Rio de Janeiro

Increased jobs and rising incomes helped lift 1 million Brazilians out of poverty in 2018. But there are still 13.5 million people in extreme poverty, according to data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).

The number remained stable compared to 2017, according to the IBGE Summary of Social Indicators, released on Wednesday (6).

In 2018, 6.5% of the population was in this situation, 0.1 percentage point more than in the previous year.

According to the line defined by the World Bank, which is the metric adopted by IBGE, those living on less than US$1.90 a day are considered to be in extreme poverty.

According to the line defined by the World Bank, those living on less than US$1.90 a day are considered to be in extreme poverty. Foto: Marcos Nagelstein - Marcos Nagelstein

The number of Brazilians in extreme poverty increased by two percentage points between 2014 and 2018, resulting in 13.5 million people.

"This contingent is higher than the total population of countries such as Bolivia, Belgium, Cuba, Greece, and Portugal," said the IBGE.

Translated by Kiratiana Freelon

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