We aim to analyze the trajectory of poverty in Brazil and the metropolis of Rio de Janeiro, from 1976 to 2015, considering the structural changes in the Brazilian economy and society and the metropolitan context’s particularities. The poverty line used was defined by double the level of income sufficient for the acquisition of food necessary to guarantee the individual’s social reproduction. We could observe that the poverty rate varied according to the economic situation, with differences in levels and intensity between the metropolis and the country. Currently, unlike decades ago, people living in poverty are generally younger, have higher levels of education, and work in occupations that represent more prominent social positions in the social structure, which may have important implications in the changes in expectations of overcoming this condition, especially in the metropolitan context.

This paper maps poverty profile of Brazilian Northeast regarding the lack of consumption and housing services, and contrasting them with income insufficiency, which is the most consolidated criterion to measured poverty in the international literature.We used data from the Nacional Survey for Housing Sample (PNAD, in Portuguese), in 2009. Among the main results, we found that the Northeast region has a huge percentage of households without access to housing services and consumer items comparatively to other regions and, moreover, this region is the worst in absolute terms. In the dimension of housing items, the scarcest item in all five macro regions is piped water, followed by sanitation (sewage) and electricity. Regarding consumption items, refrigerator is the most lacking item for Brazilian households. We also show that many families below the poverty line present no insufficiency in terms of housing and consumption dimensions.

ABSTRACT The article analyzes the impact of social capital on income and poverty reduction in Brazil. Through the main components technique and based on the World Values Survey, a social capital index was constructed considering three categories of indicators: participation in organizations/associations; density of the partner and trust in people. It was concluded that in addition to social capital contributing positively with income, its impact is greater than the impacts caused, for example, by the fact that the individual is employed, married or white. In addition, the lower the income scale, the greater the impact of social capital on income generation and consequently on poverty reduction.

ABSTRACT Most analysis of the poverty phenomenon have given special focus to their one-dimensional structure, which is defined as insufficient income of individuals. However, more recently many researchers have addressed the multidimensional poverty perspective, taking into consideration other aspects in addition to income. With that respect, this article aims to investigate the multidimensional poverty in the state of Bahia in the period between 2006 and 2013. To this end, a recent methodology proposed by Bourguignon and Chakravarty (2003) has been employed, based on the basic needs approach and the theory of training. For the sake of calculating the size deprivation indicators, related gaps and multidimensional poverty rates, we used data from the National Survey by Household Sampling (PNAD/IBGE) .The results show that multidimensional poverty has decrease by 4.41% in the state of Bahia, while in rural and urban areas, the proportion of poor declined by 5.61% and 4.39% respectively. On the other hand, when it comes to the groups that make up the analysis, poverty reduction for males and females was relatively fair. However, it can highlight significant retraction of the children related indicator in 5.47% in the period analyzed.

ObjectiveTo assess the prevalence of child development delay and to identify socioeconomic determinants.Study designWe conducted a population-based cross-sectional study of children 2 to 72 months of age residing in the state of Ceará, Brazil. In total, 3200 households were randomly selected for participation in the study and had child development assessed with the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) version 3. Development delay was defined as a score of less than -2 standard deviations below the median of the Brazilian ASQ standard. We present population-level prevalence of delay in five development domains and assess socioeconomic determinants.ResultsA total of 3566 children completed the ASQ development assessment of which 9.2% (95% CI: 8.1–10.5) had at least one domain with development delay. The prevalence of delay increased with age in all domains and males were at higher risk for communication, gross motor and personal-social development delays as compared to females (p-values <0.05). We found robust associations of indicators of socioeconomic status with risk of development delay; increasing monthly income and higher social class were associated with reduced risk of delay across all domains (28,2% in the poorest and 21,2% in richest for any delay, p-values <0.05 for all domains). In addition, children in poor households that participated in conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs appeared to have reduced risk of delay as compared to children from households that were eligible, but did not participate, in CCT programs.ConclusionsThere is a relatively high population-level prevalence of development delay in at least one domain among children 0–6 years of age in Ceará, Brazil. Integrated child development, social support, and poverty reduction interventions may reduce the population-level prevalence of development delay in Ceará and similar settings.

