Brazil's president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has promised an affirmative action plan to increase the number of Brazilians attending university, especially those from ethnic minority groups. Five times more whites get into university than blacks or Indians, according to data released from the 2000 census. Overall, 3.43 per cent of the population of 170 million has a degree, up from 2.7 per cent at the time of the previous census in 1991.