SOCIAL ISSUES IN BRAZILSteve Blackmon

Rhoumer DumapatAswin Gunasekar

Adrian HarbAmrin MalikSarah Victor

SOCIAL ISSUES IN BRAZIL• Pobreza • Questões raciais• Gangues/Drogas • Educacao

SOCIAL ISSUES IN BRAZIL• Pobreza (Poverty)• Questões raciais (Racial Issues)• Gangues/Drogas (Youth gangs and

drugs)• Educacao (Education)

RACE & ETHNICITY IN BRAZIL• Indigenous populations: Tupi, Ewe, and Ge• 1500’s: Portuguese Settlers and African

populations• Late 1800’s – 1900’s: Italian, Spanish, German,

Japanese, Middle East, and Eastern Europe• Sugar cane crops, gold and diamonds = increased

slave trafficking

• Last country in the Americas to end slavery (1888)

SOCIAL APARTHEIDIndicators White Brazilian Black Brazilian

Illiteracy 5.9% 13.3%University Degree 15.0% 4.7%

Life Expectancy 73.13% 67.03%

Unemployment 5.7% 7.1%

GDP Per Capita R$ 22,699 R$ 15,068

Homicide Deaths 29% 65.5%

THE FUTURE

POVERTY

• Most visually represented by Favelas• In part attributed to economic inequality• > 50% of population lacks resources for basic survival• Poor segment is 33% of population. Extremely poor is 13%• Richest 10% receive 42% of nation's income• Poorest population receives < 1.2% of nation’s income

GINI COEFFICIENT0 perfect income equality 1 maximal inequality

Gini-coefficient of national income distribution around the world (using 2009 info)

POVERTY MITIGATION & OUTLOOK

• Fight extreme poverty and income inequality– Public policies of social intervention– Increased social spending (21.9% in 2005)– Decentralization of social policy • Municipalities share of social spending rose

53.8% from 1980 to 2008– ‘Zero Hunger’ program – ‘Bolsa Familia’

• Reach social indicators of developed countries by 2016– Projected poverty rate of 4%

YOUTH GANGS & DRUGS

• Drug gangs control majority of favelas around cities.

• Gangs recruit children as young as 10 to run/sell drugs.

• Kids can earn up to $150/day.

Brazil

US

YOUTH PROGRAMS & EDUCATION

• Locally/internationally sponsored youth programs are helping break the low poverty/education cycle.

• +Oportunidades program is preparing kids for a brighter future through education and training.

REVIEW OF THE EDUCATION SYSTEM• Primary Education• Free for all • Most elementary schools maintained by

municipalities or the States• Richer cities have better schools due to

better tax revenue• Biggest problem is non attendance due to

malnutrition, children working and high examination failure rate

• Standards falling, middle class turn to private schools further making public schools worse

• Official programs that have worked well: Bolsa Escola; now rolled into Bolsa Familia, FUNDEF

SECONDARY EDUCATION• Not mandatory in Brazil• Most intermediary schools are

maintained by the municipalities and States

• Access to University based mainly on merit, measured by performance in ENEM (previously called 'vestibular’)

• Private schools prepare students better for University

• Students who could afford the best intermediary schools or cursinhos approved into the free public universities

• Inherent handicap for poor students

HIGHER EDUCATION• Majority of federal education funds

goes towards public universities• Better lobbying power

• Public universities are best in quality1. Universidade Federal do Rio de

Janeiro2. Universidade de São Paulo3. Universidade de Brasília

• Have funds needed for investments in Medicine and Engineering programs

• Private universities offer Human Sciences, Administration, Accounts

OUTLOOK• Some notable successes

– 700,000 scholarships for low income students– 180 vocational schools compared to 140 and 93 over that last 2 years– School enrollments climbing, Middle school graduation rate risen from 34% to 47%

• Yet, Education - the biggest disadvantage for Brazil compared to China, India & Russia– More than 22 percent of the roughly 25 million workers available to join Brazil’s work

force in 2011 were not considered qualified to meet the demands of the labor market

• Many parents say, ‘Why should they study if there are no opportunities?’

• ‘Unless that gap is filled soon, Brazil may miss its demographic window over the next two decades in which the economically active population is at its peak’ - World Bank

OBRIGADO!