STORY-TRÅD·ekonomi

Brazil reduces poverty but widens inequalities

A new report by the Brazilian Observatory on Inequalities – an assortment of NGOs and civil society associations – indicates that, over the past year, Brazil has made progress in 34 (71%) of the 48 indicators studied to analyze efforts to address inequalities. The progress highlighted by the study relates primarily to improvements in average income, growth in the labor market, poverty reduction, as well as greater food security and access to basic services. Notícias relacionadas:Survey highlights lack of access to healthy food in Brazil’s favelas.Half of Brazilian women claim to have faced violence from partners.Study shows persistence of violence against children in Brazil.Health indicators (such as a reduction in child and elderly malnutrition), education (including a decline in illiteracy), and safety (like a lower rate of reported homicides among young people aged 15 to 29) have also improved. Of the total indicators analyzed, eight worsened and six remained stable. Among the indicators that worsened are: an increase in the number of women earning less than men; a rise in income concentration; lower tax rates as income increases; more unfavorable conditions for black Brazilians; an increase in the concentration of the worst social indicators in the North and Northeast. According to the report’s authors, the indicators that showed deterioration reveal that the main mechanisms perpetuating inequalities remain active. “Economic growth has benefited different social groups, but it has not been sufficient to reduce historical disparities in income, gender, race, and region,” the text notes. In the preface to the publication, Betina Ferraz Barbosa, coordinator of the Human Development Unit at the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) for Brazil, notes that the analysis of these indicators helps to provide a deeper understanding of the indices published by various organizations and goes beyond the concept of human development based exclusively on economic indicators of health and education. “The average figures mask a more complex reality – the advances were real and, at the same time, deeply unequal,” she pointed out.