ABSTRACT This article analyzed advances in the reduction of inequalities in Brazil during the period from 2003 to 2015, in addition to the income perspective. The data reflect that, although relevant transformations have occurred, nevertheless, Brazil persists as one of the most unequal countries in the world. However, by placing a magnifying glass on the data about access to goods and services of the poorest 5% and 20% made available by the National Household Sample Survey (PNAD), the findings contradict the commonplace that only access to income and the consumption of the poorest was promoted in the period studied, without significant changes in the framework of access to basic rights, public policies of education, health, and infrastructure.

IntroductionTuberculosis incidence is disproportionately high among people in poverty. Cash transfer programs have become an important strategy in Brazil fight inequalities as part of comprehensive poverty alleviation policies. This study was aimed at assessing the effect of being a beneficiary of a governmental cash transfer program on tuberculosis (TB) treatment cure rates.MethodsWe conducted a longitudinal database study including people ≥18 years old with confirmed incident TB in Brazil in 2015. We treated missing data with multiple imputation. Poisson regression models with robust variance were carried out to assess the effect of TB determinants on cure rates. The average effect of being beneficiary of cash transfer was estimated by propensity-score matching.ResultsIn 2015, 25,084 women and men diagnosed as new tuberculosis case, of whom 1,714 (6.8%) were beneficiaries of a national cash transfer. Among the total population with pulmonary tuberculosis several determinants were associated with cure rates. However, among the cash transfer group, this association was vanished in males, blacks, region of residence, and people not deprived of their freedom and who smoke tobacco. The average treatment effect of cash transfers on TB cure rates, based on propensity score matching, found that being beneficiary of cash transfer improved TB cure rates by 8% [Coefficient 0.08 (95% confidence interval 0.06–0.11) in subjects with pulmonary TB].ConclusionOur study suggests that, in Brazil, the effect of cash transfer on the outcome of TB treatment may be achieved by the indirect effect of other determinants. Also, these results suggest the direct effect of being beneficiary of cash transfer on improving TB cure rates.

In proposing the use of Markov Chain and differences in the analysis of the effectiveness of Bolsa Família program, this study sought to contribute to the state of the art in applied studies of public policies of income transfer. The combined use of these methods was used in two periods: before the implementation of the program and after it. The results revealed that, after the implementation of Bolsa Família, the "cycle of poverty" presented signs of rupture, due to a tendency of convergence to higher levels of income and because of the likelihood of mitigating the poorest income classes of the Brazilian population. Thus, on long-term, there is the possibility of changing and combating the dynamics of the cycle of poverty and social exclusion in Brazil.

ABSTRACT Objective: To investigate socioeconomic and demographic differences regarding population aging in municipalities of the state of Pará, Brazil. Method: Ecological study with secondary demographic, socioeconomic and health data from the 144 municipalities of the state of Pará, Brazil. Data were treated with segmentation analysis, the Mann-Whitney U test and logistic regression models, with a significance level of p ≤ 0.05. Results: Segmentation analysis provided a single variable to describe aging in the municipalities of Pará and originated two clusters, the high and low aging rate ones, with 104 (72.22%) and 40 (27.78%) municipalities in each, respectively. The fitted model revealed an association between aging and per capita income (p = 0.021), vulnerability to poverty (p = 0.003), rich to poor ratio (p = 0.012) and density of people (p = 0.019). Conclusion: There is heterogeneity in the population aging among the municipalities of Pará, mainly regarding socioeconomic conditions and number of people living in the municipalities.

Against the background of the generalized reduction of poverty in the world, and particularly in Brazil, this article intends to gauge the socio-economic profile of Brazilian households that emerged from poverty and have been identified as integrating a "new middle class". Using indicators of standards of living from the 2008-2009 Survey on Family Budgets (POF/IBGE), we found out that, in contrast to what has been assumed on the basis of average income criteria, this social stratum is markedly heterogeneous, most of it being similar in their consumption patterns to the economically vulnerable or outright poor strata. So, we conclude that, from a sociological perspective that demands additional conditions besides income levels to identify social classes, it is a category mistake to call this social stratum a new middle class. We conjecture that this may be consequential in terms of policy priorities and choices.

