Publication: Brazil Poverty and Equity Assessment: Looking Ahead of Two Crises
Loading...
Other Files
3,799 downloads
Date
2022
ISSN
Published
2022
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
In 2020, Brazil was about to face socioeconomic disruptions of historical proportions. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic broke several undesirable Brazilian records. First, the pandemic wreaked an enormous direct human toll, sickening millions and causing the death of 195,441 Brazilians in 2020 and 619,056 in 2021. Second, the Brazilian economy experienced its worst contraction in recorded history, with real gross domestic product (GDP) per capita growth in 2020 at -4.7 percent (compared to the previous record of -4.4 percent in 2015). Third, COVID-related closures and other measures led to a massive, unprecedented exit of workers, with an estimated 10 million people leaving the labor force between the third quarter of 2019 and the third quarter of 2020. The economic crisis induced by the pandemic is the second in Brazil’s recent economic history, following the 2014 to 2016 crisis. These downturns have nearly halted its poverty reduction progress and widened disparities in what was already one of the most unequal countries in the world. The Brazil Poverty and Equity Assessment takes an analytical approach to study the situation of the Brazilian population as they were facing these economic shocks. With a focus on the more recent pandemic shock, the report combines household survey, administrative and phone survey data to: i) analyze how the most vulnerable weathered the impacts of the pandemic and how the support of the government provided protection during this time; ii) present an in-depth profile of the monetary poor and vulnerable, including data from traditional communities not published before; iii) understand the non-monetary vulnerabilities of the population such as the risks to climate change events; and iv) discuss public policy implications that can help tackle the deep rooted causes of poverty.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 2022. Brazil Poverty and Equity Assessment: Looking Ahead of Two Crises. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37657 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Poverty and Income Seasonality in Bangladesh(2009-04-01)Seasonal poverty in Bangladesh, locally known as monga, refers to seasonal deprivation of food during the pre-harvest season of Aman rice. An analysis of household income and expenditure survey data shows that average household income and consumption are much lower during monga season than in other seasons, and that seasonal income greatly influences seasonal consumption. However, lack of income and consumption smoothing is more acute in greater Rangpur, the North West region, than in other regions, causing widespread seasonal deprivation. The analysis shows that agricultural income diversification accompanied by better access to micro-credit, irrigation, education, electrification, social safety net programs, and dynamic labor markets has helped reduce seasonality in income and poverty in regions other than Rangpur in the recent past. Hence, government policies should promote income diversification through infrastructure investments and provide income transfers to the targeted poor to contain income seasonality and poverty in this impoverished part of Bangladesh.Publication Institutional Pathways to Equity : Addressing Inequality Traps(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008)Inequalities and development: dysfunctions, traps, and transitions by Anthony J. Bebbington, Anis A. Dani, Arjan de Haan, and Michael Walton. Asset inequality and agricultural growth: how are patterns of asset inequality established and reproduced? By Rachel Sabates. Beneath the categories: power relations and inequalities in Uganda by Joy M. Moncrieffe. Inequalities within India's poorest regions: why do the same institutions work differently in different places? By Arjan de Haan. Indigenous political voice and the struggle for recognition in Ecuador and Bolivia by Jose Antonio Lucero. Cash transfers for older people reduce poverty and inequality by Armando Barrientos. Mineral wealth, conflict, and equitable development by Michael L. Ross. Spain: development, democracy, and equity by Carles Boix.Publication Poverty in the Brazilian Amazon: An Assessment of Poverty Focused on the State of Para(World Bank, Washington, D.C., 2004-07)The states in the Brazilian Amazon have made progress in reducing poverty and improving social indicators in the last decade. Despite this progress, the poverty rate in the Amazon is among the highest in Brazil. As of 2000, rural poverty is the greatest challenge. In Par?, not only is the headcount poverty rate of 58.4 percent in rural areas more than 55 percent higher than headcount poverty in urban areas, but also poverty is much deeper in rural areas. The fall in infant mortality and adult illiteracy corroborate the improvement in measured income poverty. Census data from 2000 and 1991 reveal that more people left Par? than came to live in the state during the 1970s, the opposite of the 1980s. In 2000, the Gini coefficient for Par?, as in the Amazon as a whole, was 0.60. The poverty profile reveals that indigenous peoples experience a higher poverty incidence than other groups. Census 2000 data reveal that living in rural areas in Par? does not by itself affect the probability of being poor. Individual and household characteristics are more important than geographical location. The largest statistical differences in poverty reduction between rural and urban areas are found in the effect of education, sector of employment, gender, and family size. PNAD data from 2001 reveal that living in urban areas in Par? does not by itself affect the probability of falling below the poverty line in urban areas in Brazil. The strongest