Brazil Poverty

Brazil is one of the countries situated in the Latin America region. Like many countries in the world, Brazil faces many challenges. One of the primary challenges revolves around poverty. Many of the citizens live below the poverty line, and are classified as poor. Such a state of affairs presents the government with an uphill task to address the foregoing problem, since protection of lives remains the core responsibility of any government. The main objective of this paper is analyzing a recent article on poverty in Brazil.

The article aired by Fox News Latino titled "Brazil’s Middle Class Swells as Thirty Five Mn Climb out of Poverty" is the reference for this discussion. The article indicates that according to a report by the Presidential Office of Strategic Affairs, thirty five million Brazilians had moved below the poverty line over the past decade. Therefore, this brought the middle class group to about 53 per cent of the people of Brazil.

It is mentioned that the above group belongs to the class of individuals who earn at least $145 per month. The report observes that if the trend is sustained, the middle class, who constitute 35 per cent in the year 2011, would form 57 per cent in the year 2022. Such an impressive performance has been credited to good economic outcomes and favorable programs that were initiated by both the current and the previous government. Moreover, the governments provided an appropriate environment that facilitated a good performance.

The report further shows that 18 million new jobs were created during the past decade. Thus, this, in addition with the government’s offer of the minimum wage that surpasses the inflation rate, is also believed to be behind the solid economic performance of Brazil. The median household income increased by 2.4 per cent, while the middle class gained 3.5 per cent annually. From the report, it is evident that the economy of Brazil is improving. Probably, this will, in turn, reduce the poverty levels, as new jobs would be created. Therefore, it is a fact that if economic performance is impressive and sustainable, coupled with good leadership and governance, poverty will decline drastically leading to better living standards.