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 A new United Nations study shows that it is enough for
someone to leave the Gávea neighborhood in Rio
and go up the hill to Rocinha favela to lose 13 years
in life expectancy and go back in time almost one century.
If there is any consolation for Cariocas, the disparity
between rich and poor is larger elsewhere in the country.
By Francesco Neves
Cícero Cordeiro lives with his wife and ten kids in a 150-sq-foot shack in the Rio
suburb of Acari. He doesn't have a car or telephone. Not far from him, Gilson Bidart lives
in a comfortable home with a smaller family, a new car and a cellular telephone, in Coelho
Neto, a neighborhood adjacent to Acari. In fact, Acari and Coelho Neto are separated only
by an avenue, the Avenida Brasil and Cordeiro and Bidart reside less than one third of a
mile of each other. But it seems like they live in different cities or different
countries. Cordeiro and Bidart, whose stories appeared recently on No Ponto, a
respected Brazilian e-zine (http://www.no.com.br), are a palpable example of a huge
disparity between the classes in Brazil.
For every 100 humans today in the world 2.8 are Brazilians. Preliminary data from
Census 2000 released in May show that the number of Brazilians has grown to 169.590.693.
This means 15 percent or 22.7 million more Brazilians than 10 years ago when the previous
Census was carried out. Fifty years ago Brazil had the eighth largest population in the
world. By 1991 it already occupied the sixth position in the rank. The end of the Soviet
Union placed the country in fifth place, only behind China, India, United States and
Indonesia.
And how are these Brazilians living? In the best of times, in the worst of times. Some
Brazilians are living side by side in space but decades apart in quality of living. A
1,000-page report on quality of life prepared by the United Nations has shown, for
example, that residents from the rural zone of Santa Cruz in Rio would take 101 years at
the present rate to reach the same living conditions of those living in the affluent Lagoa
Rodrigo de Freitas neighborhood.
The UN research done in partnership with the IPEA (Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica
Aplicada—Institute of Applied Economic Research) and Rio's City Hall, was
concentrated in Rio de Janeiro, using the 11 largest Brazilian cities—all with more
than one million inhabitants—only as a point of comparison. The study consumed the
work of 90 professionals and took one year and a half to be completed. Besides writing the
report these researchers also drew 55 maps, 600 tables, and 100 graphics. The work
compared data from the 1981-1985 to those of the 1995-1999 period. For better statistical
precision, the five-year period was chosen instead of the customary one-year period. The
data were converted into two indexes: Human Development Index (HDI) and Living Conditions
Index (LCI).
It was the first time in the world that a study measured the Human Development Index
(HDI) of a city and its neighborhoods. The conclusion: in Rio, Third and First World
cohabit. While some people have a standard of living similar to that of Italy (one of the
world's highest HDIs), others live more like the people of Gabon, who have a very low HDI.
Behind the UN's decision to make a map of Rio—a first step to create a large panel
from cities around the world—is the belief that cities and not states or countries
are better equipped to find and implement solutions to fight poverty.
HDI is an indicator created in 1990 by the UN to measure life quality of a population
according to data related to life expectancy, adult literacy, school enrollment and per
capita GDP (Gross Domestic Product). Based upon these criteria, nations are given scores
from 0 to 1. The closest to 1 has the best quality of life in that country. In Rio, the
Lagoa area gets 0.90 while Santa Cruz earns a mere 0.51.
From the mixing of statistical data about health, housing, education, income, and job
market, the research established a Living Conditions Index (LCI). Once again the score
goes from 0 to 1. The LCI adds to the HDI new items: opportunities offered to kids,
housing conditions and work access. To find the LCIs and HDIs of the 12 capitals studied,
researchers used IBGE's (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística—Brazilian
Institute of Geography and Statistics) PNAD (Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de
Domicílio—National Household Survey) covering the periods 1981/1985 and 1995/1999.
Data from the 1980 and 1991 Census were also used.
According to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), there are three main
categories of HDIs. Nations need to have at least a 0.81 score to be considered as having
High Human Development. With an index of 0.935 points Canada is the number one in the list
followed very close by Norway (0.934). The United States comes in third with a 0,929
total. Countries with scores from 0.51 to 0.8 are considered as having Medium Development.
Brazil appears in 74th place in the list with a 0.747 score. Indices inferior
to 0.5 indicate countries of Low Human Development.
Cariocas (Rio's residents) found out through the new study that their city
offers the best housing conditions of all capitals studied. "In contrast with São
Paulo favelas (shantytowns) where we usually find non-durable materials like
cardboard being used to build houses, we found that in Rio's hills, roof, walls and floor
are built with traditional material like brick, and cement." comments Maurício
Blanco, IPEA's research aide. Rio is also the city with the best sewer system and running
water. And to the surprise of many, since the predicament of its street kids is frequently
in the news, it's also the Brazilian metropolis where child work is less common.