Abstract: The distribution of harms to health varies spatially determined by the socioeconomic conditions of the environment. This research aimed to assess the spatial distribution of dental caries in 12-year-old children and their correlation with socioeconomic indicators in Brazilian states. The sample of this ecological study comprised all the 26 Brazilian states and the Federal District. Thematic and correlation maps were constructed in order to assess the spatial dependency, as well as the correlation between dental caries and socioeconomic factors. The results showed that the states with the worst DMFT indexes were located in the north and northeast, showing spatial autocorrelation. These regions also had the worst results for the following variables: poverty, illiteracy, education, and income. The bivariate analysis showed that household income and education level had negative spatial correlation with the DMFT index, while illiteracy and poverty rates showed positive correlation. Despite advances in the decline of DMFT index in recent years, there is still an inequity in the distribution of the caries disease.

Abstract Since the 1990s various Latin American countries have adopted public polices to reduce poverty and social exclusion, highlighted by the income transfer programs that compose the central core of government actions in various countries. The objective of this study is to conduct a comparative analysis of the evolution of poverty in Brazil and Argentina in the early 21st century, as well as the public policies of the time. The analysis focused on secondary data about the two themes found in both countries. It concludes that these programs contribute decisively to reducing the levels of poverty in the two countries, yet emphasizes that the eradication of poverty requires greater articulation between the various social policies and emphasizes the need for the construction and consolidation of a broad social protection system.

The growth in longevity in Brazil has drawn attention to more useful population health measures to complement mortality. In this paper, we investigate socio-spatial differences in life expectancy and healthy life expectancy based on information from the Brazilian National Health Survey (PNS), 2013 and 2019. A three-stage cluster sampling with stratification of the primary sampling units and random selection in all stages was used in both PNS editions. Healthy life expectancy was estimated by Sullivan’s method by sex, age, and Federated Units (UF). Severe limitations to at least one noncommunicable chronic disease (NCD) or poor self-rated health were used to define the unhealthy state. Inequality indicators and a Principal Component analysis were used to investigate socio-spatial inequalities. From 2013 to 2019, both life expectancy and healthy life expectancy increased. The analysis by UF show larger disparities in healthy life expectancy than in life expectancy, with healthy life expectancy at age 60 varying from 13.6 to 19.9 years, in 2013, and from 14.9 to 20.1, in 2019. Healthy life expectancy in the wealthiest quintile was 20% longer than for those living in the poorest quintile. Wide socio-spatial disparities were found with the worst indicators in the UF located in the North and Northeast regions, whether considering poverty concentration or health care utilization. The socio-spatial inequalities demonstrated the excess burden of poor health experienced by older adults living in the less developed UF. The development of strategies at subnational levels is essential not only to provide equal access to health care but also to reduce risk exposures and support prevention policies for adoption of health behaviors.

Current elite studies argue that inequality produces negative externalities to elites, who may either promote democracy or adopt authoritarian measures in order to shield their interests from the actions of the rebellious poor. This article argues that elite framing of poverty and inequality in the press is a good thermometer of elite public response to such externalities. The press represents a communication tool shared by elites in the state, market, civil society, and, most evidently, the media itself. If inequality threatens elite rule, elites should share their concerns in order to move towards a solution. Since the literature links inequality and elite response, I propose undertaking a comparison of elite public responses to poverty and inequality in two South American cases with opposite records of inequality: Brazil and Uruguay. The article approaches elite framing of poverty and inequality in the press by analyzing opinion pieces and editorials in the main newspapers of both countries. Results invert the expected link between inequality and elite response. Elite framing of inequality in the Brazilian press did not suggest elite concern with externalities, neither an elite turn towards more democracy or authoritarianism. Contrastingly, a few Uruguayan elites did frame the poor as menacing.

