Guidance

Country policy and information note: Internal relocation, Brazil, December 2024 (accessible)

Updated 24 December 2024

Version 1.0

December 2024

Executive summary

In general, a person fearing ‘rogue’ state actors and non-state actors is likely to be able to internally relocate to another area of Brazil, particularly to Brasilia in the Federal District or to cities in the South and Southeast regions such as (but not limited to) areas within Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Santa Catarina.

Where the person has a well-founded fear of persecution or serious harm from the state, they are unlikely to be able to relocate to escape that risk.

Brazil’s population is approximately 212 million, with its most populous cities being Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The law provides for freedom of movement, which is generally possible but may be hindered in areas particularly impacted by organised crime or climate-related events and displacement.

Social welfare programmes exist, and public healthcare is free to all citizens. Education is free and compulsory for all children, although not all children attend school in practice. Brazil created 1.6 million jobs in 2023, with the majority of these being in the service sector, and its GDP expanded. Between 2021 and 2024, the unemployment rate has fallen and the number of people living in extreme poverty and poverty has decreased, although remains at 5.9% and 31.6% of the population respectively.

As of 2023, approximately 6-12% of the population are reported to live in slum housing with Afro-descendant people disproportionately represented in that number. Brazil’s national housing program is actively working to address the country’s housing challenges, with initiatives focused on boosting construction and improving living conditions. The government is prioritising support for vulnerable groups, including low-income families, women, and people with disabilities. Poverty rates are higher in the Northern regions than the Southern regions, and earning potential is significantly less in the Northern regions than in the Southern regions and in Brasilia.

Brazil’s crime rate is high, particularly in large cities. Gang-related violence is a concern, and the two largest gangs (Comando Vermelho and Primeiro Comando da Capital) operate throughout Brazil.

Where a claim is refused, it is likely to be certifiable as ‘clearly unfounded’ as Brazil is a designated state. All cases must be considered on their individual facts, with the onus on the person to demonstrate they face persecution or serious harm.

Assessment

About the assessment

Section updated: 2 December 2024

This section considers the evidence relevant to this note - that is the country information, refugee/human rights laws and policies, and applicable caselaw - and provides an assessment of whether, in general, those with a well-founded fear of persecution or serious harm from non-state actors can internally relocate within Brazil.

Decision makers must, however, consider all claims on an individual basis, taking into account each case’s specific facts.

1. Material facts, credibility and other checks/referrals

1.1 Credibility

1.1.1 For information on assessing credibility, see the instruction on Assessing Credibility and Refugee Status

1.1.2 Decision makers must also check if there has been a previous application for a UK visa or another form of leave. Asylum applications matched to visas should be investigated prior to the asylum interview (see the Asylum Instruction on Visa Matches, Asylum Claims from UK Visa Applicants).

1.1.3 In cases where there are doubts surrounding a person’s claimed place of origin, decision makers should also consider language analysis testing, where available (see the Asylum Instruction on Language Analysis).

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1.2 Exclusion

1.2.1 Decision makers must consider whether there are serious reasons for considering whether one (or more) of the exclusion clauses is applicable. Each case must be considered on its individual facts.

1.2.2 If the person is excluded from the Refugee Convention, they will also be excluded from a grant of humanitarian protection (which has a wider range of exclusions than refugee status).

1.2.3 For guidance on exclusion and restricted leave, see the Asylum Instruction on Exclusion under Articles 1F and 33(2) of the Refugee Convention, Humanitarian Protection and the instruction on Restricted Leave.

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2. Internal relocation

2.1.1 In general, a person fearing ‘rogue’ state actors and non-state actors is likely to be able to internally relocate to another area of Brazil, particularly to Brasilia in the Federal District or to cities in the South and Southeast regions such as (but not limited to) areas within Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Santa Catarina. Where the person has a well-founded fear of persecution or serious harm from the state, they are unlikely to be able to relocate to escape that risk.

2.1.2 While the onus is on the person to establish a well-founded fear of persecution or real risk of serious harm, decision makers must demonstrate that internal relocation is reasonable (or not unduly harsh) having regard to the individual circumstances of the person.

2.1.3 Brazil is a diverse, multi-ethnic, multi-lingual society with a population of approximately 212 million. The country comprises 5 regions, which are divided into 26 states and the Federal District. Brazil’s largest city is Sao Paulo, followed by Rio de Janeiro. Around 0.83% (approximately 1.8 million) of the population is indigenous, the majority of whom live in the North and Northeast regions. Sao Paulo, the most populous state in Brazil, is home to around 21% (46.3 million) of the population. The dominant religion in Brazil is Christianity, with the majority of believers being Roman Catholic, followed by an even split of Evangelical Christians and other Protestants. Smaller Jewish and Muslim communities also live throughout Brazil with larger concentrations in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro (see Geography, Demography).

2.1.4 Internal displacement has increased since records began in 2008 due to climate conditions and increasing natural disasters (droughts and floodings) with 745,000 (around 0.33%) of the population displaced in 2023. The North and Northeastern regions are the areas primarily affected by climate events resulting in internal displacement, as well as flooding in the Southern state of Rio Grande do Sul which has led to loss of life and damage to infrastructure (see Internally displaced persons (IDPs), Humanitarian situation).

2.1.5 Brazil has experienced economic growth, with its GDP expanding by 2.9% in 2023. From 2022 data, the Brazilian government reported that the proportion of people living in ‘extreme poverty’ (defined as earning less than the equivalent of £26 per month) and ‘poverty’ (defined as earning less than £83 per month) has decreased, to 5.9% and 31.6% of the population respectively. As of 2023, approximately 6-12% of the population are reported to live in slum housing with Afro-descendant people disproportionately represented in that number. Poverty rates are higher in the Northern regions than the Southern regions, and earning potential is significantly less in the Northern regions than in the Southern regions and in Brasilia. In quarter 4 of 2023, 27.6% of households were affected by some level of food insecurity (see Poverty, wealth and inequality, Development challenges, Ownership, rent and affordability, Food security).

2.1.6 Brazil created 1.6 million jobs in the year 2023. The services sector contributed the most, with 98,206 new positions, though the average salary slightly decreased to 2,032 Reais (£265) per month. Currently, Brazil has 44 million formally employed workers and 40 million remain in informal employment. The unemployment rate fell from 14.4% in 2021 to 8.1% in late 2022, averaging 7.5% by early 2024. Wages rose by 0.9%, with the employed population reaching a record high of 100.8 million. Whilst unemployment increased to 7.9% in early 2024, with black and brown citizens experiencing a higher rate of unemployment than white persons, the labour market is robust (see Employment).

2.1.7 Brazil’s public health care system (SUS) provides universal healthcare, but access can be limited due to overcrowding, long wait times and shortages of medication, especially in public hospitals. While SUS covers a wide range of services, from primary care to specialised treatments, many rely on private insurance for quicker access to care. Regional and social inequalities exist, with black and indigenous populations particularly affected. Private health insurance, used by around 50.7 million (23%) of the population, supplements the public system, but essential medicines and treatment are costly (see Healthcare).

2.1.8 Education is free and universally available. However, the quality of education and accessibility of educational institutions is reportedly lower in the North, Northeast and Central West regions than the South and Southeast regions. Primary and secondary education is compulsory, though approximately 60% of Brazilians have only completed four years of schooling. School enrolment is higher in the South and Southeast, while the North and Northeast have lower rates due to underfunded schools and less qualified teachers. Higher education is available, with most universities located in the South and Southeast (see Education, In-country movement).

2.1.9 Brazil’s national housing program actively works to address housing challenges, with initiatives focused on boosting construction and improving living conditions. However, housing demand continues to outpace supply. 30 million households reportedly live in inadequate conditions, and 100 million households are without access to sewage collection. Informal housing and slums exist, and rent prices are reportedly rising, particularly in urban areas. However, the government is prioritising support for vulnerable groups, including low-income families, women, and people with disabilities, as it works to reduce the housing deficit and expand access to affordable homes (see Housing and living conditions, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)).

2.1.10 Social security is organised as a general system based on contributions and includes benefits such as, but not limited to, sick pay, maternity pay and retirement benefits. Social assistance is a constitutional right, regardless of contribution to social security. It consists of basic social welfare, which provides services and benefits to those in socially vulnerable situations, and special social welfare for complex cases. These are administered through reference centres which exist throughout Brazil. The Bolsa Familia Program provides cash transfers to poor households, conditional on school attendance and use of maternal and child health services, and has been credited with lifting millions out of poverty (see Social support/protection).

2.1.11 Brazil has a high crime rate, particularly in favelas, large cities and the Amazon. Despite government efforts, including witness protection programs, organised crime remains a problem. Criminal groups like the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) and Comando Vermelho (CV) dominate drug trafficking and other illegal activities, which contributes to insecurity, exacerbates poverty and impacts livelihoods. Militias formed by current and former law enforcement officers also control favelas, particularly in Rio de Janeiro. Organised crime has intensified in Northern and Northeastern states due to expanding criminal networks and the criminal exploitation of resource­ rich land. An increase in all forms of violence against women and girls was reported in 2022 (see Overview, Criminal actors).

2.1.12 The police response to crime is reportedly heavy-handed, resulting in thousands of deaths yearly. In 2022, 6,249 people were killed during police operations (approximately 13% of victims of violent deaths). It was not stated whether they were intentionally targeted or caught in crossfire. The majority of these were young, black men living in marginalised areas. A study analysing over 4,500 such cases between 2011 to 2021 indicated that 39 percent resulted in indictments, while the rest were archived due to self­ defence claims or lack of evidence (see Law enforcement).

2.1.13 The Constitution protects the right of people to move freely within Brazil. However, violence resulting from organised crime can limit this in practice in some parts of the country. Brazil has comprehensive air and road networks connecting its major cities, but lacks a comprehensive rail network (see Legal rights, In-country movement, Road networks, Rail networks, Airports).

2.1.14 Decision makers must give careful consideration to the relevance and reasonableness of internal relocation taking full account of the individual circumstances of the particular person.

2.1.15 For further guidance on considering internal relocation and factors to be taken into account see the Asylum Instruction on Assessing Credibility and Refugee Status.

3. Certification

3.1.1 Where a claim is refused, it is likely be certifiable as ‘clearly unfounded’ under section 94 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 as Brazil is listed as a designated state.

3.1.2 For further guidance on certification, see Certification of Protection and Human Rights claims under section 94 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 (clearly unfounded claims).

Country information

About the country information

This contains publicly available or disclosable country of origin information (COi) which has been gathered, collated and analysed in line with the research methodology. It provides the evidence base for the assessment.

The structure and content of this section follow a terms of reference which sets out the general and specific topics relevant to the scope of this note.

This document is intended to be comprehensive but not exhaustive. If a particular event, person or organisation is not mentioned this does not mean that the event did or did not take place or that the person or organisation does or does not exist.

The COi included was published or made publicly available on or before 6 November 2024. Any event taking place or report published after this date will not be included.

Decision makers must use relevant COi as the evidential basis for decisions.

4. Geography

4.1 Size and capital

4.1.1 Brazil is located in eastern South America, bordering: the Atlantic Ocean; Argentina; Bolivia; Colombia; French Guiana; Guyana; Paraguay; Peru; Suriname; Uruguay and Venezuela. It has a land mass covering 8,358,140 square kilometres, plus a further 157,630 sq km of water^{[footnote 1]}, making it 34 times larger than the UK, which has 241,930 sq km of land mass^{[footnote 2]}.

