and Mariana Costa
Minas Gerais followed the Brazilian trend in reducing poverty and extreme poverty rates in 2023: in absolute numbers, around 1.4 million miners left the poverty line and more than 205 thousand stopped being extremely poor, according to study published by the Jones dos Santos Neves Institute (IJSN), a body linked to the Government of Espírito Santo.
The analysis was produced based on data from Pnad Contínua (Continuous National Household Sample Survey): Income from All Sources 2023 and showed a reduction of 6.9 percentage points in the poverty rate (from 27.1% in 2022 and went to 20.2% in 2023) and 1 percentage point in the extreme poverty rate (from 3.2% in 2022 to 2.2% in 2023) in Minas Gerais.
Also in the state, it was recorded that the average monthly income of the population, in 2023, was R$2,753. The study used the World Bank’s poverty and extreme poverty lines, whose references are US$6.85 per capita (per person) per day and US$2.15 per capita per day, respectively. Converted using Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) criteria, the monthly values were R$664.02 for poverty and R$208.42 for extreme poverty.
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL FACTORS
The CEO of IJSN, Pablo Lira, highlights that the drop in rates occurs predominantly between states. “With one exception or another, only Acre showed an increase. We have an effect, in all Brazilian states, of several factors. There is the social factor, the federal government’s public income transfer policy, which increased spending on Bolsa Família by 81%, compared to the previous year, which was Auxílio Brasil. A significant amount that has been increased. Bolsa Família was expanded in 2023, covering the entire national territory”.
Lira also added the improvement in the Brazilian economic situation, which combined economic growth and job creation. “Income has also increased in our country. Poverty falls both due to the effect of the improvement and expansion of social policy and the economic framework”. For the CEO, the state’s situation could be even better. “Those states that have balanced public accounts are able to develop, with greater intensity, social policies to complement the federal government’s actions in the social area. Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul are states that have an imbalance in public accounts. They are limited in expanding investments in public policies, not only social, but in other areas”.
Lira points out that Minas is a strategic state and still has areas with high levels of social vulnerability, such as, for example, the Vale do Jequitinhonha Region. “If it weren’t for the federal government’s policy, the situation would be very problematic for these families who live on less than R$664 (poverty) and R$208, which is the extreme poverty range.” The executive believes that rates will probably continue to fall. “The policy is being continued and expanded, and Brazilian macroeconomic indicators are demonstrating that the country continues to improve its economic condition.”
GOLDEN DECADE
Jorge Neves, sociologist and professor at UFMG, also highlights the increase in Bolsa Família and adds the resumption of real growth in the minimum wage as factors that explain this reduction. “Increasing the income of the poorest people greatly increases the consumption of goods and services. This creates a virtuous cycle in the labor market for the poorest, reducing inequality and a very strong fall in poverty. After six years without concern for social policies, with a dismantling, in fact, of social policies, there was a return to the path perpetrated by the 1988 Constitution. We had a period – Temer and Bolsonaro governments – of suspension of the Constitution’s ideals. The Bolsonaro government, for example, every time it implemented social policies it was either pressured by Congress, as in the case of Emergency Aid, or with electoral intent”.
He highlights that poverty rates have seen consistent drops since the beginning of the 1990s. “The Itamar government and then Fernando Henrique began to implement measures provided for in the Constitution. With the Lula government this accelerated. From 2004 to 2014, Brazil experienced a golden decade, from a social point of view, with a huge improvement. Reduction in inequality and in areas such as education, which leads to better insertion in the job market. In 2015 there was a stabilization, things did not improve significantly. From 2016 onwards, Brazil began to experience a very strong social deterioration.”
IMPROVEMENT IN QUALITY OF LIFE
The government of Minas Gerais informed that the Minas Gerais State Secretariat for Social Development (Sedese-MG) is responsible for promoting public policies aimed at improving the quality of life of the Minas Gerais population. Among the actions developed that contribute to reducing poverty are initiatives to monitor and reach people in vulnerable situations. The Percursos Gerais program operates in rural areas of municipalities with greater social fragility, in addition to other work and inclusion actions that contribute to income generation. Since 2019, it has benefited 73 municipalities.
The secretariat also promotes training to support municipalities in planning local housing policy and raising funds for the construction, renovation and improvement of housing, addressing housing concepts and possible actions, in addition to preparing them for the development of the Local Housing Plan. 250 municipalities from different regions have already participated in the action. Sedese informs that it also promotes other initiatives in the areas of housing, social assistance and food security.
BRAZILIAN SCENARIO
Last year, Brazil reached the lowest levels in a historical series that began in 2012, according to the IJSN study. Still according to the survey, while the poverty rate decreased in 26 of the 27 states in 2023, the extreme poverty rate decreased in 25 units of the federation. “As much as we are reducing poverty in the country, there is still the challenge of being able to reduce regional inequalities”, points out Lira, citing the greater difficulties in states in the North and Northeast.
On average across the country, the poverty rate fell from 31.6% in 2022 to 27.5% in 2023, a reduction of 4.1 percentage points. In absolute terms, the population considered poor decreased from 67.8 million in 2022 to 59.2 million in 2023, showing a drop of 8.6 million people. Among the 26 states with a drop in the poverty rate, Amapá recorded the biggest reduction with a decline of 14.8 percentage points, going from 47.8% in 2022 to 33% in 2023. The only state that had an increase in poverty poverty rate was in Acre – which has more than half of its population considered poor –, which went from 51.1% in 2022 to 51.5% in 2023 – an increase of 0.4 percentage points.
The extreme poverty rate in Brazil also fell: it dropped from 5.9% to 4.4% in 2023 – a reduction of 1.5 percentage points –, also the lowest level in the series started in 2012. In absolute numbers, the population considered extremely poor decreased from 12.7 million in 2022 to 9.5 million in 2023 – around 3.1 million people who are no longer considered extremely poor. (With information from Folhapress)