poverty correlates are education, experience, race, rural location, gender, and labor market association.Publication Country Social Analysis : Ethnicity and Development in Vietnam - Summary report(World Bank, 2009-01-01)This report " Country Social Analysis (CSA) " focused on ethnicity and development in Vietnam is a provocative analysis of marginality in contemporary Southeast Asia. It seeks to understand the macro social and political processes, and provides an analysis of how social, political, and cultural factors influence the opportunities and constraints to more equitable, inclusive development. This study provides research findings to support both the Bank's and the government of Vietnam's goals of social inclusion for ethnic minorities and poverty reduction. Previous studies, including the Bank's Country Partnership Study for Vietnam (CPS) and the government's Socioeconomic Development Plan (SEDP), focus on four organizing principles: (1) improving the business environment; (2) strengthening social inclusion; (3) strengthening natural resource and environmental management; and (4) improving governance. This study focuses particularly on the issue of strengthening social inclusion. Part one of this summary report is a literature review that discusses background information on ethnic minorities, including their classification, history, current living conditions, and poverty outcomes. Part two presents the results of field-based research and provides in-depth analysis of six fundamental factors that explain how differences between ethnic groups contribute to remarkably different livelihood strategies and economic outcomes. Part three summarizes the policy implications of research findings, suggesting areas for further consideration.Publication Croatia - Living Standards Assessment : Volume 1, Promoting Social Inclusion and Regional Equity(Washington, DC, 2006-11)The Croatian economy has performed moderately well in the past decade, enabling a gradual narrowing of the income gap with the European Union (EU). Using a cost-of-basic-needs poverty line, poverty in Croatia is found to be low, with only a small proportion of the poor facing hard-core deprivation. Looking ahead, the task of faster external income convergence with the EU will be challenging, and will require both faster job creation as well as flexibility in the allocation of jobs and workers in the economy. These will also help with more rapid improvement in living conditions in lagging regions. To these ends, the report highlights three sets of interrelated policy challenges and priorities: (1) sustaining high rates of growth to permit continued income convergence with Europe; (2) promoting greater labor mobility, including measures aimed at building human capital to improve workers' opportunities; and (3) improving the adequacy and effectiveness of social safety nets within a responsible fiscal framework. In examining regional disparities, several development indicators show that regional disparities in living conditions are significant (though on average no higher than in EU countries), and only partially explained by human capital and other such individual attributes. Building on local comparative advantages offers the best way forward to improve living conditions in lagging regions.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Data for Better Governance: Building Government Analytics Ecosystems in Latin America and the Caribbean(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-11-25)Governments in the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region face significant developmental and institutional challenges, such as slowing growth, fiscal constraints, and inefficiencies in the public sector. At the same time, governments have invested significantly in government technologies (GovTech), making LAC a global pioneer in management information systems (MISs). This investment creates an opportunity for governments to leverage MIS data to strengthen the functioning of government and achieve development goals—that is, government analytics. This report provides a conceptual framework to assess and provide guidance on the regional government analytics agenda and how to harvest the benefits of GovTech investments. It examines how government analytics can inform policy making and improve accountability and efficiency, drawing on survey data and successful applications of government analytics. The report also explores the enabling conditions for government analytics—data infrastructure and analytical capabilities—and how to strengthen them. Finally, it provides practical guidance on how to develop a holistic government analytics agenda. "Data for Better Governance: Building Government Analytics Ecosystems in Latin America and the Caribbean" is part of the Government Analytics collection, which began with The Government Analytics Handbook (2023). This growing series features frontier evidence and expert insights on how to leverage data to improve government performance.Publication Commodity Markets Outlook, April 2024(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-04-25)The conflict in the Middle East has been exerting upward pressures on prices of key commodities, notably oil and gold. High commodity prices, despite relatively subdued global GDP growth, suggest some countervailing forces offsetting tepid demand, such as heightened geopolitical strains and increasing metals-intensive investments in the energy transition. Commodity prices are forecast to soften marginally in 2024 and 2025 but remain substantially above pre-pandemic levels. Unlike most other prices, crude oil prices are expected to increase in 2024, mainly reflecting geopolitical tensions. The key risk to commodity price projections relates to the possibility of a broadening of the Middle East conflict, which could lead to significantly higher oil prices, thus reigniting global inflationary