MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Almost half of Brazil under 18 population lives in poverty

Almost half of young Brazilians live in poverty conditions according to the latest Social Indicators 2008 report from the Brazilian Geography and Statistics Institute, IBGE

IBGE states that 46% of young Brazilians belong to the age group most exposed to this condition. While 30% of the overall population is described as poor, (a family group living on two minimum wages), among the age group from 0 to 17 years the percentage zooms to 46. Northeast Brazil is the poorest region of Brazil and poverty among the young reaches 68.1%. Other social indexes in the report include fertility rate, life expectancy, social and racial inequalities, among others. The fertility rate in 2007 was 1.95 children per Brazilian mother while ten years ago it stood at 2.54 children. Regarding life expectancy the index crawled three years in the last decade from 69.9 to 72.7 years. Women however live longer, on average 76.5 compared to 69 years for men. As to social inequalities, the report shows that Brazilian white workers in 2007 had an average income almost twice that of blacks and mulattos. Blacks and mulattos were paid in 2007 on average 1.8 minimum salaries while their white counterparts, 3.4 minimum salaries. The minimum wage in Brazil was last adjusted in August to 464 Reales, which at the current rate of exchange is equivalent to 250 US dollars.