The Association Between the Bolsa Família Conditionalities and the Social Mobility of its Beneficiaries

Author: Instituto Mobilidade e Desenvolvimento Social (Imds)

Edition: 1st

Published in: October 2025

This publication is the result of the technical work developed by the Institute for Mobility and Social Development (IMDS), within the scope of the Technical Cooperation Agreement signed with the Ministry of Development and Social Assistance, Family and Fight against Hunger (MDS), with the purpose of evaluating how the monitoring and compliance with health and education conditionalities are related to the social mobility of beneficiaries.

The report “The Association Between the Bolsa Família Conditionalities and the Social Mobility of its Beneficiaries” uses administrative microdata from the MDS and the Unified Registry (CadÚnico) between 2010 and 2023 to measure, for the first time, the coverage and compliance with the program’s conditionalities. An annual monitoring indicator per family was constructed, which allows the identification of regional and temporal differences in state action.

The results show wide territorial variation in the monitoring of conditionalities, with greater frequency in coastal regions and in locations with greater institutional capacity. The average monitoring rate remained close to 60% in the period analyzed, while compliance among those monitored exceeded 90% in health and education.

The publication is structured in sections that present everything from the institutional context of the Bolsa Família and the health and education conditionalities to the description of the data used, the empirical analysis and the main results. The study ends with a discussion on the implications of the findings and proposes ways to improve the management of conditionalities, contributing to the strengthening of public policies aimed at reducing poverty and promoting social mobility in the country.

Happy reading!