Brasilia, December 3 (RHC)-- The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) revealed Friday that the number of people below the poverty line in 2021 rose to 62.5 million inhabitants, representing 29.4 percent of the population.

The study by the South American state entity points out that this index rose 22.7 percent in just one year while the number of people in extreme poverty rose 48.2 percent, for a total of 17.9 million Brazilians.
Similarly, IBGE pointed out that last year 46.2 percent of children up to 14 years of age and 33.2 percent of adolescents and young people between 15 and 29 years of age lived below the poverty line.

At the same time, 37.7 percent of Blacks were below the poverty line compared to 18.6 percent of whites. Likewise, 62.8 percent of people living in households headed by single women had less than R$486 a month.

In turn, the study details that after the end of last year, the average income per capita of households turned out to be 1,353 reais, which is the lowest number in history and represents 6.9 percent less than in 2020.

IBGE analyst André Simoes stated that "the recovery of the labor market in 2021 was not enough to reverse the losses of 2020.  This, and the reduction in Emergency Aid values, may help explain this result."

The most vulnerable regions were the Northeast with 48.7 percent living in poverty and the Amazon with 44.9 percent, while the ratio dropped to 14.2 percent in the South of the country.