pressures. Meanwhile, food insecurity worsened markedly last year, reflecting elevated food prices and armed conflicts around the world. Should such conflicts worsen, global hunger could rise substantially. Heightened uncertainty around the commodity price outlook underscores the importance of forecast accuracy. A Special Focus section evaluates the performance of five approaches used to forecast prices of three commodities—aluminum, copper, and oil. It concludes that there is no “one-approach-beats-all.” Macroeconometric models tend to be more accurate at longer horizons, mainly due to their ability to account for the impact of structural changes. It is, however, critical to incorporate judgment and information that cannot be accounted for by statistical approaches. This highlights the importance of employing a wide range of approaches when forecasting commodity prices.Publication Poverty, Prosperity, and Planet Report 2024(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-10-15)The Poverty, Prosperity, and Planet Report 2024 is the latest edition of the series formerly known as Poverty and Shared Prosperity. The report emphasizes that reducing poverty and increasing shared prosperity must be achieved in ways that do not come at unacceptably high costs to the environment. The current “polycrisis”—where the multiple crises of slow economic growth, increased fragility, climate risks, and heightened uncertainty have come together at the same time—makes national development strategies and international cooperation difficult. Offering the first post-Coronavirus (COVID)-19 pandemic assessment of global progress on this interlinked agenda, the report finds that global poverty reduction has resumed but at a pace slower than before the COVID-19 crisis. Nearly 700 million people worldwide live in extreme poverty with less than US$2.15 per person per day. Progress has essentially plateaued amid lower economic growth and the impacts of COVID-19 and other crises. Today, extreme poverty is concentrated mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa and fragile settings. At a higher standard more typical of upper-middle-income countries—US$6.85 per person per day—almost one-half of the world is living in poverty. The report also provides evidence that the number of countries that have high levels of income inequality has declined considerably during the past two decades, but the pace of improvements in shared prosperity has slowed, and that inequality remains high in Latin America and the Caribbean and Sub-Saharan Africa. Worldwide, people’s incomes today would need to increase fivefold on average to reach a minimum prosperity threshold of US$25 per person per day. Where there has been progress in poverty reduction and shared prosperity, there is evidence of an increasing ability of countries to manage natural hazards, but climate risks are significantly higher in the poorest settings. Nearly one in five people globally is at risk of experiencing welfare losses due to an extreme weather event from which they will struggle to recover. The interconnected issues of climate change and poverty call for a united and inclusive effort from the global community. Development cooperation stakeholders—from governments, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector to communities and citizens acting locally in every corner of the globe—hold pivotal roles in promoting fair and sustainable transitions. By emphasizing strategies that yield multiple benefits and diligently monitoring and addressing trade-offs, we can strive toward a future that is prosperous, equitable, and resilient.Publication Brazil Country Climate and Development Report(World Bank Group, Washington DC, 2023-05-04)Brazil is highly exposed to climate change risks. The impacts of global climate change risks and local practices on the Amazon and Cerrado biomes are of particular concern, as they provide vital ecosystem services to Brazil, the South American region, and the world. The Brazil Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) examines the implications of climate change and climate action for Brazil's development objectives and priorities. It identifies opportunities for Brazil to achieve both its development goals and its climate commitments. It lays out a combination of sectoral and economy-wide policy reforms, as well as targeted investments in near- and medium-term mitigation and adaptation measures to achieve more rapid and inclusive development with lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The idea is to maximize synergies between climate and development objectives, while addressing trade-offs among policy objectives and key transition challenges.Publication Global Economic Prospects, June 2025(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-06-10)The global economy is facing another substantial headwind, emanating largely from an increase in trade tensions and heightened global policy uncertainty. For emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs), the ability to boost job creation and reduce extreme poverty has declined. Key downside risks include a further escalation of trade barriers and continued policy uncertainty. These challenges are exacerbated by subdued foreign direct investment into EMDEs. Global cooperation is needed to restore a more stable international trade environment and scale up support for vulnerable countries grappling with conflict, debt burdens, and climate change. Domestic policy action is also critical to contain inflation risks and strengthen fiscal resilience. To accelerate job creation and long-term growth, structural reforms must focus on raising institutional quality, attracting private investment, and strengthening human capital and labor markets. Countries in fragile and conflict situations face daunting development challenges that will require tailored domestic policy reforms and well-coordinated multilateral support.