A homeless man outside a cafeteria in central São Paulo in February last year. NELSON ALMEIDA (AFP)
The top 1% earners among Brazilians earned 17,447 reais per month last year, while the poorest half of their 210 million compatriots earned 540 reais per capita; that is more than $3,500 per month versus $109. In other words, the super-privileged earned 32.5 percent more than half of the country. This brutal gap reflects the huge inequality that prevails in Brazil, but at the same time, and this is the news of the time, it is the lowest difference in the last 11 years, as the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) revealed this Thursday reported ).
Thanks to the huge infusion of public funds to the poor, fueled by the election campaign on the eve of last October’s presidential election, the income of the half who receive the least rose by 18%, while the income of the richest 1% fell by three-tenths a year 2022.
As a result, the Gini index, which measures inequality, fell to 0.518, after remaining at 0.544 a year earlier, on a scale where zero represents maximum equality and one represents absolute inequality. Brazil is definitely one of the countries where the gap between the privileged and the dispossessed is widest, as evidenced by one of the most famous photos illustrating this phenomenon, taken in São Paulo in 2004. Photographer Tuca Vieira captured the air is a point where the favela of Paraisópolis and some towers with pools on their balconies meet.
Numerically, Brazil ranks 17th in the World Inequality Database, led by South Africa. Above the most populous and wealthiest country in Latin America are a few African countries, three petromonarchies, Yemen and Mexico. Chile follows closely behind.
That Brazil records its lowest inequality since the current calculation criteria were introduced is due to several factors, as IBGE analyst Alessandra Brito explained to the local press: “The sudden drop in this ratio to its lowest level in the historical series reflects a bit from everything we observe. Many people have returned to the labor market [tras la pandemia de la covid-19]The poorest receive aid that is comparable in amount to emergency aid [para paliar los estragos del coronavirus] and the richest 1% had a modest drop in income.
A key factor in this decline in inequality is the wages of the poorest Brazilians (those living on less than $40), which rose spectacularly on the eve of the election campaign. Former President Jair Bolsonaro increased the salary to 600 reais (121) with approval and a maneuver by Congress to neutralize the poor’s preference for the left and their re-election. His opponent, the leftist Lula, immediately promised that the figure of 600 would be maintained in the event of an election victory. And so it was, the President just reworded that aid and renamed it “Bolsa Família” and added one more for each underage child.
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As a result, 20 million disinherited families will receive public money in their bank three times the pre-pandemic Bolsa Família average payment.
Over the past decade, the income gap between the mega-rich 1% and the poorest 50% has narrowed significantly. In the past year, some earned 32 times more than others, while a decade ago it was 38 times more.
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