Like Cuba
Not all news was good, however. Rio didn't advance as much as it could have. Although
Rio has improved its HDI from 0.701 in the 81-85 period to 0.766 in the 95-99 period, the
position of the city when compared with the 11 largest Brazilian metropolis fell from
second to fifth place during the same period. It is behind Porto Alegre, Curitiba, São
Paulo and Brasília. If Rio were a country it would get 58th place in the
ranking, occupying a position between Cuba and Colombia.
Besides the Lagoa neighborhood, other areas of prosperity in Rio are Gávea and Jardim
Botânico, with a 0.89 HDI. Despite the findings of the immense disparity among
neighborhoods, and even stark differences between poor areas, the UN study concludes that
no other large Brazilian city as a whole has the same quality of life enjoyed by the 44
best Carioca neighborhoods.
Comparisons between Brazilian cities and states with Rio show that the poor area of
Santa Cruz is comparable to the conditions of life of those living in the states of
Ceará, Sergipe and Bahia. Among all 12 cities analyzed, the best in living conditions,
with a score of 0.83, is Porto Alegre, the capital of Rio Grande do Sul. This is
comparable to Oswaldo Cruz, a lower middle-class neighborhood in Rio.
Among the 12 largest Brazilian cities, Rio comes in fourth in proportional number of
poor. While 5 percent of Cariocas living in the South Zone are poor, this
percentage increases to 20 percent in the West Zone. In the state of Rio the city with
best quality of living is Niterói (0.821 HDI) followed by Rio (0.808), Volta Redonda
(0.799), Petrópolis (0.783) and Nova Friburgo (0.770).
Niterói, just a bridge across from Rio and whose life conditions are the envy of many
Brazilians including Cariocas (Rio's residents), has a Human Development Index of
0.82, not a bad number, but 52 Rio's neighborhoods have done better than that.
While Rio has officially 157 bairros (neighborhoods), the UN study took some
liberties, dividing the city in 161 areas. Neighborhoods with more than 150,000 residents
were divided in pieces and bairros with less than 5000 people were aggregated to
other areas. This explains why sometimes areas known for their prosperity seem poor in the
study and vice-versa.
For all the bad news Cariocas get from the study there are also some comforting
tidings: Rio comes in first among the 12 cities studied in terms of offering better
housing to its residents. The city has the best rates of houses offering public water and
sewage. And as bad as the contrasts between poor and the wealthy seem they are not as bad
as in other cities like Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais, or Pernambuco's
capital, Recife.
100 Years Away
The UN study shows that it is enough for someone to leave the Gávea neighborhood and
go up the hill to Rocinha favela to lose 13 years in life expectancy and go back in
time almost one century. At the present rate of development it would take almost 100 years
for a Rocinha resident to have the same living of someone residing in Gávea. While Gávea
has an HDI of a rich country (0.89), Rocinha, with a 0.62 total, is close to a country
with low human development index.
If there is any consolation for Cariocas, the disparity between rich and poor is
larger elsewhere in the country. In Belo Horizonte, capital of Minas Gerais, for example,
the higher-middle-class Serra neighborhood has an HDI of 0.87 while this index is 0.55 for
the Serra shantytown. Even worse is the situation in Recife, capital of Pernambuco. While
at the Boa Viagem area, the HDI is 0.86 the nearby neighborhood of favela de
Macaxeira has an index of very poor country: a mere 0.47.
In this portrait from the UN, Rio comes in first place for its death index. Life
expectancy has increased 11 percent between 1981 and 1999, and Cariocas might
expect to live up to 64. Such good news, however, is not enough to make it up for the high
number of murders and deaths provoked by the traffic. Among the 12 largest Brazilian
cities, Rio is now in 9th place in terms of life expectancy. Although family
income has increased 19 percent between '81 and '99 in the city and illiteracy was reduced
by 48 percent, Rio is the place with the largest number of kids 12 years or younger
working.
Adult schooling, work and income, three items in which Rio had good scores, are
classified as means by which the population can reach its ends. Really important are the
ends like child development and health. In these items Rio did poorly. Seven percent of
Rio's kids between the ages of 7 and 14 are not going to school. Only in the Northeast
capital the situation is worse: Salvador, Fortaleza, and Recife.
