|
 In Brazil, three million people crossed the poverty threshold over the last six years in the six main metropolitan regions of Brazil, resulting in an 8.8% reduction in poverty percentages. The figures are included in the study Poverty and Riches in Metropolitan Brazil.
The research work was disclosed July 5 by the Brazilian Institute of Applied Economic Research (Ipea), considering figures for the capital cities of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Recife, Salvador, Belo Horizonte and Porto Alegre.
The number of poor people, which was 14.3 million in 2002, rose to 15.4 million in 2003 and has been falling steadily since, reaching 11.3 million this year. In terms of percentages, the evolution was the following: 32.9% in 2002, 35% in 2003 and falling figures form then on, to the current 24.1%.
The main reasons, according to the Ipea, are economic growth, minimum wage raises and federal government income transfer programs.
The level of indigence followed the same rhythm. It was 12.7% in 2002 (5.5 million people), climbed to 13.7% in 2003 (6 million) and is now at 6.6% (3.1 million).
In 2003, the percentage of richest families, with monthly income of over 40 minimum wages, suffered a 20% reduction, returning to growth starting in 2005. According to the Ipea, last year the percentage was at the same level as in 2002 and, this year, the tendency is for it to remain stable.
The study shows, however, that "all these positive figures with regard to poverty have not evolved into productivity gains, due to the economic stability and to gains from higher minimum wages."
According to the Ipea, "the owners of means of production may be taking hold of a larger share of national income."
ABr
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Brazil received a huge boost in its international image with its selection as the host of the 2016 Olympics, but it was really just the cherry on top of the overall recognition of the country's ascension to the ranks of one of the world's most important countries. Now, as it finally takes its place on the world scene, there has been a great deal of concern about what kind of image Brazil hopes to project, now that the world is really paying attention. 
The only good thing to say about the visit to Brazil of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on Monday November 23, is that it was mercifully short and lasted less than 24 hours. Ahmadinejad had his picture taken being hugged by president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva who gave him a warm welcome and said Iran had every right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. 
The small, coastal town of Condé is located just a twenty minute's drive from João Pessoa, the capital of Paraíba. The Northeast of Brazil has historically been a place of encounter and mixing between peoples. For millenia groups of indigenous people fished, farmed, migrated and sometimes fought along this large, fertile area. 
The Brazilian diplo-MÁ-cia (bad diplomacy) carries on its accelerated course towards the non-acknowledgment of human rights, although sometimes it takes pleasure in saying that it does precisely the opposite. The visit of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is another example of a diplomatic omission that verges on hypocrisy. 
On July 4, 2006, representatives of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay met in Caracas to sign the protocol for the entrance of Venezuela into the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). After two and a half years, the protocol was approved by the legislative bodies of Argentina and Uruguay, and as of now it may be only days away from being ratified by the continent's economic megalith, Brazil. 
Some sectors of the fight against AIDS have suggested that Thabo Mbeki, the former president of South Africa, committed genocide through his absence from the fight against the illness in his country throughout his two terms. 
One hundred and eleven years after Brazil abolished slavery, the number of workers deprived of their freedom is still huge. They raise cattle, produce charcoal, sugar cane or timber. Some of them, most undocumented Bolivians, work in basements of small apparel factories in São Paulo and other metropolis. 
On November 7, 2009 a few friends and I had an opportunity to take a look inside a Brazilian jail outside the city of Rio de Janeiro. We were able to take some amateur footage of our experience on video (see link below). It's no surprise, of course, that the typical Brazilian jail lacks some of the functionality of those in North America or Europe, but our experience that day was quite shocking. 
Depletion of the Amazon Rainforest is not a new concern facing environmentalists, biologists, ecologists, and a growing number of the Amazonian indigenous peoples. For decades they have feared for the fate of the world's most biologically diverse and species-rich hothouse. 
Geisy Arruda made history this week in Brazil, but for all the wrong reasons. What began as a poorly planned fashion statement has become a worldwide tale. Geisy decided to wear a pink mini-dress to her private college in São Paulo state, and after that, all hell broke loose.
OR FLED TO THE US OR EU