Study reveals low social mobility in Brazil

The new Atlas of Social Mobility reveals that 48% of Brazilians born into families with an income of up to R$ 2,000 remain in this same income range in adulthood, while only 1.28% manage to reach the top of the social pyramid. The disparity is even greater among women: 65% of daughters from low-income families remain at the bottom of the pyramid, twice the rate recorded among men. In addition, the chance of a low-income young person completing higher education is only 1.58%. According to researcher Leandro Rocha, one of those responsible for the study, the country is experiencing a scenario of strong social immobility. “Brazil is a very stratified country. Children’s income is strongly conditioned by their parents’ income. Thus, those who are born poor remain poor; those who are born rich remain rich.” To break this “poverty trap”, the researcher advocates the adoption of integrated public policies that link health, sanitation and education from early childhood. Rocha emphasizes that the election year is an important time for the population to demand structural proposals from the candidates. “We need to change now if we want to see long-term results.”