Poverty

Perhaps the most important social indicator is the extent of extreme poverty among a country’s people. Poverty has been high in Brazil for an upper-middle-income country. There has been progressing; a World Bank study found that Brazil’s average per capita income grew by 220% in the high-growth years from 1960 to 1980, with a 34% decline in the share of the poor in the population. On the other hand, similarly-sized Indonesia grew 108% from 1971 to 1987, with a 42% decline in poverty incidence. And some of the ground gained on poverty was subsequently lost in Brazil in the 1980s and 1990s. According to World Bank estimates, in 2009, some 10.8% of the population of Brazil lived on less than $2 per day. And according to the most recent data, 6.1% actually lived in extreme poverty, with incomes below $1.25 per day (World Bank, 2013 World Development Indicators), worse than some low-income countries such as Sri Lanka. But this may actually be an underestimate. According to a Brazilian government research institute cited by the United Nations Development Programme, and even more shocking 15% of Brazilians have incomes of less than $1 a day. However, poverty is now falling, and the recent Bolsa Familia (family stipend) government program has received high marks for addressing poverty through its “conditional cash transfers” of resources to poor families, provided that they keep children vaccinated and in school; it is similar to the Mexican Progresa/Oportunidades program that is the subject of the end-of-chapter case study for Chapter 8. It must also be mentioned that physical security remains a pressing problem in Brazil, with violent gangs having extensive sway. This problem can have the greatest negative impact on people living in poverty.