STORY-TRÅD·politik

Race, gender, background shape social mobility in Brazil, study finds

The Atlas of Social Mobility, released Friday (Jul. 31), reveals that race, gender, and family background are the main factors limiting social mobility in Brazil. The Atlas is a public platform developed by the Institute for Social Mobility and Development (IMDS) in partnership with the Prospera Lab research group. According to the survey, among white youth born into families in the bottom 25 percent of the income distribution, 36.3 percent remain in the same group as adults. Among non-white individuals, the share rises to 51.6 percent, indicating that race is an even more decisive factor in social mobility outcomes. Notícias relacionadas:UN: Brazil remains off Hunger Map.Brazil adds political education to school curriculum.One in four public school students in Brazil studies full-time.Data from the Atlas indicate that gender also significantly affects prospects for social mobility. Among children of parents in the bottom 25 percent of the income distribution, about one-third of men (32.9%) remain in the same income stratum in adulthood. Among women, the proportion reaches 65.1 percent. This disparity is also evident when broken down by race: while 69 percent of non-white women remain in the bottom 25 percent of the income distribution as adults, the share among white women is lower, at 52.9 percent. Family background The study also shows that children of parents who were in the bottom 25 percent of the income distribution have a 48 percent chance of remaining in the same group as adults. The chances of breaking this cycle are slim: only 8.32 percent move into the top 25 percent of the income distribution, and only 1.28 percent reach the country’s top 10 percent income bracket. The situation for those born into higher-income families, however, is quite different. Young people whose parents belonged to the middle segment of the income distribution, between the 26th and 75th percentiles, have a 17.5 percent probability of reaching the top 25 percent of the income distribution in adulthood. Among children from families in the top 25 percent of the income distribution, 56.5 percent remain in the same stratum as adults, and 30.8 percent reach the top 10 percent. Generations The hierarchy of opportunities, according to the Atlas, has remained resilient over time. When comparing two generations-those born between 1983 and 1987 and those born between 1988 and 1990-the data reveal that, despite a slight increase in social mobility between the two groups, children’s chances of moving up the income distribution remain closely tied to their parents’ socioeconomic status. Children of parents who belonged to the bottom 25 percent of the income distribution and were born between 1983 and 1987 had a 7.9 percent probability of rising to the top 25 percent as adults. Among those born between 1988 and 1990, this probability rose to 8.8 percent. The same pattern holds true for children from middle-income families: the chance of moving into the top 25 percent of income earners rose from 16.6 percent to 18.6 percent, a small change that underscores the persistence of limited social mobility. Regions The Atlas analyzed the chances of social mobility for young people from low-income families in different regions of the country. The highest probabilities of upward mobility are concentrated in the South, Southeast, and parts of the Central-West. In contrast, much of the North and Northeast has the lowest rates of mobility, revealing areas where poverty tends to persist across generations. The persistence of social disadvantages-where children from lower-income families are more likely to remain in the same income group-is most pronounced in municipalities in the North and Northeast regions. The contrasts among Brazilian municipalities illustrate the magnitude of inequalities in opportunity. In Assis Brasil, in the state of Acre in the North region, 84.4 percent of young people from families in the bottom 25 percent of the income distribution remain in the same income group as adults-one of the worst outcomes in the country. In contrast, in Ponte Serrada, in the state of Santa Catarina in the South region, only 2.13 percent of young people remain in that income stratum, highlighting an environment much more conducive to upward socioeconomic mobility. Education Among the socioeconomic indicators included in the Atlas, education emerged as the dimension most closely associated with social mobility. Municipalities with better educational indicators-such as higher scores on the Basic Education Development Index (IDEB) and lower age-grade discrepancy-tend to offer greater opportunities for upward mobility. “Social mobility depends on the ability to reduce inequalities rooted in people’s backgrounds. The Atlas shows that educational policies are fundamental, but they must be accompanied by economic strategies capable of expanding opportunities throughout life. Our goal is to provide evidence that helps policymakers design more effective policies to promote social advancement,” emphasized IMDS President Paulo Tafner. Estimates of intergenerational income mobility were calculated using contemporary methods for measuring social mobility, administrative data from the Federal Revenue Service and the Ministries of Labor and Employment and Social Development, and household surveys conducted by Brazil’s statistics agency, the IBGE. The full study is available at https://atlasmobilidadesocial.org.br/.