4.1.2 The capital is Brasilia^{[footnote 3]}.

4.2 States and Federal District

4.2.1 Brazil is comprised of 26 states and one Federal District. The 26 states are distributed across 5 regions in the country: the South region, Southeast region, North region, Northeast region, and Central-west region. The Federal District is located in the Central-west region^{[footnote 4]}.

4.2.2 The map below published by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) shows the capital, other cities, major rivers and international boundaries^{[footnote 5]}.

5. Demography

5.1 Population

5.1.1 Estimates vary of Brazil’s total population. The CIA World Factbook stated that, as of 2024, Brazil had an estimated population of almost 220 million^{[footnote 6]}.

5.1.2 Minority Rights Group (MRG) is a ‘human rights organization working with… indigenous peoples worldwide.’^{[footnote 7]} In its country profile of Brazil, updated in February 2024 (MRG Country Profile 2024), MRG stated that the 2022 census showed the overall population to be approximately 203 million, with the indigenous population amounting to 1,693,535 people, which represents 0.83% of the total population^{[footnote 8]}.

5.1.3 In 2024, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), an institution of the Federal Government responsible for official collection of statistical, geographic, cartographic, geodetic and environmental information in Brazil^{[footnote 9]}, estimated Brazil’s population to be 212,583,750^{[footnote 10]}.

5.2 Population density and distribution

5.2.1 The World Population Review (WPR) is ‘an independent for-profit organization committed to delivering up-to-date global population data and demographics’.^{[footnote 11]} The WPR estimated that, as of 2024, the regional population distribution of Brazil was as follows:

‘Brazil’s South Region has three states with a total population of over 30 million people. Parana (PR) is home to over 11.5 million people. Its capital is Curitiba. Rio Grande do Sul (RS) is the second-most populous state in the South Region with a population of 11.4 million. Its capital is Porto Alegre. Finally… Santa Catarina… [has] a population of over 7.25 million. Florian6polis is… [its] capital…

‘This [Southeast] region has four states. Rio de Janeiro (RJ), the third most populous state in Brazil, has a population of 17.4 million. Rio de Janeiro’s capital is Rio de Janeiro, the second-most populous city in Brazil. Minas Gerais (MG) is Brazil’s second-most populous state, with 21.3 million people. Its capital is Belo Horizonte. Espirito Santo’s (ES) capital is Vitoria and has a population of over 4 million. Sao Paulo (SP) is the most populous state in Brazil, with 46.3 million people. Its capital, Sao Paulo, is Brazil’s largest city with 12 million people in its urban center and over 22 million in its greater metropolitan area…

‘Seven states are located in the North region. The largest is Para (PA), with a population of 8.7 million. Amazonas (AM) is the second most populous… [state] with over 4.2 million people. Rondônia (RO) is the third most populous… [state], home to almost 1.8 million people. The other four states in this region are Acre (AC), Roraima (RR), Tocantins (TO), and Amapa (AP)…

‘The Northeast region is home to nine states, each with significantly large populations of several million. The largest state in this region is Bahia, home to 14.9 million people. The second largest is Pernambuco (PE), with a population of 9.6 million, followed by Ceara (CE) with 9.2 million people. Maranhao (MA) is the next largest state with a population of 7.1 million. The other states in this region are Rio Grande de Norte (RN), Sergipe (SE), Alagoas (AL), Piaui (Pl), and Paraiba (PB)…

‘These four states are located in the Central-west region. Distrito Federal (the Federal district) is home to Brazil’s capital Brasilia and over 3 million people. Goias (GO) is the largest state in the region, with a population of over 7.1 million people. Mato Grosso (MT) and Mato Grosso do Sul (MS) are the other two states in this region.’^{[footnote 12]}

5.3 Indigenous populations

5.3.1 The MRG Country Profile 2024 stated that:

‘Most of the country’s indigenous people (44.48 per cent) are concentrated in the North. There are 753,357 indigenous people living in the region. Next, with the second largest number, is the Northeast, with 528,800, comprising 31.22 per cent of the country’s total. Together, the two regions account for 75.71 per cent of this total. The rest are distributed as follows: Midwest (11.80 per cent or 199,912 indigenous people), Southeast (7.28 per cent or 123,369) and South (5.20 per cent or 88,097). Analyzing the indigenous populations by state, together, the states of Amazonas and Bahia account for 42.51 per cent of the country’s indigenous population. They are the states with the largest numbers: 490,900 and 229,100, respectively. They are followed by Mato Grosso do Sul (116,300), Pernambuco (106,600) and Roraima (97,300). The majority of the country’s indigenous population (61.43 per cent) lives in these five states. On the other hand, Sergipe (4,700 indigenous people), the Federal District (5,800) and Piaui (7,200) are the states with the lowest number of indigenous residents.’^{[footnote 13]}

5.4 Ethnic groups

5.4.1 According to the CIA World Factbook, as of 2022, Brazil’s ethnic groups comprised: mixed 45.3%, White 43.5%, Black 10.2%, Indigenous 0.6%, Asian 0.4%^{[footnote 14]}.

5.4.2 The Guardian reported in December 2023 that:

‘Mixed-race Brazilians are now the largest population group in the South American country, the latest census has revealed, as the number of people identifying as African-descended in Brazil continues to grow. New data from the 2022 census released on Friday [22 December 2023] shows that 92.1 million Brazilians identify as mixed-race, equivalent to 45.3% of the population. This is up from 43.1% in 2010, when the last census was carried out. The proportion of self-declared white Brazilians has fallen from 47.7% to 43.5%, or 88.2 million, while those labelling themselves as Black jumped to 10.2% of the population (20.6 million), from 7.6% 12 years earlier…

‘Together, Black and mixed-race people now represent 55.5% of the 203 million Brazilians living in the country.

‘The numbers, collected by the national statistics institute (IBGE), also show a significant increase in the Indigenous population, to 1.7 million, and a drop in people identifying as being of Asian descent, to just 0.4% of the population.’^{[footnote 15]}

5.4.3 The United States Department of State (USSD)’s ‘2023 Country Report on Human Rights Practices: Brazil’ (USSD Report 2023), published 23 April 2024 and covering events throughout 2023, noted:

‘For the first time, Quilombolas, one of the country’s traditional communities, were included in the country’s census, released in July. According to the 2022 census, Quilombolas numbered 1.3 million, corresponding to 0.65 percent of the total population. Almost 70 percent of the Quilombolas resided in the northeastern states and almost one-third resided in the Legal Amazon region. Many Quilombolas lived in rural communities known as quilombos and practiced subsistence agriculture. Although Quilombolas self-identified as a distinct group, they faced many of the same obstacles as other Afro­ Brazilians, including lack of access to quality education, health care, and employment.’^{[footnote 16]}

5.4.4 The MRG Country Profile 2024 noted that the indigenous population consists of 305 different ethnic groups spanning every state of Brazil^{[footnote 17]}.

5.4.5 The MRG Country Profile 2024 also stated that:

‘The 2022 Census showed that there has been a reduction among those who declare themselves as being white. In 2012, 46.3 per cent of Brazilians identified themselves as white. In 2022, the percentage fell to 42.8 per cent, a reduction of 3.5 per cent. All of Brazil’s major regions registered a drop in the number of people who consider themselves white, with the South standing out: between 2012 and 2022, this share varied by 6 per cent, from 78.8 per cent to 72.8 per cent in the region. The proportion of the Brazilian population that declares itself Black has jumped in 10 years. In 2022, 10.6 per cent of Brazilians declared themselves Black, compared to just 7.4 per cent in 2012. It was the biggest increase among Brazilian racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of people are those who declare themselves pardo [of mixed origins^{[footnote 18]}], with 45.3 per cent of responses in 2022.’^{[footnote 19]}

5.5 Languages

5.5.1 The MRG Country Profile 2024 noted that ‘274 distinct indigenous languages’ are spoken in Brazil^{[footnote 20]}.

5.5.2 The CIA World Factbook noted that Portuguese was the official and most widely spoken language in Brazil, with less common languages including Spanish (border areas and schools), German, Italian, Japanese, English, and a large number of minor Amerindian languages^{[footnote 21]}.

5.5.3 Ethnologue is an encyclopaedic reference work cataloguing the world’s known living languages^{[footnote 22]}. Its profile of Brazil noted that Brazil has 202 living indigenous languages and 20 living non-indigenous languages. It was also home to 22 indigenous languages that are now extinct^{[footnote 23]}. A list of the languages can be found on the Ethnologue website.

5.6 Religion

5.6.1 The USSD’s ‘2023 Report on International Religious Freedom: Brazil’, published 26 June 2024 and covering events between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2023^{[footnote 24]},noted:

‘According to the 2010 census, the most recently available data from official sources, 65 percent of the population is Catholic, 22 percent Protestant, 8 percent irreligious (including atheists, agnostics, and deists), and 2 percent Spiritists. Adherents of other Christian groups, including members of Jehovah’s Witnesses, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Seventh-day Adventists, followers of non-Christian religions such as Buddhists, Jews, Muslims, and Hindus, and Afro-Brazilian and syncretic religious groups, including Candomble and Umbanda, make up a combined 3 percent of the population. According to the census, there are approximately 600,000 self-defined practitioners of Candomble, Umbanda, and other Afro-Brazilian religions. Approximately 2 percent of the population practices Afro-Brazilian religions (some of which incorporate Indigenous traditions), and 3 percent are Spiritists. Some nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) believe that Afro-Brazilian religious practitioners are systematically underreported, given the number of terreiros [temples]^{[footnote 25]} located across the country, and the prevalence of fluid religious identities in many communities. Many members of Indigenous groups follow traditional beliefs. According to recent surveys, many individuals consider themselves followers of more than one religion.

‘According to the 2010 census, approximately 35,200 Muslims live in the country, while the Federation of Muslim Associations of Brazil estimates the number to be 1.2 to 1.5 million. The largest communities reside in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Curitiba, and Foz do lguacu, as well as in smaller cities in the states of Parana and Rio Grande do Sul.

‘The Israelite (Jewish) Confederation of Brazil estimates there are 120,000 Jews in the country. The two largest concentrations are 70,000 in Sao Paulo State and 20,000 to 30,000 in Rio de Janeiro State.

‘According to the president of Federacao Espirita do Rio Grande do Sul, an umbrella organization encompassing several Spiritist groups, the number of persons who are comfortable saying they are Spiritists has increased in recent years.’^{[footnote 26]}

5.6.2 The CIA World Factbook provided slightly different percentages for religious affiliation in Brazil, based on 2023 estimates:

• Roman Catholic 52.8%

• Protestant 26.7% (Evangelical 25.5%, other Protestant 1.2%)

• African-American cultisUUmbanda 1.8%

• other 3%

• agnostic/atheist 0.6%

• none 13.6%

• unspecified 1.4%^{[footnote 27]}.

