With the expansion of the Auxílio Brasil to R$ 600 on the eve of the election and the creation of job openings, income inequality between rich and poor fell in 2022, the last year of the Jair Bolsonaro administration, to the lowest level in the historical series started in 2012, according to data released this Thursday (11) by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics
The gap between the extremes of the population is measured by the Gini index, which ranges from 0 (maximum equality) to 1 (maximum inequality).
In 2022, the Gini of household income per person fell to 0.518, the lowest level in the series in 11 years, after rising to 0.544 in 2021.
Despite the drop, the index remains at a high level compared to other countries, according to the IBGE ( Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics).
The per capita household income of the poorest half of the population rose 18% last year, to R$537 per month. Meanwhile, the average earning of the richest 1% of Brazilians was R$17,447. All values are in real terms, meaning that they are adjusted according to inflation.
Translated by Cassy Dias