Social mobility in Brazil: what we did in 2025 and the challenges to accelerate change in the future

The year 2025 ends with an ambiguous portrait of social mobility in Brazil. There have been relevant advances in employment and poverty reduction indicators, but they remain insufficient to change the deep structures that sustain inequality in the country. The data from the Atlas of Social Mobility, prepared by the Institute for Mobility and Social Development (IMDS), are eloquent: less than 2% of children belonging to the poorest half of the population manage to reach the group of the richest 10% in adult life, and only 10.8% of young people from the poorest 50% reach the richest 25%. In addition, only half of Brazilians born in the 1980s surpass their parents’ income, a sign of intergenerational stability that, although relevant, is far from representing structural transformation.