5.6.3 The USSD Report 2023 stated that: ‘Followers of Afro-Brazilian religions faced physical attacks on and in their places of worship and other forms religious intolerance. According to one religious leader, these attacks resulted from a mixture of religious intolerance and racism… systemic societal discrimination, media’s perpetuation of harmful stereotypes, and attacks by public officials and members of other religious groups against these communities.’^{[footnote 28]}

5.7 Internally displaced persons (IDPs)

5.7.1 The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in its report ‘Climate and Sustainability Interventions - Brief overview of key initiatives: Brazil’, published in May 2023, noted:

‘Climate change is a significant risk multiplier that is contributing to displacement and protection needs worldwide, including in Latin America and the Caribbean… This is particularly important in the context of Brazil, which has seen an increasing number of natural disasters occurring in the past few years. Although drought is the most common of them, especially in the Northeast, floods have the most devastating effects, including loss of human life, damage to property and infrastructure, and destruction of crops and livestock, which can lead to homelessness and displacement.’^{[footnote 29]}

5.7.2 The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), in its 2024 Global Report on Internal Displacement, reporting on displacement in 2023, noted: ‘Brazil accounted for more than a third of the region’s disaster displacements with 745,000, the country’s highest figure since records began in 2008. La Nina conditions in the first quarter of the year led to an intense rainy season in March [2023] in the northern states of Acre, Amazonas and Para, and in the north-eastern state of Maranhao, triggering a combined total of 116,000 movements.’^{[footnote 30]}

6. Economy

6.1 Main indicators

6.1.1 The World Bank (WB), in its overview of Brazil dated 21 October 2024 (WB Overview 2024), noted:

‘Brazil’s real GDP [Gross Domestic Product - which measures the value of goods and services produced in a country^{[footnote 31]}] expanded by 2.9 percent in 2023 and is expected to grow by 2.8 percent in 2024, driven by solid consumption, sustained by a robust labor market, and fiscal transfers. Real GDP growth is expected to moderate to 2.2 percent in 2025 and to converge to 2.3 percent in the medium term, reflecting the effect of past and ongoing structural reforms.

‘Inflation is projected to gradually converge towards 3.8 percent by 2025, within the Central Bank’s target range, though a recent deterioration of inflation expectations is likely to slow the pace of the monetary easing which in turn will contribute to moderate growth.’^{[footnote 32]}

6.1.2 The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), an international organisation with 38 member countries^{[footnote 33]} which ‘informs and shapes public policy and policy debates by providing evidence-based analysis and standards’^{[footnote 34]}, noted in May 2024 that:

‘The economy experienced a significant deceleration in the second half of 2023 from robust growth earlier in the year. Leading indicators indicate a gradual rebound in the first half of 2024. Retail trade rebounded sharply in January and February, influenced by lower inflation and improvements in credit and job markets. The services sector experienced significant growth in January helped by government payments of judicial orders, but was negatively influenced by the transportation sector in February. Industrial production contracted in January and February and still falls short of pre­ pandemic levels. Agricultural production is expected to decline by 2.8% compared to an exceptionally strong 2023 due to excessive rainfall in the South of the country and periods of drought with high temperatures in the North and Centre-West. Despite this, the labour market remains robust, with the unemployment rate at 7.6% in February, down from nearly 15% in mid- 2021, while employment and the wage bill are both rising…

‘Inflation was 3.9% in March, down from 4.5% in January. Inflation slowed primarily for housing, household furniture and notably for education. Price increases for food, beverages and transport are now slowing, after climate events put pressure on food and beverage prices in the latter part of 2023. The overall trend indicates a likely further decline in inflation over the year. Core inflation is decreasing, reaching 4.3% in March, down from 5.1% in January.’^{[footnote 35]}

6.2 Poverty, wealth and inequality

6.2.1 Eurasia Review, an independent journal that provides news and analysis on world events affecting Eurasia and Afro-Eurasia^{[footnote 36]}, reported in May 2023:

‘Favela is a word that in Brazilian Portuguese means a slum, or a poor and overcrowded part of the city inhabited by an extremely poor population struggling to survive in difficult conditions… According to data from 2011, as many as 11.5 million Brazilians (six percent of the population) live in favelas, of which there are about a thousand in Rio de Janeiro alone. According to data from the Brazilian Research Agency, more than 70% of the black population is thought to live in favelas…’^{[footnote 37]}

6.2.2 The Borgen Project, a non-profit organisation addressing poverty and hunger^{[footnote 38]}, reported in an article dated 30 October 2023 that: ‘Favela developments in Brazil are often located on the outskirts of major Brazilian cities such as Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. Around 6% of Brazil’s population currently live in favelas. Between 2010 and 2019, the number of families living in these Brazilian slums doubled, and racial discrimination in these areas has only worsened over time.’^{[footnote 39]}

6.2.3 The IBGE noted in an article dated 6 December 2023 that:

‘The percentage of persons living in extreme poverty, that is, those who mad[e] less than R$ 200.00 per month [approximately £26^{[footnote 40]}), in Brazil, fell to 5.9% in 2022, after reaching 9.0% in 2021. The proportion of persons living in poverty, with up to R$ 637.00 [approximately £83^{[footnote 41]}) per month, decreased from 36.7% in 2021 to 31.6% in 2022. As for number of persons, in 2022, there were 12.7 million persons in extreme poverty and 67.8 million in poverty, with a drop by about 6.5 and 10.2 million persons, respectively, in these conditions, from one year to another. These data come from the Summary of Social Indicators, released today (06) by the IBGE.

‘The Northeast Region concentrated 43.5% of the population in poverty and 54.6% of the population in extreme poverty. In the North, which gathered 8.7% of the total population, held 12.8% of the persons living in poverty and 11.9% of those living in extreme poverty. More than half (51%) of the population in the Northeast were in poverty. The Southeast, with 42.1% of the country’s population, concentrated 30.7% of the persons in poverty and 23.8% of those in extreme poverty…

‘Black or brown persons represented more than 70.0% of the poor and extremely poor. These inequalities also remained in the rates of poverty and extreme poverty: in 2022, 40.0% of the black or brown persons were poor, at a level twice above that of the white population (21%) and 7.7% of them were extremely poor, more than twice the rate of white persons (3.5%).

‘Among black or brown persons, the percentages were even higher, and reached 41.3% of poor and 8.1% of extremely poor persons. The household arrangement formed by black or brown women, without a partner and with children under 14 years of age also concentrated the higher incidence of poverty: 72.2% of the residents were poor and 22.6%, extremely poor.

‘Poverty is higher in housing units with children. Among persons up to 14 years of age, 49.1% were poor and 10.0% were extremely poor, a percentage way above that of the population aged 60 and over: 14.8% of poor persons and 2.3% of extremely poor ones.’^{[footnote 42]}

6.2.4 Folha de S.Paulo, a Brazilian daily newspaper, reporting in December 2023 on the IBGE assessment, noted:

‘This means that 10.2 million people left poverty last year [2022). The contingent is close to the total population of Rio Grande do Sul, which was 10.9 million in 2022, according to the Demographic Census. The rate of 31.6%, recorded last year, is the lowest since 2020 (31%), the initial year of the pandemic. At that time, emergency aid and other benefits had reduced poverty in the country. The lowest rate in the historical series, which began in 2012, occurred in 2014 (30.8%).’^{[footnote 43]}

6.2.5 In its ‘Brazil Country Climate and Development Report’, published in 2023, the WB noted:

‘Brazil remains one of the most unequal countries in Latin America and around the world… The share of the population living in extreme poverty in 2019 was 5.9 percent, close to 2011 levels, while about 26.2 percent of the population was living on less than US$6.85 per day [approx. £5.41^{[footnote 44]}] (PPP) [Purchasing Power Parity^{[footnote 45]}]. In response to the most recent crisis, the government put in place ambitious social protection measures that have buffered the economy and temporarily protected households’ income, albeit at a high fiscal cost. This has resulted in large near-term reductions in inequality and extreme poverty, with Brazil’s Gini index [which measures income inequality in nations by determining how income is distributed across their populations, on a scale from Oto 1 measured as a percentage, where higher values indicate higher inequality^{[footnote 46]}] having dropped to 48.9, and the extreme poverty rate dropped to 1.9 percent by 2020. Nonetheless, these drops, supported mostly by the government’s COVID-19 response efforts, have been short-lived, with poverty and inequality projected to have bounced back in 2021 close to pre-pandemic levels of 28.4 percent and a Gini index of 52.9, respectively…

‘Brazil also displays notable regional, racial, and gender disparities. The North lags behind the South on many fronts. Poverty rates in the northern states are 3 times higher than in the South; the income per capita is about 50 percent lower on average; the adult population has 1.5 fewer years of education; and people’s access to sanitation and water are both 8 percentage points lower. Brazilian women are more educated and have longer life expectancies than men, but their income per capita is estimated at three-fifths that of men. In 2019, roughly 3 in 10 poor individuals were Afro-descendant women living in urban areas. The poverty rate among children in urban areas was 42.2 percent. Post-pandemic estimates are unavailable, but projections suggest that the distribution of the poor population barely changed between 2019-2021…

‘The latest World Bank poverty and equity assessment for Brazil finds that about 19 percent of the population lives in municipalities considered to be at high environmental risk; about 8 percent in municipalities with high socioeconomic vulnerability; and 2 percent in municipalities with both types of risks. The poor are less equipped to cope with the consequences of climate change, since they have relatively low levels of asset accumulation and lower savings, and they are also likelier to live in flood-prone areas and to depend on agriculture.’^{[footnote 47]}

6.2.6 Encyclopaedia Britannica noted in June 2024 that:

‘The social gap between Brazil’s small privileged upper class and the masses at the bottom of the earnings scale is vast. Sandwiched between them is a substantial and diverse middle class. Because of inflation, salaries are expressed as multiples of the official minimum wage. Nearly two-thirds of the working population earns two minimum salaries or less. About half of the Northeastern workforce earns less than the minimum; in contrast, nearly four-fifths of those in the South and Southeast earn more than five minimum salaries.’^{[footnote 48]}

6.2.7 Global Citizen Solutions, a UK-based migration consultancy firm^{[footnote 49]}, noted in June 2024 when assessing the cost of living in Brazil:

‘According to CNN Brasil, the average monthly salary in Brazil in 2023 was BRL [Brazilian Reais] 2,836 (about $575) [approximately £370^{[footnote 50]}]. Although Brazil has a low minimum wage, individuals can earn a good salary by Brazilian standards in specific major cities. The average salary in Sao Paulo, Brazil’s financial capital, was BRL 3,442 (about $700) [approximately £449^{[footnote 51]}], and those living in the Federal District (Brasilia) earned the highest average salary at BRL 4,648 ($945) [approximately £606^{[footnote 52]}].’^{[footnote 53]}

6.2.8 Amnesty International (AI), in its report ‘The State of the World’s Human Rights’ (AI 2024 Report), published on 24 April 2024 and covering events during 2023, noted:

‘…Brazil had one of the highest levels of inequality globally; the greatest gaps existed between Black and white people, especially women, in terms of income and rates of employment.

