Almost 40 million Brazilians climbed to middle class in the last eight years

28th Tuesday, June 2011 - 04:28 UTC Full article

Lula da Silva social polices helped 28 million out of poverty

An estimated 39.5 million Brazilians climbed to the middle class between 2003 and May 2011 according to a report from the Getulio Vargas Foundation, FGV, released Monday and which underlined inclusion and inequality reduction as the main forces.

“The years 2010 and 2011 have been exceptional” since ten million people have been incorporated to the C bracket of society said Professor Marcelo Neri.

“Economic growth and inequality reduction” have been the main reasons for low income people to abandon poverty supported by an improvement in health and education.

“Inequality in Brazil is falling significantly and fast”, said Neri showing that the Gini inequality index dropped to 1.1% between 2000 and 2007.

At the same time the new members of the low middle class, besides consuming new foods and textiles are also involved in purchasing other items such as fuel, telecommunications and computers, emphasized Professor Neri.

According to the FGV report currently 105 million Brazilians belong to the middle class C with a family income in the range of 750 to 3.229 US dollars per month.

However another 63.6 million are still in poverty brackets D and E while 22.5 million are described as belonging to the population segments with the highest purchasing power.

Between 2003 and 2010, former president Lula da Silva implemented social policies that helped 28 million Brazilians out of poverty and indigence.

Last June President Dilma Rousseff launched her program “Brazil without misery” which is basically a continuation of the plans launched by Lula da Silva and with which she pretends to end the extreme poverty in which 16 million Brazilians live.