Children and adolescents: magnitude of poverty and extreme poverty in Brazil

Author: Imds and Oppen Social

Edition: 1st

Published in: July 2021

Based on data from the Continuous PNAD 2012 to 2019, we present the evolution of the situations of poverty and extreme monetary poverty among children and adolescents from 0 to 17 years of age in Brazil. This age group covers young people up to the maximum age considered by law as mandatory for basic education in the country. The magnitude of poverty, based on the percentage and number of poor, is analyzed, as well as a conceptual exercise on the resources needed to eradicate poverty through direct transfers to families, based on the total and medium gap of the per capita household income.

Analyses are presented for two poverty line proposals: one, a single national line, based on the World Bank definition for poverty line in upper middle income countries and extreme global poverty, which allows international comparability; and another regionalized line, with different values for different parts of the country, considering consumer baskets and the regional cost of living, with the extreme poverty line being half that of the poverty line.

The presentation is the first of a series that seeks to provide information to help in the identification of juvenile poverty and possible barriers to mobility. We aim to stimulate a reflection on the theme and the paths towards reducing these barriers and increasing equal opportunities. The objective, in the end, is that we learn how to create an institutional environment in the country in which children and adolescents, regardless of the socioeconomic context in which they find themselves, have the necessary possibilities to gain leverage for social mobility.

Follow our website for the next disclosures and good reading.