‘Despite a slight above-inflation increase in the minimum wage, and the expansion of the Bolsa Familia, Brazil’s social welfare programme and one of the world’s largest cash transfer programmes, the richest 1% of the population still owned almost half the country’s wealth, according to the World Bank.’^{[footnote 54]}

6.2.9 The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (UN CEDAW), in its ‘Concluding observations on the combined eighth and ninth periodic reports of Brazil’, published on 6 April 2024 (2024 Concluding Observations), noted:

‘The Committee welcomes the measures taken by the State party to promote the economic empowerment of women, including through the “Bolsa Familia” family allowance programme. However, it notes with concern the disproportionately high poverty levels and limited access to economic and social benefits of disadvantaged groups of women, such as women with disabilities, rural, Indigenous and Quilombola women and women of African descent.’^{[footnote 55]}

6.2.10 See also Social support/ protection and Housing and living conditions.

6.3 Development challenges

6.3.1 The WB Overview 2024 noted:

‘Brazil is home to 203 million people with a real GDP per capita of US$8,802 [approximately £6,955^{[footnote 56]}] in 2022… While it is highly diverse, racial and gender discrimination persist as systemic barriers that limit the opportunities of many individuals and families to break the inter-generational cycle of poverty.

‘Its people live in multiple ecosystems… with sharp differences in race, history, culture, and industry manifesting many “Brazils.” The country’s overall Human Capital Index (HCI) [‘a summary measure of the amount of human capital that a child born today can expect to acquire by age 18, given the risks of poor health and poor education that prevail in the country where she lives’^{[footnote 57]}] shows that Brazilian children born today will have, as adults, only 55 percent of the productivity they would have had with full access to quality health and education opportunities. Factoring in adult unemployment, their productivity falls to 33 percent, implying that 67 percent of Brazil’s talent is lost to society.

‘Afro-Brazilians and Indigenous Peoples have less access to good-quality schools and health services than whites, and women face job discrimination that limits their earning potential far more than men. Even before COVID, some areas of Brazil had an HCI at around 40 percent (e.g., in the North and Northeast regions), akin to what can be found in Sub-Saharan Africa, while others (e.g., in the richer Southeast of Brazil) had HCI levels around 70 percent, on par with countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).’^{[footnote 58]}

6.4 Employment

6.4.1 The USSD Report 2023 noted:

‘The law provided for a minimum wage, which was higher than the official poverty income level. The law limited the workweek to 44 hours and specified a weekly rest period of 24 consecutive hours, preferably on Sundays. The law also provided for paid annual vacation, prohibited excessive compulsory overtime, limited overtime to two hours per workday, and stipulated that hours worked above the monthly limit had to be compensated with at least time-and-a-half pay; these provisions generally were enforced for all groups of workers in the formal sector. The constitution also provided for the right of domestic employees to work a maximum of eight hours per day and 44 hours per week, a minimum wage, a lunch break, social security, and severance pay.’ ^{[footnote 59]}

6.4.2 The same source stated that:

‘A law passed during the year required equal pay for equal work but was not yet enforced. According to the International Labor Organization, women not only earned less than men but also had difficulties entering the workplace; 78 percent of men held paid jobs, compared with 56 percent of women.

‘According to the Brazilian National Institute of Geography and Statistics, Black and Brown citizens represented an estimated 57 percent of the population. These populations… experienced a higher rate of unemployment and earned wages below those of White persons in similar positions….

‘The law provided for quota-based affirmative action policies in… government employment… Nevertheless, Afro-Brazilians were underrepresented in the government, [and] professional positions… according to media reports.’^{[footnote 60]}

6.4.3 The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) describes itself as ‘a global research center working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. Anchored by a network of more than 900 researchers at universities around the world, J-PAL conducts randomized impact evaluations to answer critical questions in the fight against poverty.’^{[footnote 61]} J-PAL noted in an article dated 28 June 2023 that: ‘Brazil’s labor market faces multiple challenges, including gender and racial disparities, an aging population where many lack access to savings or a pension, and adaptation to new labor regulations and digital transformation. The Covid-19 crisis exacerbated challenges as unemployment rates in the country hit a historical high and affected millions of workers, particularly women and youth.’^{[footnote 62]}

6.4.4 In an article published on 30 October 2023, Reuters noted:

‘Brazil created a net 211,764 formal jobs in September [2023], official figures showed on Monday, slightly exceeding expectations as the labor market shows resilience in the country.

‘Economists polled by Reuters were expecting 208,850 jobs to be created in the month.

‘Year to date, 1.6 million jobs were created, according to the Labor Ministry, whose minister Luiz Marinho had previously forecast that 2 million formal jobs would be added this year.

‘All five activity groups analyzed by the government posted positive prints in September [2023], with the services sector once again leading the list with a net creation of 98,206 positions.

‘The average monthly salary for these newly created positions decreased to 2,032 reais ($403) [£264.95^{[footnote 63]}] from 2,040 reais [£266.05^{[footnote 64]}] in August [2023].

‘The total count of formally registered workers in Brazil has now reached 44 million, said the ministry. This figure excludes around 40 million undocumented workers who are not engaged in formal employment in Brazil.’^{[footnote 65]}

6.4.5 Bertelsmann Stiftung’s Transformation Index (BTI) measures political and economic transformation in 137 countries^{[footnote 66]}. Its ‘2024 Country Report: Brazil’ (BTI 2024), published on 19 March 2024 and covering the period from 1 February 2021 to 31 January 2023^{[footnote 67]}, noted: ‘The unemployment rate reached 11.9% in 2019, 13.7% in 2020, and 14.4% in 2021. The unemployment rate decreased to 8.1% in the three months leading up to November 2022, down from 8.9% in the three months leading up to August, marking the lowest level since 2015.’^{[footnote 68]}

6.4.6 Trading Economics, a website that provides ‘historical data and forecasts for more than 20 million economic indicators… based on official sources, not third party data providers’^{[footnote 69]}, noted when reviewing Brazil’s unemployment rate for 2024:

‘Brazil’s unemployment rate averaged 7.5% in the three months leading to April of 2024, the lowest in four months, and dropping from the 7.9% rate in the three months to March… The number of unemployed individuals was relatively unchanged from the previous moving quarter at 8.2 million people, while employed individuals rose by 601 thousand people to a record high of 100.8 million. In the meantime, average real wages rose by 0.9% from the previous moving quarter to BRL 3,151 [approximately £410.94^{[footnote 70]}] per month.’^{[footnote 71]}

6.4.7 MercoPress, an independent news agency based in Montevideo, Uruguay^{[footnote 72]}, reported in an article dated 1 May 2024:

‘The Continuous National Household Sample Survey (PNAD) released by Brazil’s Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) this week showed that 8.6 million people (or 7.9% of the population) were unemployed in South America’s largest country in the first quarter of 2024, which represented a 0.5 percentage-point increase from the previous measurement ending in December.

‘Despite these figures, it was one of the best first quarters ever since 2014 (7.2%) and it even outpaced for the better all previous projections heralding an 8.1% rate. In the same quarter of 2023, the rate was 8.8%. In the first quarter of 2024, there was a 0.8% drop in the employed population, estimated at 100.2 million.

‘The increase in the unemployment rate was caused by a reduction in employment, in a seasonal movement of the workforce in the first quarter of the year, IBGE’s coordinator of Household Surveys Adriana Beringuy explained. The number of people in the labor force (the sum of the employed and unemployed) rose by 1.5% to an estimated 108.8 million. The population outside the labor force totaled 66.9 million, almost unchanged from the previous period.’^{[footnote 73]}

6.4.8 MercoPress added: ‘The average entry-level salary stood at R$ 2,081.5 (US$ 406.67) [approximately £271.46^{[footnote 74]}] in March this year [2024]…1^{[footnote 75]}

6.4.9 In an article published 30 April 2024 by the Brazilian Report, an English­ language Brazilian news outlet focusing on events in Brazil and Latin America^{[footnote 76]}, it was noted:’… theformal market… created 719,033 positions between January and March - the second-best result for the period, just behind 2021, when the post-pandemic rebound occurred. While official data show 244,315 formal jobs opened last month, median projections indicated no more than 193,000 new positions.’^{[footnote 77]}

7. Social support/ protection

7.1.1 In a 2020 report submitted to the United Nations Office for the High Commissioner of Human Rights (UN OHCHR), the Brazilian state described its social support/assistance programmes as follows:

‘The Brazilian Federal Constitution provides that social security be organized as a general system based on contributions and with mandatory affiliation.

The social security benefits are: (i) age retirement; (ii) disability retirement;

(iii) retirement based on time of contribution; (iv) special retirement; (v) sick pay; (vi) accident pay; (vii) benefit to the families of prisoners; (viii) surviving spouse pension; (ix) special pension; (x) maternity pay; (xi) family allowance; and (xii) social assistance through the Continuous Cash Benefit (BPC). The taxpayers are, among others, employers, salaried employees, domestic workers, independent workers, individual taxpayers, and rural workers…

‘The Brazilian Federal Constitution sets forth that social assistance is a right ensured by the Government to all citizens and social groups under social risk and vulnerability situation, regardless of contribution to social security.

‘The Unified Social Assistance System (SUAS) is based on the guidelines provided by the Federal Constitution and the legal framework provided by the Organic Law of Social Assistance (LOAS). It is a public system that organizes the social assistance services in Brazil.

‘Under SUAS, the social assistance services are organized and structured based on territory, establishing two levels of actions for protection. The first is the Basic Social Welfare, destined to social and personal risk prevention, by providing programs, projects, services, and benefits to individuals and families in social vulnerability situation. The second is the Special Social Welfare, with high and medium level complexity, directed to families and individuals who are already in risk situation and had their rights violated due to abandonment, ill-treatment, sexual assault, drug use, and other aspects.

‘For each level of protection, the SUAS provides a set of tools to provide services and to grant benefits. Regarding basic protection, the social assistance services to families and individuals in social vulnerability situation are offered by the Reference Center for Social Assistance (CRAS). These services aim at strengthening family and community bonds, seeking to give priority to promotion of autonomy, potentialities, and to strengthening families and individuals.

‘The Specialized Reference Centers for Social Assistance (CREAS) are reference hubs that coordinate and integrate special social welfare services. They are responsible for providing specialized and continuous guidance and support to individuals and families who have their rights violated, focusing on actions directed to the family.

