but to a lesser extent.
Since 2014, the proportion of medical students who attended secondary schools in private schools has decreased from 75.5% to 65.4% in 2024. The proportion of students in public schools has increased to 34.6%.
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In private middle schools, the number of students from private high schools was, in 2014, almost three times higher than that from public high schools (74.2% compared to 25.8%). In 2024, the gap narrowed, but the proportion was still almost twice as large. The index is the most balanced in the historical series.
In public medical schools, the number of private secondary education students was, in 2014, 2.5 times higher than that of public secondary education students. Last year, this ratio decreased to 2.1 times.
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