Brazil recorded a new high in the number of people living in poverty and extreme poverty in 2021. In total, nearly one in three inhabitants of the country—29.4% of the population—lived in poverty at least until last year, and nearly one in ten—8.4%—faced extreme poverty.
The data is from the study Social Indicators Synthesis: an analysis of the living conditions of the Brazilian population 2022 (“Síntese de Indicadores Sociais – uma análise das condições de vida da população brasileira 2022”), or SIS, released by the official statistics agency IBGE.
According to the publication, until last year Brazil had 62.5 million people in poverty (daily income below US$ 5.5) and 17.9 million in extreme poverty (daily income below US$ 1.90, as defined by the World Bank). Both the absolute numbers and the percentages are the highest since the beginning of the historical series in 2012.
The increase between 2020 and 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, is also the largest in the series. During this period, the number of people below the poverty line grew by 22.7%, equivalent to 11.6 million people, and the group in extreme poverty expanded by 48.2%, or 5.8 million.
Children under 14 years old are the biggest victims of poverty. Until last year, 46.2% of this segment of the population was below the poverty line, the highest level in the series.
Source: Agência Brasil