The Carioca is not transforming adequately its good schooling results into
income. Twelve percent of Rio's population has only a part-time job and 9 percent is
unemployed. And despite the fact that the city ranks first in housing—the only item
Rio comes in first—2 percent of the population is not served by water, and 5 percent
does not have sewers. As for sewer service, the situation is even worse in all the other
large cities.
Ricardo Paes de Barros, IPEA's (Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica
Aplicada—Institute for Applied Economic Research) research director, used all these
data to draw a time map. According to his calculations the neighborhoods in worst shape,
like Santa Cruz, are 101 years behind those more prosperous, such as Lagoa. The map also
shows that a family living in Rio's South Zone has a per capita income 5 times bigger than
a family in the West Zone.
While the largest concentration of affluence is in the South Zone, scattered around the
city are a few islands of prosperity like Jardim Guanabara, Moneró, Praia da Bandeira,
Ribeira and Zumbi all in the Ilha do Governador area. Vila da Penha, Vista Alegre,
Freguesia, and Pechincha also are decades ahead of some of their neighbors. All of them
have a HDI of 0.80.
Jornal do Brasil presented recently two contrasting stories about two Rio
families: one living in the poorest area of the city, the other one residing in the
richest neighborhood. The first story portrayed life in the rural zone of Santa Cruz,
which has the worst HDI in Rio. It told the story of Pedro Oliveira, his wife Marta and
their 11 children, who live in a four-piece little house without floor covering or
bathroom. Four of their kids have abandoned school without finishing the basic. Mr.
Oliveira's job is caring for a little plantation with his elder son. Mrs. Marta, who stays
home, doesn't know how to read and is not worried about this. Two other kids help with the
finances doing odd jobs. Another Oliveira is on the way. The parents still don't know if
it is a boy or a girl.
Marta Oliveira explained the situation to a reporter: "I am ashamed to say that,
but when we need, we have to do it in the brush back there. We make very little. Adding
all the money, including that of Mr. José, who is a friend who lives with us, we get
around $100a month. We use $30 for the electricity, which is very expensive, and the rest
goes to buy food. We have some difficulties, but survive."
The second story is that of Francisco and Noêmia Crespo plus their four children who
live in Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas. Everybody here has graduated from college or is in
college and everybody has his or her own car, except for the younger daughter who is still
under 18. English, French, German, Italian and Spanish are the languages spoken by the
Crespos. There's no one who speaks only one language in the family. Mr. Crespo is IBM's
financing director, Mrs. Crespo is a lawyer and has also graduated in History from
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. Says the mother: "When I first went to
college, during the dictatorship (1964-1985), we were harmed by the censorship and we
almost didn't study Brazilian history. But I like the subject very much, as well as
politics. I vote for the PT (leftist Workers' Party) but I'm a little weary of this need
to make concessions in this area."
The UN study also revealed that Rio fell three positions in HDI while São Paulo went
up two places from the beginning of the '80s to the end of the '90s. According to the
document, between 1981 and 1985 São Paulo had an HDI of 0.678 putting the city in 5th
place among the largest Brazilian cities. It went up to third in the 1995-1999 period with
a 0.772 score. During the same period Rio fell from second place, with a score of 0.701
and became number 5, despite a better score (0.766).
In the Living Conditions Index, São Paulo also improved its position while Rio lost
ground. While in the early '80s, São Paulo had a fourth place in the LCI, with a 0.625
score, this total increased to 0.805, putting the place in second among the big cities.
Going in the inverse direction, Rio—with a 0.746 total and a third position—fell
to a fourth position with a 0.790 score.
The inversion of positions between Rio and São Paulo is the reflex of political
choices made by the government of both cities in the last 20 years. While São Paulo
invested considerably in children, schooling as well as health, Rio was less aggressive in
these sectors. In Rio, the number of children between the ages of 7 and 14 out of school
grew from 5.5 percent to 7.3 percent. During the same period there was a reduction of
children out of school in São Paulo. From 8.8 percent the number fell to 4.7 percent.
São Paulo also had a better improvement than Rio in the life expectancy category. Paulistanos
added 10.4 years to their life expectancy, while Rio added a more modest 6.8 years. A baby
born in Rio after 1995 has a life expectancy of 64.81. Not that great news. This kid would
do better in eight other Brazilian big cities. Rio's violence weighs so much in life
expectancy because the main victims of murder and traffic accidents are young people
between the ages of 15 and 29.
Daily newspaper O Estado de São Paulo also found two families to illustrate the
gap between the wealthy and the very poor in Rio. The first one is the family of André
Carvalho Conceição, 29, who makes $200 a month as a night guard and lives at the Rocinha
favela in a four-room shack with 22 relatives, including his mother, his children
and nephews. Contrasting with him there is college professor, Carlos Penna, 51, who makes
$2000 and lives with his wife in the upscale neighborhood of Gávea, in a four-bedroom
house with swimming pool. While everybody in Gávea is served by the sewer service, only
41 percent of Rocinha's residents have this luxury.