‘Over the last few years, there was significant expansion of the social assistance network with the establishment of CRAS and CREAS facilities throughout the national territory_..’^{[footnote 78]}

7.1.2 The BTI 2024 noted:

‘Social protection policies in Brazil consist of noncontributory policies, contributory social insurance plans and health care policies…

Noncontributory social transfers play a key role in ensuring social protection for individuals who are unable to access contributory benefits. Cash transfer programs in Brazil have been recognized for their significant contributions in reducing both absolute poverty and inequality. The Bolsa Familia program, introduced during President Lula’s first administration, stands out as the most influential conditional cash transfer initiative in recent Brazilian history, lifting millions of people out of poverty. Despite being extremely hostile to the PT government’s legacy, the Bolsonaro administration initially opted to maintain the Bolsa Familia program…

‘In 2021, Bolsa Familia was finally replaced with Auxilio Brasil, a program that shares many similarities with its predecessor. The program continued throughout Bolsonaro’s tenure, although critics alleged that the president sustained the relatively generous monthly payment of BRL 600 [approximately £78.25^{[footnote 79]}] primarily for electoral purposes. Following his election, President Lula declared his commitment to maintaining the program at its previous level. Additionally, he proposed the provision of an extra BRL 150 [approximately £19.56^{[footnote 80]}] for children under the age of six.’^{[footnote 81]}

7.1.3 The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), described on its website that:

‘Auxilio Brasil was a social income transfer programme aimed at ensuring a basic income for the most vulnerable families, to reduce situations of poverty and extreme poverty and promote the development of children and adolescents. This programme integrated various public policies including social assistance, health, education, employment, and income support into a single programme. With the introduction of the Brazil Assistance programme in November 2021, the Bolsa Familia Programme (PBF) was discontinued. However, in 2023, the Brazil Assistance programme was terminated to give continuity to the Bolsa Familia programme…

‘Families living in poverty and in extreme poverty can receive the assistance. Families living in poverty can only receive assistance if they include pregnant women, nursing mothers or children and adolescents up to 21 years old…

‘As part of the emancipatory measures, the Ministry of Citizenship announced that the families participants in Aid Brazil [Auxilio Brasil] and whose monthly per capita family income increases up to two and a half times the poverty line (BRL $ 200) [approximately £26^{[footnote 82]}] can remain in the program for another 24 months. In case of loss of additional income, the family returns to Aids Brazil [Auxilio Brasil] with priority, without queuing, if they meet the established requirements to receive the assistance.’^{[footnote 83]}

7.1.4 The International Monetary Fund (IMF), in its report ‘Strengthening Income Stabilization through Social Protection in Emerging and Developing Economies: The Brazilian Experience’, published 8 March 2024, noted:

‘The mainstay of Brazil’s SSN [Social Safety Nets] system is the Bolsa Familia Program (BFP), one of the largest conditional cash transfer programs in the world. BFP provides cash transfers to poor households, conditional on school attendance and use of maternal and child health services… Brazil also has a relatively large formal sector workforce, compared to other EMDEs [Emerging and Developing Economies], with some unemployment benefits and savings mechanisms in place.

Unemployment benefits are quite generous, equivalent to the average of the wages received on the three months pre-unemployment and paid up to five months of unemployment spell, but only cover a small fraction of the unemployed…

‘Brazil has provided near-universal access to contributory and non­ contributory pensions to its older population. Social pensions (Beneficio de Prestacjfo Continuada, BPC) and rural pensions (which are de facto non­ contributory) cover about 35 percent of the 65 years and older population, and their benefit amounts are much higher than those of other SSN programs (World Bank 2017). In addition, Brazil has in place a robust infrastructure to identify potential SSN program beneficiaries, verify eligibility, and deliver payments, including its social registry (Cadastro Unico) which covers about half the Brazilian population and is used by more than 20 federal programs to identify households at different income eligibility thresholds.’^{[footnote 84]}

7.1.5 See also: Poverty, wealth and inequality.

8. Food security

8.1.1 The World Bank noted on 19 June 2023 that:

‘Food prices, an item representing between a fifth and a quarter of poorest households’ expenditures, have… had an enormous negative impact on households’ purchasing power. Not without reason, some of the poorest states in the country present the highest food insecurity indicators. In the poorer states of the Northeast and North regions, food prices showed as high variations as in the richer states of the South and Southeast. But having a lower capacity to cope with the soaring prices, families in the most underprivileged states (e.g.: Maranhao, Alagoas, Ceara and Para) are experiencing a worrisome degree of food insecurity…

‘Since the new government took command in January [2023), fostering the hunger fight sounded as a priority in the agenda. The government reestablished the Council of Food Security that had been closed in the past government’s mandate, overhauled the national Food Procurement Program (PAA), and increased in about 37 percent the resources earmarked for the National Program of School Food (PNAE). In another front geared to poverty fight, the government redesigned the Bolsa Familia (BF) [see Social support/protection] cash transfer program and increased its benefits. Poverty and food insecurity measurement capture different dimensions of material deprivations… Evidence from a phone survey suggests that, among BF beneficiaries, families estimated needing on average of BRL 737 [approximately £96^{[footnote 85]}] per capita each month to cover their basic needs…’^{[footnote 86]}

8.1.2 The AI 2024 Report noted: ‘Food insecurity disproportionally affected Black families; 22% of homes headed by Black women faced hunger. More than 70 million people suffered from food insecurity and 21.1 million (10% of the population) faced hunger. The government’s Brazil Without Hunger plan aimed to reduce poverty by 2.5% and remove the country from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s Hunger Map by 2030.’^{[footnote 87]}

8.1.3 The Brazilian Report reported on 25 April 2024:

‘Some 27.6 percent (or 21.6 million) of Brazilian households experienced food insecurity last year. Of these, 4.1 percent (3.2 million households with 8.7 million people) were in a severe situation, defined by dietary restrictions not only among adults, but children… In recent years, including the Covid pandemic period, other organizations have surveyed the hunger situation in the country based on different methodologies. The most prominent one, and which also became one of the last presidential election’s central talking points, was carried out by the Brazilian Research Network on Sovereignty and Food and Nutritional Security (Rede Penssan).

‘According to this study, 33.1 million Brazilians experienced hunger in 2022. Based on the IBGE’s latest census, the UN also released estimated numbers for the country last year, pointing to 70.3 million people in some situation of food insecurity; of these, 21.1 million were hungry or “did not have access to food every day.”’^{[footnote 88]}

8.1.4 In April 2024, IBGE reported:

‘In Q4 2023, having as reference the three months prior to the date of the survey, 72.4% (56.7 million) of the 78.3 million permanent private housing units in Brazil were food secure, that is, they had permanent access to adequate food. This proportion increased by 9.1 percentage points (p.p.) against the latest IBGE survey on this topic, POF [Pesquisa de Or9amentos Familiares, Consumer Expenditure Survey] 2017-2018, which had counted 63.3% of the households in Brazil as food-secure.

‘Nevertheless, 21.6 million households (27.6%) were affected by food insecurity at some level. The most severe form affected about 3.2 million households (4.1%).

‘… In the last quarter of 2023, 27.6% (21.6 million) of the private households in Brazil were food-insecure to a certain extent, with 18.2% (1.,3 million) being mildly food-insecure; 5.3% (4.2 million), moderately food-insecure and 4.1% (3.2 million), severely food-insecure… Severe food insecurity was the most significant in the rural areas of the country. The proportion of private hosuseholds [sic] regarding moderate or severe food insecurity in these areas reached 12.7%, against 8.9% in urban areas. In spite of that, the percentage recorded in rural areas was the lowest since PNAD [Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicilios, National Household Sample Survey] 2004 (23.6%).’^{[footnote 89]}

8.1.5 The same report noted that:

‘Considering the profile of the head of household, although the participation of women (51.7%) in the population overall exceeded that of men (48.3%), that order is reversed when food security if considered (48.7% versus 51.3%). Considering food insecure households alone, 59.4% were headed by women. Regarding food insecurity levels, moderate fodd [sic] insecurity was the type recording the biggest difference, 21.2 p. p. (60.6% and 39.4%, respectively).

‘By color or race, 42.0% of the heads of household were white; 12.0% black and 44.7% were brown. Within the food insecurity context, 29.0% were headed by white persons; 15.2% by black persons and 54.5%. by brown persons. In households facing severe food insecurity, the presence of households headed by a brown person increases to 58.1%, more than half of the share of households headed by white persons (23.4%).’^{[footnote 90]}

9. Housing and living conditions

9.1 Housing

9.1.1 The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) reported on 5 July 2023 that:

‘According to data from 2019, about 30 million households in Brazil live in substandard homes or lack housing altogether, a problem that overwhelmingly affects the low-income population. Of this total, the quantitative housing deficit is estimated at 5.9 million households and is expected to increase by 1.2 million per year until 2030 as new households are formed. But the largest portion of Brazil’s housing deficit is qualitative: inadequate homes exceeded 24 million in 2019. Housing in this category lacks basic infrastructure (water, sanitation, energy) or legal land tenure, or the structures are precarious.

‘The new national housing program “My house, my life,” launched in 2023 under the leadership of the National Housing Secretariat (SNH) of Brazil’s Ministry of Cities, addresses these two challenges. It seeks to boost the number of new houses being built, improve existing housing, and strengthen institutions. The initiative focuses on the most vulnerable groups, like low­ income people, women, and people with disabilities.’^{[footnote 91]}

9.1.2 MercoPress reported in an article dated 14 July 2023: ‘Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva pledged to turn abandoned public buildings into low-income housing units as he signed into law a bill providing for the construction by 2026 of two million buildings as part of the My House My Life plan.’^{[footnote 92]}

9.1.3 On 20 May 2024, the Brazilian Government’s Secretariat of Social Communication (SoSC) reported on the progress of the My Home, My Life program:

‘Alongside the Ministry of Cities (Ministerio das Cidades), Brazil’s federal government resumed its Minha Casa, Minha Vida [MCMV] (or My Home, My Life) program - the largest of its kind in Brazil - on February 14 [2024]. The program was created by the government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in March 2009. In a ceremony held in the municipality of Santo Amaro, in the state of Bahia, President Lula and the Minister of Cities Jader Filho delivered 2,745 MCMV homes to the people. They also guaranteed work on another 5,562 homes for the low-income population and announced the goal of contracting 2 million new projects by 2026…

‘One of the main novelties of the program is that Level 1 is back and now focused on families with an up to BRL 2,640 [approximately £344.32^{[footnote 93]}] gross monthly income. (Previously, the required income was BRL 1,800 [approximately £234.70^{[footnote 94]}]). Over the last four years, the population in this income range had been excluded from the program. Now, the idea is to offer up to 50% of the financed and subsidized homes to this part of the population. Historically, the support offered to families in this income range ranges from 85% to 95%…

‘The houses delivered on Tuesday cover nine Brazilian municipalities: Santo Amaro (684), Lauro de Freitas (206) and Salvador (159), in the state of Bahia; Aparecida de Goiania (300) and Luziania (192), in the state of Goias; Contagem (600), in the state of Minas Gerais; Joao Pessoa (160), in the state of Paraiba; Santa Cruz do Capibaribe (206), in the state of Pernambuco; and Cornelio Procopio (238), in the state of Parana…

‘Currently, there are approximately 186,000 unfinished houses in the Minha Casa, Minha Vida - Level 1 program, 170,000 of which in the Companies, Urban Entities and Rural Entities modalities. There are another 16,000 in the Public Offering modality. Of this total, 83,000 developments are at a standstill due to situations such as irregular occupation; pending infrastructure; construction company abandonment; and signs of construction defects, amongst many other reasons. These homes will be jointly worked on by financial agents, companies, the federal government and public entities - respecting the attributions of each - towards resumption and completion.

‘The homes that are ready were contracted in the 2009-2018 period; 80% of them between 2012 and 2014. Among the developments that are paralyzed, 37.5 thousand houses are to be built in 2023 - 10.8 thousand in the first 100 days of government, and 26.7 thousand during the remainder of the year. Moreover, after 2023 work will resume on around 32,000 houses which present more complex challenges - such as occupations/invasions and infrastructure problems.’^{[footnote 95]}

9.1.4 See also: Poverty, wealth and inequality.

9.2 Ownership, rent and affordability

9.2.1 MercoPress reported in an article dated 14 July 2023 that:

‘The My House My Life initiative had been launched by Lula during his first two terms in office (2003-2010) when 4 million houses were delivered. The plan will now reach the lower middle class with subsidized interest rates, it was explained… Depending on the family income, the financing will be for properties from R$ 170,000 (US$ 35,000) [approximately £22,166^{[footnote 96]}] up to R$ 350,000 (US$ 73,000) [approximately £45,636^{[footnote 97]}] with rates ranging from 4% to 8.16% per annum, in the case of families with the highest value loan.’^{[footnote 98]}

9.2.2 The IBGE stated in 2023 that:

‘About 64.6% of the Brazilian population lives in privately-owned and fully paid-off housing units, although this proportion has decreased since 2016 (67.8%). In the poorest population, those with the 20% lowest earnings, 65.4% live in this condition. Among the 20% with the highest earnings, the percentage was smaller: 64.2%….

