The middle class in Brazil has grown since 2003 when Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva first took office and now represents almost half of the country’s population, according to a report from the Getúlio Vargas foundation released over the weekend.
The close to 91 million Brazilians (49.22% of the total population) who now are part of the middle class, and are known in Brazil as class C, absorb 46% of the country’s national income with average per capita ranging from US$ 586 to US$ 2.530, adds the report published in Sunday’s O Globo edition.
In 2003, according to the report, the Brazilian middle class totaled 64.1 million people equivalent to 37.56% of the total population and had a 37% share of the national income.
However in spite of the impressive social advance, the least favored of the population remains as a majority representing 40% of total population.
The Getúlio Vargas foundation said that 70 million people have incomes below the equivalent of US$ 586 and many of them depend on different government subsidies to guarantee their subsistence.
The inequality is even more evident by comparing income at the cusp of the social pyramid with 19.4 million people (10.42% of the population) which have a 44% share of Brazil’s national income.
Show Comments (2)
hunh?
Ricardo: you are calling for nuclear arms race for S America??? Yeah, that is fine dream too. Hasn’t the folly of the US/Soviet arms race taught the world anything? I am for the US tearing down the great majority if not all of it’s nuclear weapons. Again, what kind of friggin victory would that be for half the world to be poisoned by toxic nuclear fallout? More silly talk. Brazil can’t possibly compete with the absurd number of nukes the US has, so why should it waste its money when it has so many social needs to care for. I am think the current deal for jet fighters is equally silly. Brazil would do much better to not be so militarized. Who is likely to invade it? The US? Argentina? Chile? Venezuela? The US would come to the aid of Brazil if it were invaded by Venezuela, that would be the more likely scenario. China and Japan developed their economy without the burden of an international military expense. Brazil would be smart to do the same. Traditional war is obsolete. The danger is not from a lack of arms for Brazil or other nations, but the proliferation of arms that can be used in local squabbles. Brazil would distinguish itself by taking a higher road, non-militaristic economic development, and not by embracing tyrants, nor courting fascist like China.
hunh?
Half Brazilians are middle class? yeah, and I am the King of England!
Yeah, it’s a paradise on earth. this site is a dumb 24-hour non-stop infomercial advertising that everything in Brazil is extraordinary. What a bullshit excuse for journalism.