Poverty in Brazil
Brazilian Poor Don't Have Equal Access to Education, Employment
Many of the poor in Brazil are not given equal access to health care, education, employment, land, water or sanitation facilities.
Brazil has made some advancement with improving poverty related issues such as lower infant mortality and higher primary school enrollment. The fact remains that poverty levels are unacceptably high for a country with Brazil’s income level.
Health status and infant mortality is related to levels of poverty because of the lack of access to appropriate medical care as well as water and sanitation facilities.
Facts and Stats on Brazilian Poverty:
- Unemployed, self employed and informally employed have higher poverty rates. Of the self-employed in Brazil, only 20% actually have their own shops and the rest operate out of their homes, vehicles or other public spaces.
- Poverty rates increase with the amount of dependents in the household.
- 22.6% or 34.9 million Brazilians live below the poverty line.
- Over half live in urban areas.
- 52% do not have canalized water.
- 68% have no garbage collection.
- 78% do not have proper sewage connections or septic tanks.
- 25% do not have electricity.
- 74% live in households where the head of the household has less than four years of schooling.
Other factors that contribute to low poverty levels and promote inequality:
A study of the perceptions of the poor in Brazil was done in urban Brazil. Recife, Santo Andre and Habuna were included and 632 poor individuals were consulted.
- The poor individuals participating in the study equated powerlessness and impotence with poverty. Frustration was expressed with the inability to express their wishes and develop their potential.
- Many stated they felt unprotected by the police so tend to distrust them. The police are viewed by many of the poor in Brazil as one of the worst institutions in need of improvement.
- Events reported to have triggered their crisis into poverty include job dismissals, illness, death of a parent, marriage breakdowns and evictions.
- Many of the poor also expressed resentment for being socially excluded discriminated against and not given equal access to such things as health care, education and decent wages.
- In some cases discrimination is shown to the poor in the form of harassment through surveillance by security guards at supermarkets, banks and shops.
- Many employers have been reported to refuse to hire residents of favelas (shantytowns). Some poor people have resorted to falsifying their address when applying for employment.
Although slavery was abolished in Brazil over a hundred years ago, access to education, land, health care and employment are still problems to many poor people including descendants of slaves. Four million people were brought from Africa to Brazil to work as slaves and many of those descendants who are known as quilombolas are still fighting for their land titles.
Sources: Attacking Brazil’s Poverty, Report, March 31, 2001
Racism lives on for slave descendants, Globe and Mail, Raymond Colitt, July 5, 2007
