Blacks are Twice as Likely as Whites to be Poor in Brazil, Says Study

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In Brazil, the odds of a black man being poor are twice those of a white man. The finding is from the research “The racial inequality of poverty in the country,” released this week by IPEA (Institute of Applied Economic Research, a government research body) based on data from 2004 to 2014. According to the survey, the odds of a black man being poor were 2 to 1 when compared to those of a white man in 2014.

For a mulatto, the rate is 2to 6. The study points out, however, that racial inequality among the poor was reduced during this period.

“It remains high, in spite of there having been a reduction in the period, as much as the inequality of whites in relation to blacks and mulattos as of the inequality between blacks and mulattos,” states the study.

When considering data collected by 2014, the survey does not reflect the potential repercussions of the economic recession that affected the country from that year on, during the government of former president Dilma Rousseff.

The basic data for the study were the PNADs (National Household Samples Survey), from the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics). According to the IBGE, the sum of blacks and mulattos makes up the group of negros. IPEA’s research, however, divides the two subgroups.

Rafael Guerreiro Osório, who authored the study, explained why mulattos are more likely to be victims of poverty than blacks.

“In Brazil, we have a very diverse racial make-up throughout the territory. In the North and Northeast, where the population is the poorest, you have more blacks and mulattos. The proportion of blacks varies greatly from state to state, but it varies a little less than that of mulattos, that is: the proportion of mulattos varies more in the North and Northeast. As poverty is very much centered in regions, this difference exists.”

Osório believes that, although there was a reduction in poverty in the decade studied, racial differences could have been narrower, and that the gap between the races still deserves attention.

“The decrease was such that in 2014, blacks and mulattos neared the standard of living of a white man in 2004. What happened is that they got to where the whites were at the start of the decade,” he says.

However, the study did not examine the reasons for this reduction. For the author, the decline may be due to a set of economic factors. “It is noticeable that, for both blacks and mulattos, there was not only a decrease in poverty but also in the inequality of chances to escape from poverty, in relation to whites.”

The study shows that the poorer they are, the greater the reduction in inequality. For those living on less than US$1 (R$4) a day, inequality fell from 20 to 40 percent. For the daily ranges around US$3, the drop was smaller, around ten percent. From US$4 onward, a more significant decrease in inequality between mulattos and whites is observed, the study points out.

The amounts used to calculate the dollar was based on December 2011, with an adjusted figure today of R$5.05. The researcher adds that deep inequalities still mark Brazil.

“The ideal world is one in which everyone has an equal chance to be poor and to escape poverty, and this is far from being the case in Brazil. In general, it’s still much higher among blacks and mulattos here,” he says.