Banca de DEFESA: ALEX RILIE MOREIRA RODRIGUES

FAMILY POVERTY IN BRAZIL: CONSTRAINTS AND PERSPECTIVES IN 2022

 Family Poverty. Poverty Conditions. Brazil.

Brazil is characterized by a significant fraction of its population in extreme poverty, in addition to exhibiting marked social disparities. A detailed understanding of this phenomenon and its origins is important, highlighting the relevance of the research in question. The purpose of this study was to investigate the elements that influence poverty in households in Brazil, using appropriate quantitative methods for analysis. In this process, variables linked to the characteristics of the head of the household (such as gender, ethnicity, age, level of education, among others) and aspects of the household (including location and region) were examined, based on microdata from the 2022 Continuous National Household Sample Survey (Continuous PNAD), provided by the IBGE. Initially, the Foster, Greer, and Thorbecke (FGT) poverty index, which considers both the severity of poverty and inequality in income distribution, was adopted to quantify poverty. Subsequently, the Probit econometric model was used, establishing two poverty lines: one based on 50% of the nominal minimum wage of 2022 R$ 606.00 (six hundred and six reais) and another using the average nominal per capita household income of the same year R$ 1,981.15 (one thousand nine hundred and eighty-one reais and fifteen cents.). The findings indicate an unequal distribution of poverty across the country, with a more pronounced prevalence in the states of the North and Northeast. From a gender point of view, the severity of poverty is similar between men and women. However, a higher probability of poverty was observed in families headed by women, black and brown people, as well as in households located in the North and Northeast regions and in rural areas. Therefore, individual and geographic factors are significant determinants in the prevalence of family poverty. Within this context, the role of the State is fundamental to combat this reality, through public policies that focus on the population with the characteristics, addressing gender and ethnic inequalities, and the precarious infrastructural conditions of the areas most impacted by poverty. Thus, the implementation of these policies could significantly improve the well-being of a considerable part of Brazilians who are in marginal conditions.