Last year, Brazil reached the lowest levels of poverty and extreme poverty since 2012, when the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE, in Portuguese) began the historical series. The information comes from the Synthesis of Social Indicators 2024 survey, released on Wednesday (4).
The data shows that 8.7 million people were lifted out of poverty in one year, and the poverty rate dropped from 31.6% to 27.4% of the total Brazilian population.
In the same period, extreme poverty numbers fell from 12.6 million to 9.5 million people, reducing the rate from 5.9% to 4.4% of the population.
The IBGE calculates this data using income parameters set by the World Bank. Individuals earning less than BRL 6.85 a day (approximately US$ 1.34), or BRL 665 a month (around US$ 130.39), are classified as impoverished. Extreme poverty is defined by an income of $2.15 a day, or about BRL 209 a month.
One factor leading to these improvements, particularly in extreme poverty, is the federal government's social programs. Without these social policies, extreme poverty would have risen to 11.2% and the poverty rate to 32.4%.
Another contributing factor is the increase in employment. In 2022, 97 million people were employed. In 2023, this number rose to 100.7 million, including 2 million new jobs with contracts and 1.7 million without.
Developments, however, have not been the same for different groups in society. Brazilians from the North and Northeast regions, women, and Black people are still the most affected by inequality.
The poor account for 47.2% of the population in the Northeast and 38.5% in the North. In other regions, the rates drop to 18.4% in the Southeast, 17.8% in the Midwest, and 14.8% in the South. The scenario is repeated for the extremely poor: 9.1% in the Northeast, 6% in the North, 2.5% in the Southeast, 1.8% in the Midwest, and 1.7% in the South.
Regarding gender, women are poorer (28.4%) than men (26.3%). They are also more extremely poor (4.5%) than men (4.3%).
Poverty also affects more Brown people (35.5%) and Black people (30.8%) than White people (17.7%). Likewise, Blacks are extremely poor: Browns account for 6% and Blacks 4.7%. Among Whites, 2.6% are in extreme poverty.