Conceição studied only up to 5th grade. He explains: "I wasn't that
attracted by the studies, we were always going on strike. I decided to work." He went
just a little over the four-year average of schooling for Rocinha's residents. In Gávea,
the average is 12 years. Twenty eight percent of children between the ages or 7 and 14 are
not going to school in this favela.
The authors of the UN study apparently disconcerted by the stark contrasts they found
in Rio wrote in the first chapter of their survey: "How can a city famous for its
shantytowns reach an advanced position in its housing conditions? How can this same city,
known by its vast hospital network, present health and survival in inferior conditions?
How is it capable of having adults with a high educational degree and not to give the same
chances to its children?"
Not for Living
The results of the UN study were also a mixed bag for São Paulo, the largest city of
South America, with a metropolitan area comprising around 20 million people. While the
often-times called "Brazil's locomotive" continues to be a good place to fatten
your bank account—among the 12 cities studied, São Paulo is the place that offers
the best opportunities to work and make money—it leaves a lot to be desired when the
subject is standard of living. In São Paulo, the average monthly salary is around $250,
according to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). In São Paulo state the HDI is
0.79 while in the city of São Paulo it rises a little to 0.80.
The UN findings coincide with the observation by Jorge Wilheim, São Paulo's secretary
of Planning and Urbanism, who says, "The number of favelas has increased a lot
in recent years. We want to improve the quality of housing, but this is only one aspect of
a wider process to reduce exclusion and misery. We need to adopt broader measures that
create jobs and income opportunities." São Paulo had also a reasonable progress in
educating kids from 7 to 14 years of age. The city went from 5th to 2nd
position in this item in the Living Conditions Index.
Brasília has already been called Fantasy Island although it is planted far away from
sea. The moniker came from the prosperity of the Plano Piloto condominium, the upscale
residential area of the planned capital, which has the country's best per-capita income
and living standards comparable to the best there is in a First World country. The Plano
Piloto condominium presents the highest per-capita income of the country, as well as
excellent housing and schooling.
The UNDP study, however, presents a more diversified city that puts together in one
sole cauldron poverty and riches, prosperity and necessity. The Living Conditions Index in
income for Brasília is 0.697. This number is reached taking into consideration not only
the per-capita income of the area, but also the percentage of poor in the population and
the disparity between the highest and the lowest income. Under this light, the income from
those living in the capital is not that great. It comes in seventh place, behind Curitiba,
São Paulo, Porto Alegre, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte and Goiânia and just a little
ahead of Manaus.
Francisco Ananias, his wife Maria Madalena de Jesus da Silva and their three children
fit the profile of the average Brasiliense (Brasília resident), according to daily
Correio Braziliense. The couple, who immigrated from the Northeast, live in an
apartment in Ceilândia, a so-called cidade satélite (satellite city) in the
suburbs. Francisco worked from 1976 until 1993 as a truck driver. Since then he bought a
Van and works carrying loads for businesses in his area. He used to make around $700 as an
employee.
Today his salary has shrunk to around $200, which is, according to the study the
average per-capita income of Brasilienses. To make ends meet Maria Madalena has to
work at home washing and pressing clothes for the neighbors. While the husband provides
for food and bigger items her money buys clothes as well as school material for their
three kids.
As every city in the study, Brasília had a worse performance in the job market
category during the period 1995 to 1999 when compared to 1981 to 1985. Among the reasons
for this disappointing result was the increase in unemployment and the elimination by the
federal government and private companies of several better paying occupations. "The
worse news for the Federal District is in the job sector," said José Carlos Libanio,
PNUD's research coordinator. "The data indicate that a larger contingent of people
should be in the market, working longer hours in order to get better wages."
Brasília, where 1/3 of the jobs are provided by the federal government, is suffering from
continuous cutting of jobs and a deterioration of salaries while the government tries to
balance its budget.
When we compare the situation of Brasília with countries it can be said that in 20
years the Federal District residents have upgraded their living conditions from a Paraguay
life style to that of an East European country. While the parallel is not that impressive
it shows that Brasília and other Brazilian big cities, for that matter, have a privileged
position among developing countries.