Resumo This paper presents a revision about the elderly population in Brazil, addressing aspects of the demographic transition as it relates to socio-economic conditions and some consequences and trends associated with policies affecting Brazil’s elderly. Since a demographic transition has been occurring as a result of the aging of the Brazilian population, we identify a majority profile of Brazilian elderly as White women who live in urban areas in couple-without-children households, and possessing on average an education of 6.1 years and a smaller than minimum wage. We show that the vast majority of the elderly in Brazil receive some form of government income transfer that have a positive effect on poverty reduction in the segment. Finally, we show that there will be some future natural consequences and trends affecting the profile of the aging population, and that adjustments will need to be made by the government in terms of health and social security spending in order to mitigate the increased demands in these areas as the country's demographic change.

ABSTRACT The objective of this article is to analyze Brazilian health specialists’ perceptions of the possibilities of country achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, especially in regard to the targets of SDG 3 – Good Health and Well-Being. Specialists are defined as the main author of an article in the field of public health, published between September 2012 and 2017 in periodicals indexed in the Web of Science (WoS) platform. Their perceptions were collected using a distance research technique, with the use of an electronic research instrument, received and returned by e-mail, by 884 respondents (research universe), Between 22 January and 2 February 2018 (field of research). Respondents, with a ‘medium’ and ‘high’ knowledge of SDGs, considered Brazil’s possibilities of achieving any of the 17 objectives as ‘low.’ For them, the country should prioritize SDG 4 (Quality Education) and 1 (End Poverty), also seen as those that would contribute most to achieving SDG 3 (Health and Welfare). In terms of policy recommendations that could help achieve the nine targets of SDG 3, respondents stressed ‘poverty reduction’, ‘universal primary care’ and ‘education’ as priorities.

Summary The aim of this article is threefold. Firstly, to present income-based poverty and extreme poverty indicators for 2015, when the macroeconomic crisis led to a generalized deterioration affecting all areas and regions. The second aim is to discuss long-term evolution, emphasizing the period since 2004, when sustained improvement of income indicators as well as convergence of regional and area results began. Considering the period from 2004 to 2014/2015, the third aim is to show that the reduction in poverty and extreme poverty was parallel to increased inequality in poverty regarding two critical aspects: the regional aspect, since inequality among the five regions became higher, thus reinforcing the dichotomy between the North/Northeast versus the Centre-South; the age aspect, because the recent improvements since 2004 have not sufficiently benefited children as to reverse their disadvantaged position, so much so that in 2015 children still had a share in poverty that was twice their share in the total population. The last section concerns policy measures that may reduce the impact of the crisis on the poor.

Abstract: The UN has set development goals and targets for its member states. Brazil has committed itself to these goals, including the fight against poverty and hunger. In 2004, the country created the Bolsa Família Program (PBF), a direct income transfer program for beneficiaries. This article evaluates the PBF through the Gini Index, Theil Index and the HDI of the Brazilian states, portraying the success of the PBF, which allowed, from 1990 to 2013, more than 20 million people to leave the poverty situation in Brazil.

ABSTRACT The Covid-19 pandemic outbreak has led to an increasing interest in universal basic income (UBI) proposals, as it exposed the inadequacy of traditional welfare systems to provide basic financial security to a large share of the population. In this paper, we use a static tax-benefit microsimulation model to analyse the fiscal and distributional effects of the hypothetical implementation in Brazil of alternative UBI schemes that partially replace the existing tax-transfer system. The results indicate that introducing a UBI/Flat Tax system in the country could be both extremely effective in reducing poverty and inequality and economically viable.

ABSTRACT The main goals of this paper were to construct a Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) for Brazil using data from PNAD and also provides an analysis of its evolution for the period 2004-2015. The proposed IPM follows the method developed by Alkire and Santos (2013). The results confirm the reduction on the incidence of multidimensional poverty in Brazil. However, people move out of poverty into the stage of vulnerability, showing a gradual improvement on living conditions. Regionally, there was a reduction in the incidence of poverty in the whole country, and notably in the North and Northeast regions.