Pobreza no Brasil: parâmetros básicos e resultados empíricos

Abstract

The evidences on poverty discussed below refer to the metropolitan areas, for which detailed price information combined with data from the family budget survey enabled, the establishment of location and time specific poverty lines. Firstly, these parameters compared to income data from annual household surveys are used to differentiate poor from non-poor and to obtain the proportion of poor and poverty gap ratios for each year and area. This initial dichotomy between two subpopulations from the income point of view serves as basis for generating quality of life indicators. Multivariated analysis based on the set of indicators for the poor led to a ranking of metropolitan areas relative to a so-called synthetic poverty index Comparing empirical evidences from 1981 and 1990, it is evident that no significant progress has been made in terms of reducing poverty as insufficiency of income through the decade, although further deterioration was halted by socioeconomic changes, such as lowering birth rates and increased labor market participation. In spite of budgetary and operational constraints affecting the public sector, sanitary conditions show a clear improvement, wich is good news in a otherwise bleak scenario.