‘The study also analyzed, in privately-owned housing units, the existence of documents of the property. In 2022, housing units of 13.6% of the persons lacked documents, a drop of 2.0 percentage pounts [sic] from 2019 (11.6%). “Non-existence of documents indicates these residents are vulnerable and unsafe regarding ownership of their properties,” Bruno perez, analyst of the survey, explains…

‘This condition recorded its highest proportions in the black or brown population (12.3%), women without a partner with a child up to 14 years of age (10.9%) and the population with the lowest [sic] earnings (18.5%).

‘Another inadequacy in housing conditions is rent burden, that is, when the amount spent on rent exceeds 30% of the household income. In 2022, that situation was faced by 23.3% of the population who lived in rented housing units, or 4.7% of the total population. Such vulnerability was mostly common among women without a partner and with a child up to 14 years of age (14.2%), those living in single-person arrangements (9.6%) and the population with the lowest income (9.7%).’^{[footnote 99]}

9.2.3 In a blog post published on 7 November 2023, Gerson Relocation, a UK­ based relocation management company^{[footnote 100]}, listed the average prices of renting or buying property in Brazil:

Monthly rent in Brazil

Accommodation type	Average price (BRL)*	Price range	Average price (GBP)*	Price range (GBP)*
1 bedroom apartment in city centre	RSl.550	R$1,000 2,750	£260	£165 450
1 bedroom apartment outside city centre	R$1,000	R$650 - 1,820	£165	£100-300
3 bedroom apartment in city centre	R$3.000	R$1,800 - 6,000	£500	£300-1000
3 bedroom apartment outside city centre	R$2,loo	R$1,250 -4000	£350	£200-650

^{[footnote 101]}

Buying an apartment in Brazil (Price per square metre)

Location	Average price (BRL)*	Price range (BRL)*	Average price (GBP)*	Price range (GBP)*
Apartment in city centre	R$8.200	RS5.000 13.000	£1.350	£820 2.150
Apartment outside city centre	R$5,700	RS3,700 10,000	£950	£600 1.650

^{[footnote 102]}

9.2.4 For comparison, in June 2024 Global Citizen Solutions listed the average prices of renting property in the five most popular Brazilian cities to live in (Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia, Florianopolis, and Belo Horizonte). Prices are in given in US dollars. US$ 1 = GBP 0.79^{[footnote 103]}:

Accommodation

Location	Average price (BRL)*	Price range (BRL)’	Average price (GBP)’	Price range (GBP)*
One-bedroom apartment in the city center	$560.14 $473.89	$366.37	$452.35	$392.95
One-bedroom apartment outside of the center	$357.70	$323.11	$214.87	$336.69	$262.16
Three-bedroom apartment in the city center	$1,175.53	$923.30	$1,059.70	$960.51	$708.22
Three-bedroom apartment outside of the center	$727.36	$712.07	$559.72	$736.78	$468.80

^{[footnote 104]}

9.2.5 The same source also estimated Brazil’s average property prices (per square metre) in comparison to that of the United States:

Accommodation	Brazil	United States	Percentage increase
Price per m2 (city centre)	$1.78	$7.75	335% higher in the US
Price per m2 (outside the city centre)	$1.20	$5.26	335% higher in the US

^{[footnote 105]}

9.2.6 According to the AI 2024 Report: ‘The housing deficit remained high, with at least 215,000 people experiencing homelessness, according to the Federal University of Minas Gerais. Brazil had 11,403 favelas (slum neighbourhoods in major cities), where around 16 million people (12% of Brazil’s population) lived in 6.6 million households.’^{[footnote 106]}

9.2.7 See also: Poverty, wealth and inequality.

9.3 Land ownership for indigenous communities

9.3.1 Human Rights Watch (HRW), in its ‘World Report 2024- Brazil’, published on 12 January 2024 and covering events throughout 2023, noted: ‘In a landmark decision in September [2023], the Supreme Court rejected an attempt to block Indigenous people from obtaining title to their traditional lands if they were not physically present on them when Brazil’s constitution was adopted in 1988. Congress reacted by approving a bill - and later overturning a presidential veto of the bill - that runs counter to the ruling.’^{[footnote 107]}

9.3.2 HRW further added:

‘For the first time, Brazil released comprehensive demographic data on Afro­ descendant rural communities, revealing more than 1.3 million inhabitants. In March [2023], the government granted collective land titles to three communities. Yet, Afro-descendant communities continue to face violence…

‘At least 11 people were killed in conflicts over land and resources in the Amazon in the first semester of 2023, the nongovernmental Pastoral Land Commission reported.’^{[footnote 108]}

9.4 Role of women

9.4.1 The European Investment Bank (EIB) reported on 30 March 2023: ‘While 48% of all Brazilian homes (nearly 34.8 million) were led by women in 2021, only 53% of women are part of the labour force, compared to 73% of men_,^{[footnote 109]}

9.4.2 According to Statista, a German online platform that specialises in data gathering and visualisation^{[footnote 110]}: ‘In 2022, there were nearly 38 million homes led by women in Brazil, approximately three million more than a year earlier. In contrast, the number of households led by men decreased from 37.5 million in 2021 to 36.3 million in 2022. This opposite trend in the development of households whose head were women and men has been witnessed since 2015.’^{[footnote 111]}

9.5 Electricity

9.5.1 According to WB data from 2023, 99.5% of the population of Brazil had access to electricity^{[footnote 112]}.

9.5.2 The US Department of Commerce International Trade Administration (US ITA), reporting in December 2023 on Brazil’s renewable energy infrastructure, noted: ‘Brazil is the largest electricity market in Latin America, the world’s sixth-largest consumer electricity market and has the seventh largest electricity generation capacity in the world… Brazil generates and transports electricity to over 88 million residential, commercial, and industrial consumers, more than the power produced by all other South American countries combined.’^{[footnote 113]}

9.6 Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)

9.6.1 Water.erg, a global non-profit organisation dedicated to providing clean water and sanitation to millions in need^{[footnote 114]}, noted in an undated profile of Brazil on its website: ‘Despite having one of the largest economies and highest water availability in the world, there are still deep inequalities in access to water and sanitation among Brazil’s geographical regions, rural and urban communities and households. Out of its population of 215 million people, 27 million people (12% of the population) lack access to safe water and 108 million people (50%) lack access to a safe toilet.’^{[footnote 115]}

9.6.2 The WB noted in 2020 that:

‘A new study by UNICEF, the World Bank and the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) shows that children and adolescents are among the invisible victims of Brazil’s lack of investment in water and sanitation infrastructure. For public school students, the situation is even more alarming, as private institutions have more than twice the coverage of these services.

‘In the North of the country, the disparities are even greater. Only 19 percent of public schools in the state of Amazonas have access to water supply services, while the national average is 68 percent. Sanitation is also critical: in the state of Acre, for example, only 9 percent of public schools are connected to the public sewerage system; in Rondônia, 6 percent; and in Amapa, only 5 percent.

‘Indigenous peoples are also amongst those most affected by lack of sanitation, as well as people living in favelas (where women are the majority), and in rural areas. For them, it is difficult to follow the most basic recommendation against the spread of COVID-19 and other diseases: thorough hand washing with soap and water.

‘JMP [the World Health Organization/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene^{[footnote 116]}] data reveal that 15 million Brazilians living in urban areas do not have access to safe water, that is, drinking water, protected from external contamination and available at home. In rural areas, 25 million people only have limited access to water from safe sources, but far from their homes…

‘When it comes to sanitation, over 100 million Brazilians do not have access to adequate facilities, which are not shared with other homes, and where sewage is collected and treated in a safe manner. Of this total, 2.3 million still practice open defecation.’^{[footnote 117]}

9.6.3 The USSD Report 2023 stated that:

‘In 2021, UNICEF and the UNFPA published a report on menstrual poverty experienced by girls who lived in conditions of poverty and vulnerability, sometimes without access to basic sanitation services, hygiene resources, and minimal knowledge about the body. More than 700,000 girls had no access to a bathroom or shower in their homes. More than four million girls experienced at least one type of hygiene problem in schools, including lack of access to feminine care products and basic facilities such as toilets and soap. Nearly 200,000 of these students were completely deprived of the minimum conditions to handle menstruation at school. A study from Girl Up Brazil, a network aiming to end menstrual poverty in the country, found that one in four girls had missed school due to lack of access to feminine products.’^{[footnote 118]}

9.6.4 The International Water Association (IWA), a self-governing organisation connecting water professionals and companies to find solutions to the world’s water challenges^{[footnote 119]}, reported on 17 April 2024:

‘Historically, Brazil’s water and sanitation infrastructure has consistently received the least investment compared to other sectors. As a result, progress has lagged behind and the country is still far from achieving full access for all households… [T]here are still approximately 100 million households without access to sewage collection and treatment, which represents half of the country’s population. Regarding treated water, the situation is less dire, but there are nearly 50 million households without access to treated water supply…

‘The Water Supply and Sanitation sector (WSS) in Brazil also includes drainage and urban waste services, and falls under the responsibility of municipalities. Municipalities are responsible for service provision and regulation, which can occur at the municipal, inter-municipal, or state level. Due to this peculiar situation, there are nearly a hundred subnational regulatory agencies in Brazil to oversee the provision of WSS services.’^{[footnote 120]}

9.6.5 Freedom House (FH), in its report ‘Freedom in the World 2024’ (FH 2024 Report), dated 24 April 2024 and covering events throughout 2023, noted that ‘Many Indigenous communities-who comprise about 1 percent of the population-suffer from poverty and lack adequate sanitation…’^{[footnote 121]}

10. Healthcare

10.1 Healthcare system

10.1.1 The OECD, in its 2021 review of Brazil’s healthcare system, noted:

‘The Brazilian health system is mostly public in terms of governance, funding and provision through SUS [Sistema Unico de Saude - Brazil’s public healthcare system]. Private initiative in the provision of health care complements the public system. All residents are entitled to services provided by SUS and this is the main source of health care for 78% of the population without private health insurance. SUS is financed through general taxation, and services are free at the point of care…

‘Although coverage of essential medicines under SUS is theoretically very broad, obtaining them when needed can be an issue for many people. This can trigger high out-of-pocket costs if patients have to purchase necessary medications outside the public system (only 10% of overall retail pharmaceutical spending is financed by SUS). Fragmented public pharmaceutical procurement and financing, with joint responsibilities across all three levels of government, may contribute to this problem…

‘While the entire population is entitled to receive services under the SUS, a non-negligible part of the population struggles with unmet health needs.’^{[footnote 122]}