Good and Bad
Even Fortaleza, capital of Ceará, had some numbers to celebrate, despite coming last
in the HDI among Brazil's 12 largest cities and in the 11th place for its
Living Conditions Index. The city was able, for example, to dramatically improve its
health record when compared to the early '80s. Ceará's capital was able to increase life
expectancy by 13.27 years and reduced child mortality by 73.04 percent. Proportionally,
Fortaleza did better in improving health care than Porto Alegre, the number one city in
this category. Porto Alegre raised life expectancy by 5.68 years and cut child deaths by
40.84 percent.
According to the researchers, the comparison between extremes like Fortaleza and Porto
Alegre helps to illustrate the reduction of disparities among the 12 capitals. In the
early '80s the difference of HDI between the two cities was 23 percent. This percentage
has now fallen to 13 percent. In some cases the difference is negligible as the one
between Rio de Janeiro and Brasília. While Brasília's HDI is 0.769, Rio gets a 0.766
score.
That life is improving in the country as a whole can be shown by the fact that Brazil's
HDI has increased by 8.8 percent when compared to the rest of the world. From the 12 large
cities studied only Salvador (8.3 percent) and Porto Alegre (7.6 percent) grew at a lesser
rate. Brazil hasn't grown more due to the high rate of unemployment and the growth of the
informal economy in the country. Income together with longevity and education is one of
the HDI components. In some cities, like Salvador and Manaus, however, this category
showed retraction instead of growth. The median salary decreased in 4 of the 12 cities
studied. In Salvador, for example, the monthly salary fell from $146 to $115. The index
that measures housing condition has also fallen in five of the capitals: Brasília,
Fortaleza, Porto Alegre, Salvador and São Paulo
The study was also useful to show hidden facts in some big cities. It revealed for
example that Curitiba had 1.5 percent of kids working during the 1995-1999 period, a
minuscule reduction of 0.3 percent in relation to the 1981-1985 period. In Porto Alegre
the comparison showed a big increase in income concentration. While the city maintained
its first place ranking in the per-capita income category, the difference between the
wealthiest residents and the poorest increased by 0.09 points, a considerable amount. At
the same time the percentage of poor (those making less than half a minimum wage per
month—around $40) increased from 10.1 percent of the population (81-85) to 12.1
(95-99).
The study is serving to teach one thing or two to Cariocas themselves. One of
the myths the work is helping to dispel is the one that the Rocinha favela offers
better living conditions to its residents than other shantytowns. When compared with other
favelas, Rocinha appears as one of the worst, comparable to places like Acari,
Complexo do Alemão, Manguinhos and Maré. Among the favelas with better
performance there are Vidigal, Vigário Geral and Costa Barros, the last two in faraway
suburbs. This finding also belies the hypothesis that favelas close to rich
neighborhoods would benefit from this proximity presenting better living conditions.
For Porto Alegre residents the findings were humbling. The Rio Grande do Sul capital
lost its position as the city with the best living conditions in Brazil, falling to third
place, behind Curitiba and São Paulo. In the 1981-1985 period, Porto Alegre came in first
in 15 of the 27 categories that make up the Living Conditions Index. It also came in
second in five categories and third in another one. From 1995-1999, however, the
metropolis had less first places (five), six second positions and equal number of third
places.
Brazil this year is celebrating a sad silver anniversary. For 25 years in a row the
country has been pointed out as the world's champion of inequality between the very rich
and the very poor. According to studies by the IPEA, a research institute linked to the
Planning Ministry the 10 percent wealthiest Brazilians make 28 times more money than the
poorest 40 percent. The bad distribution of income is much worse than in the poorest
African countries like Botswana, Kenya or Zambia.
In the United States the above proportion is 5.5 times and in Argentina 10 times. In
Zambia it's 17 times; in the Ivory Coast, 20 times; in Kenya, 21 times and in Botswana, 22
times. This information can be found in the just released book Desigualdade e Pobreza
no Brasil (Inequality and Poverty in Brazil).
The book reveals also that the "select group composed by society's wealthiest 1
percent" concentrates a bigger income than the poorest 50 percent of the population.
While the richest 10 percent get 50 percent of the national wealth, the poorest 50 percent
get a little more than 10 percent of the country's riches.
Says Ricardo Henriques, an IPEA researcher who collaborated in the study: "From
the international point of view there is neither a country in the world with an inequality
like ours nor a nation with an equivalent or worse per capita income with such
inequality."
For Henriques, the solution of this inequality is a historical challenge that society
should solve. He believes that this situation has lasted for so long that the Brazilian
society ended up considering it a natural phenomenon and therefore has lost the
sensitivity to the problem. Henriques thinks that the first step to deal with this
predicament is to "denaturalize inequality." To change this situation education
would be the most practical and logical answer, according to him. Today Brazilians have an
average schooling of 6.3 years. That's not enough to produce a work force that can be
qualified and competitive.
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