10.1.2 The Commonwealth Fund, a private US-based foundation whose purpose is to promote high-performing health care systems, particularly for society’s most vulnerable^{[footnote 123]}, noted in its healthcare profile of Brazil, dated 5 June 2020, that the services covered under the SUS included:

• preventive services, including immunizations

• primary health care

• outpatient specialty care

• hospital care

• maternity care

• mental health services

• pharmaceuticals

• physical therapy

• dental care

• optometry and other vision care

• durable medical equipment, including wheelchairs

• hearing aids

• home care

• organ transplant

• oncology services

• renal dialysis

• blood therapy^{[footnote 124]}

10.1.3 The US ITA, in its assessment of Brazil’s healthcare system dated December 2023, noted: ‘In addition to medical diagnostics and treatment, the public system provides free medication for some chronic diseases and promotes national vaccination programs, mostly focused on the elderly and children.’^{[footnote 125]}

10.1.4 BTI 2024 noted:

‘The country has a free and universal public health care system. Approximately 75% of the population is covered by this Unified Health System (SUS). The system provides a range of free health services to all citizens, not just those who are formally employed. It also plays an important role in the distribution of medicines… In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, preexisting regional, social and ethnic inequalities in access to the health care system have been significantly exacerbated. The Black and Indigenous populations have been particularly affected.’^{[footnote 126]}

10.1.5 The Commonwealth Fund noted that: ‘Private health insurance is voluntary and supplementary to SUS and regulated by the National Agency of Supplementary Health… Private health plans offer health care services through their own facilities or through accredited health care organizations. Alternatively, private insurance can reimburse enrollees for purchased health care services.’^{[footnote 127]}

10.1.6 The US ITA noted: ‘It is estimated that 50.7 million Brazilians have access to the private healthcare system.’^{[footnote 128]}

10.1.7 The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO), in its travel advice for Brazil, updated in June 2024, noted: ‘Public hospitals in Brazil, especially in major cities, tend to be overcrowded and there’s often a long wait for a bed and a lack of medication.’^{[footnote 129]}

10.1.8 For comparison, NHS England stated that the current ‘maximum waiting time for non-urgent, consultant-led treatments is 18 weeks from the day your appointment is booked through the NHS e-Referral Service, or when the hospital or service receives your referral letter.’^{[footnote 130]}

10.2 Healthcare inequalities

10.2.1 The Commonwealth Fund noted in 2020 that ‘Health policies have been implemented to improve equity and reduce disparities for black Brazilians; Romany and descendants of escaped slaves (quilombolas); lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender groups; the homeless; and people living in rural areas and riverine communities…The expansion of primary care has led to large improvements in access and in health outcomes.’^{[footnote 131]}

10.2.2 The OECD noted in 2021 that:

‘[T]he path towards universal health coverage offering high-quality services has been unequal across socio-economic groups and geographic regions. The most vulnerable and remote municipalities in the North and Northeast regions consistently present poorer health outcomes and lower care quality than the wealthier South and Southeast… In a similar vein, people with a better socio-economic situation, who can pay for private health insurance, have higher access to health care services than those from lower socio­ economic backgrounds.’^{[footnote 132]}

10.2.3 The UN CEDAW stated in its 2024 Concluding Observations that:

‘…the maternal mortality rate has increased sharply, disproportionately affecting women of African descent and Indigenous women living in rural areas and in the northern and north-eastern regions of the State party; …

[and] [t]hat traditional and naturopathic health systems, ancestral knowledge, cosmology and Indigenous practices are not recognized or integrated into the federal health-care system, negatively affecting access to health care by Indigenous women.’^{[footnote 133]}

10.2.4 The AI 2024 Report stated that ‘According to the Ministry of Health, maternal mortality led to 477 deaths between January and May [2023], with Black and Indigenous women disproportionally affected. The rate of maternal mortality among Black women was double that among white women.’^{[footnote 134]}

11. Education

11.1 Education system and funding

11.1.1 The Borgen Project reported in November 2022 that:

‘With extreme rates of income inequality and poverty, Brazil’s education system is viewed by many as the solution to the country’s woes. In 2020, 4.1 million people in Brazil lived under the international poverty line of US$2.15 [approximately £1.69^{[footnote 135]}] per day and Brazil scored 49.9 [out of 100^{[footnote 136]}] in terms of income equality, where a higher score indicates greater inequality. For Jair Ribeiro, president of the Brazilian nonprofit Partners for Education (Parceiros da Educatiao), public schools are key to lifting millions out of poverty and reducing income inequality. Collaborating with public school administrations within the largest state in Brazil, Sao Paulo, Ribeiro’s organization works with more than 900,000 students and 75,000 teachers. It focuses on teacher training, management and methodological changes to help students in Sao Paulo’s lowest-performing school districts reach their full potential.’^{[footnote 137]}

11.1.2 The BTI 2024 noted:

‘The education sector has been significantly impacted in recent years, mainly due to the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and the education policy of the Bolsonaro government. .. According to the Brazilian NGO Institute de Estudos Socioecon6micos, public spending on education decreased from BRL 146.7 billion [approximately £19.1 billion^{[footnote 138]}] in 2016 to BRL 130 billion [approximately £16.9 billion^{[footnote 139]}] in 2018, and further declined to only BRL 118.4 billion [approximately £15.4 million^{[footnote 140]}] in 2021. In 2022, Brazil allocated the second-lowest percentage of investment resources to education, reaching levels comparable to those observed in 2001, 2002 and 2006.’^{[footnote 141]}

11.1.3 The AI 2024 Report noted:

‘A UNICEF study showed that 2 million children and adolescents (10%) were not attending school in Brazil in 2023. The main reasons were child labour (48%) and learning difficulties (30%). Other factors included teenage pregnancy (14%) and racism (6%). Of children not attending school, 63% were Black. The Congress extended until 2033 its quota system, an affirmative action for university admission, and specifically included quilombo/as (see below, Quilombo/as) among the beneficiaries.

‘Violence in schools increased. By the end of October, there were 13 episodes of violent attacks with weapons in schools (30% of all incidents in the past 20 years), including shootings, which left nine people dead. All the perpetrators were male; most victims were female.’^{[footnote 142]}

11.1.4 The US Department of Labor’s 2024 report on ‘Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor’, covering events in 2023, noted: ‘Some schools, particularly those in rural areas, are overcrowded, have poor infrastructure, and lack basic resources and teachers. These barriers to education access may leave children vulnerable to child labor.’^{[footnote 143]}

11.1.5 HRW’s World Report 2024 noted: ‘Some 26 percent of people with disabilities had completed high school compared to almost 57 percent without disabilities, a government survey published in 2023 showed… In January [2023], President Lula revoked a Bolsonaro administration policy that appeared aimed at establishing segregated schools for certain children with disabilities.’^{[footnote 144]}

11.1.6 The FH 2024 Report noted: ‘Many Indigenous communities-who comprise about 1 percent of the population… lack adequate… education services…’^{[footnote 145]}

11.1.7 Encyclopaedia Britannica, in its entry on schooling in Brazil, dated 24 June 2024, noted:

‘School is free and compulsory for students at the primary (ages 7-14) and secondary (ages 15-17) levels, but roughly three-fifths of Brazilians have only four years of schooling or less. Approximately nine-tenths of children aged 7-14 are enrolled in school (in contrast to 1960, when only half of the children of that age group attended school). The primary schools of the Northeast, North, and Central-West are smaller and more dispersed and are run by teachers less qualified than those in the South and Southeast. Furthermore, the northern and western schools tend to be financed out of meagre municipal budgets, whereas southern schools are predominantly state-supported. Several states markedly increased educational spending in the mid-1990s, notably Minas Gerais and Sao Paulo, and overall an increasing number of primary students in Brazil have been continuing on to the secondary level…

‘Less than three-fifths of students aged 15-17 attend school, and, of those who do, some are still finishing a delayed and interrupted primary education; about half the total number of students are in the Southeast and South. However, secondary-school enrollments increased dramatically in the late 20th century, and the number of annual graduations in the mid-1990s was twice that of the previous decade. Secondary schools have low overall enrollment rates in part because many students are compelled to earn wages at an early age (the federal census records child labourers as young as 10). Other students complete only a short-term vocational program rather than a full three- to four-year curriculum. In addition, most secondary schools are located in large towns, particularly in the Northeast, and rural households with children in city schools incur a considerable financial burden paying for room and board. Many people pursue a high-school equivalency diploma through evening courses after they enter the workforce.’^{[footnote 146]}

11.1.8 Regarding higher education, Encyclopaedia Britannica noted:

‘University attendance rose dramatically in the 21st century in Brazil, but it remained limited compared with that in most developed countries. Although the number is growing, only a small portion of Brazilians aged 18-24 attended universities… By a large margin most institutions of higher education are located in the south and southeast; however, the Federal District and each of the states has at least one university. The University of Sao Paulo is the largest and most important state university. The largest private university is Paulista University, also located in Sao Paulo.’^{[footnote 147]}

11.1.9 The BTI 2024 noted: ‘Tertiary education has expanded in Brazil in recent decades. In 2020, 27% of women aged 25 to 34 and 20% of their male counterparts held a tertiary qualification. This falls well below the OECD average of 52% for young women and 39% for young men.’^{[footnote 148]}

11.1.10 The OECD’s Education at a Glance 2024 report for Brazil stated that:

‘The share of 25-34 year-olds without upper secondary educational attainment decreased by 8 percentage points between 2016 and 2023.

At 27%, it remains 13 percentage points above the OECD average in 2023…

‘The enrolment rate of 6-14 year-olds in Brazil is one of the lowest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (96.1%, rank 38/45, 2022)

‘The enrolment rate among 15-19 year-olds in Brazil is one of the lowest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (72.7%, rank 36/43, 2022)…

‘The percentage of 3-5 year-old children in early childhood and primary education in Brazil is one of the lowest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (73.5%, rank 35/40, 2022)’^{[footnote 149]}

12. Insecurity and crime

12.1 Overview

12.1.1 The US Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC), in its ‘Brazil Country Security Report’ dated 18 July 2023 (OSAC 2023 Report), noted:

‘Brazil experiences more murders than any other country, and its murder rate is among the world’s twenty highest. Throughout Brazil, low-income informal urban areas known as favelas (sometimes called communidades) are common and easily recognizable. These areas ruled by drug lords host regular shoot-outs between traffickers and police, as well as other assorted illegal activity, with high frequency…

‘All neighborhoods in Sao Paulo are susceptible to crime, including affluent residential sections where government and business leaders reside…

‘In Rio de Janeiro, violent crimes such as murder, armed robbery, carjacking, assault, and kidnapping are a frequent occurrence…Major drug gangs and militias control organized crime in Rio de Janeiro, operating mainly in the favelas and in the country’s prison system. All of Rio’s neighborhoods are subject to criminal activity.

‘Porto Alegre [capital city of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, in southern Brazil] is one of the most dangerous cities in the world, with above-average incidence of violent crimes, most notably murders and armed robberies… Like many other metropolitan cities in Brazil, crime is a major concern in Recife [the state capital of Pernambuco, Brazil, on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America]. All neighborhoods in Recife are susceptible to criminal activity…’^{[footnote 150]}

12.1.2 The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) is a non­ governmental organisation specialising in disaggregated conflict data collection, analysis, and crisis mapping^{[footnote 151]}. In an article on armed violence in Rio de Janeiro, dated 14 February 2023, ACLED noted: ‘…Poor communities, the Black community, and other civilians involved in investigations against militias and gangs are at particularly high risk of targeted attacks. In a city and state long engulfed in violence, the increasing death toll points to the enduring grip of gang-related conflict in Rio de Janeiro.’^{[footnote 152]}

12.1.3 The USSD Report 2023 noted: ‘in 2022, there was an increase in all forms of violence against women, such as beatings and threats with a knife or firearm. In 2022, more than 1,440 women were victims of femicides; 80 percent were killed by a current or former partner or a relative.’^{[footnote 153]}

12.1.4 The Global Organised Crime Index, a project of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime aiming to assess ‘the level of criminality and resilience to organized crime for 193 countries’^{[footnote 154]}, noted in its 2023 profile of Brazil (Global Organised Crime Index profile 2023):

‘Brazil is a country that is both a source of and destination for human trafficking, with victims from Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa and China being identified. The COVID-19 pandemic has made people, especially children, more vulnerable to human trafficking, and criminals are exploiting social networks, marketplaces and other platforms to reach more victims.

The main actors involved in human trafficking are relatives or friends of victims who are paid by big entrepreneurs to recruit people…

‘…Some Brazilian cities, such as Governador Valadares in Minas Gerais, have become hubs for illegal immigration, with smuggling “packages” being sold. Brokers help people from Africa and Asia to travel to Brazil, sometimes through corruption, by providing visas.’^{[footnote 155]}

12.1.5 The BTI 2024 noted that ‘Despite comprising only 2.7% of the world’s population, the country accounts for 20.4% of the world’s homicides. A consistently high number of 47,503 homicides was reported for 2022. While lethal violence has declined somewhat in many parts of the country, it continued to increase in the north in 2020 and 2021. In the Amazon region, the rate of lethal violence is 38% higher than the national average.’^{[footnote 156]}

12.1.6 The USSD’s ‘2024 Trafficking in Persons Report: Brazil’, covering ‘government efforts undertaken from April 1, 2023 through March 31, 2024’^{[footnote 157]}, noted that:

‘Traffickers exploit women and children from Brazil and other South American countries - especially Bolivia, Paraguay, and Venezuela - in sex trafficking in Brazil. Gangs and organized criminal groups have subjected women and girls to sex trafficking in the states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina… Most identified trafficking victims are people of color, and many are Afro-Brazilian or otherwise of African descent… Many identified trafficking victims are from northeast Brazil, especially Maranhao.’^{[footnote 158]}

12.1.7 The Monitor da Violencia (Violence Monitor) was ‘a partnership between the G1 news portal, the Center for the Study of Violence of the USP [University of Sao Paulo], and the Brazilian Public Security Forum [Forum Brasileiro de Seguranca Publica - FBSP, ‘a non-governmental… organization… dedicated to building an environment of reference and technical cooperation in the area of Public Security’^{[footnote 159]}].’^{[footnote 160]} The below table was created by CPIT using 2023 data from the Violence Monitor^{[footnote 161]}. It shows that, in 2023, the states with the highest number of murders per 100,000 inhabitants were Amapa, Pernambuco and Alagoas (all in the North and Northeast regions) and the states with the lowest number of murders per 100,000 inhabitants were the Federal District, Santa Catarina and Sao Paulo. These figures do not include deaths resulting from police violence:

Brazil and Federal Units	Number of murders per 100,000 inhabitants	Absolute number of murders
Brazil	19.4	39,492
Amapa	45.2	332
Pernambuco	38.8	3,518
Alagoas	36.2	1,131
Bahia	34.3	4,848
Amazonas	34.1	1,346
Ceara	33.8	2,970
Rio Grande do Norte	28.8	951
Rondônia	28.0	443
Maranhao	27.1	1,837
Espirito Santo	26.9	1,030
Roraima	25.6	163
Mato Grosso	25.6	936
Para	25.5	2,068
Paraiba	25.0	995
Acre	24.8	206
Tocantins	23.4	353
Piaui	21.7	711
Rio de Janeiro	21.1	3,388
Sergipe	20.7	458
Parana	16.8	1,922
Rio Grande do Sul	16.5	1,796
Mato Grosso do Sul	16.2	446
Goias	15.4	1,086
Minas Gerais	13.1	2,700
Distrito Federal	9.9	279
Santa Catarina	7.9	602
Sao Paulo	6.7	2,977

12.2 Criminal actors

12.2.1 The Global Organised Crime Index profile 2023 noted:

The Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) is Brazil’s largest criminal organization, with tens of thousands of members involved in drug trafficking domestically and internationally… The Comando Vermelho (CV) is the second largest group and competes with the PCC for control of drug trafficking in certain areas. Both groups are involved in various other illegal activities, including illegal mining, arms trafficking, bank robberies, kidnappings and money laundering. Other criminal groups that operate like mafias, including white-collar-crime groups and independent militias composed of current and former police officers, are also found in urban areas in Brazil. These paramilitary groups are known for extorting neighbourhoods, perpetrating extrajudicial killings and controlling various industries, including the gas supply and public transportation.

‘Criminal networks in Brazil typically ally with either the PCC or the CV and have expanded in recent years… Violence has particularly increased in the northern and north-eastern states…

‘…militias… control certain territories in Rio de Janeiro and engage in criminal activities…’^{[footnote 162]}

12.2.2 The BTI 2024 noted: ‘Gangs such as Primerio Comando da Capital and Comando Vermelho operate throughout the country…

‘…Militias control numerous favelas and operate in many neighborhoods. Several million people live in areas controlled by these criminal actors… They collect protection money, threaten entire neighborhoods and are responsible for numerous extrajudicial killings.’^{[footnote 163]}

12.3 Law enforcement

12.3.1 The Global Organised Crime Index profile 2023 noted ‘Law enforcement in Brazil has a militarized approach to public security, and has resulted in police violence and low levels of public trust… State police forces have been accused of extrajudicial executions against young and black men in marginalized areas, and police corruption is rampant…’^{[footnote 164]}

12.3.2 The USSD Report 2023 noted:

‘In July [2023] the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Brazilian Public Security Forum reported that police (including federal, state, and municipal) killed 6,429 persons nationwide in 2022, an increase of 284 persons compared with 2021. Afro-Brazilians represented 83 percent of victims. According to some civil society organizations, victims of police violence throughout the country were overwhelmingly young Afro-Brazilian men.

‘On April 5 [2023], the NGO Forum for Justice reported that fewer than one­ half of the investigations of police homicides resulted in an indictment. The study analyzed more than 4,500 cases from 2011 to 2021, noting that 39 percent resulted in indictments, while the rest were archived due to self­ defense claims or lack of evidence. The study also highlighted the length of the process, with an average of four years for charges to be filed and eight years for cases to be closed.’^{[footnote 165]}

12.3.3 The BTI 2024 noted: ‘Civilian authorities generally maintain effective control of the federal security forces; however, state-level security forces have committed numerous human rights abuses. Police forces are decentralized and under the control of state governments. Brazil is characterized by a high rate of police violence. In 2022, a total of 6,145 deaths were attributed to the police, which is 4.9% less than the previous year.’^{[footnote 166]}

12.3.4 The FH 2024 Report noted that: ‘Police in the states of Amapa, Bahia, and Rio de Janeiro had the highest lethality rates [deaths caused by police] in the country.’^{[footnote 167]}

12.3.5 Amnesty International, in an open letter published on 24 June 2024, stated: ‘In Brazil… between July and September 2023, at least 394 people suffered violent deaths in police operations in the states of Bahia, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, with the national state still taking no measures to reduce police violence, including the use of body cameras.’^{[footnote 168]}

12.3.6 For background information about the criminal justice system generally and an assessment of its effectiveness in providing protection, see the Country Policy and Information Note, Brazil: Actors of protection.

12.4 Government response

12.4.1 The Global Organised Crime Index profile 2023 noted:

‘Brazil has a victim and witness protection programme that offers support, health care and psychological assistance to hundreds of people annually. However, the programme has been criticized for not providing adequate guidance and support regarding anonymity. Furthermore, modern slavery, human trafficking and smuggling continue to be notable issues in the poorest areas, with police tactics in cities being heavy-handed, resulting in organized-crime victims being treated as criminals or extrajudicially killed by the police. Investigations into police killings are rare, and relatives of victims and witnesses often report a lack of support…

‘The country also carries out highly visible actions throughout the country to warn against trafficking in people, and non-state actors work with members of congress and the senate to raise awareness and support legislative changes to improve the fight against such crimes. Nonetheless, complex mechanisms for the prevention of organized crime remain challenging to implement, and socio-economic development policies aimed at low-income urban areas are rare. Another challenge for preventive strategies is that crime bosses are able to operate and maintain their influence from within prisons or wealthy gated communities. Despite attempts at apprehension, they still retain power and continue to coordinate criminal activities.’^{[footnote 169]}

12.4.2 ACLED noted in its article dated 14 February 2023 that:

‘Recent controversial state policies include the Cidade lntegrada (Integrated City) project, launched in early 2022, which focuses on the occupation and heavy presence of military police in favelas and poor communities. Analysts have argued this model has already proven unsuccessful for multiple reasons, including its high lethality rates.

‘In contrast, at the federal level, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has a new team for public security matters that has received praise… One day after being sworn in, Lula revoked a series of measures from the Bolsonaro government that facilitated and expanded the population’s access to firearms and ammunition…’^{[footnote 170]}

12.4.3 The Guardian reported on 6 November 2023 that:

‘Thousands of troops have taken up position in the ports and airports of Rio and Sao Paulo and along Brazil’s western border as part of efforts to “asphyxiate” organized crime amid an upsurge in bloodshed and violence…

‘…Lula said the federal government was determined to help Brazil “free itself from organized crime, gangs, drug trafficking and gun trafficking”…

‘After the recent bus burnings, the Estado de Sao Paulo broadsheet lamented the state’s “utter failure” to uphold its monopoly on violence…

‘[Security expert Pablo] Nunes [from Rio’s Centre for Studies on Public Security and Citizenship] said… he was unconvinced a military deployment would work.’^{[footnote 171]}

12.4.4 The USSD 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report on Brazil noted: ‘The government has never reported a final conviction under its 2016 anti­ trafficking statute; on average, courts took more than 10 years to adjudicate trafficking cases and the number of prosecutions initiated and traffickers convicted was low relative to the known scale of the problem.’^{[footnote 172]}

12.4.5 The BTI 2024 noted: ‘[During President Bolsonaro’s term in office, environmental crimes and crimes against Indigenous people] were largely ignored by the government and the officials they appointed, so a climate of impunity spread, and many actors now lack a sense of guilt.’^{[footnote 173]}

13. Freedom of movement

13.1 Legal rights

13.1.1 Article 5 (XV) of the Constitution of Brazil states that ‘movement within the national territory is free in peacetime, and any person may, as provided by law, enter, remain or leave with his or her assets…’^{[footnote 174]}

13.1.2 The USSD Report 2023 noted: ‘The constitution provided for freedom of internal movement, foreign travel, emigration, and repatriation, and the government generally respected these rights.’^{[footnote 175]}

13.2 In-country movement

13.2.1 The FH 2024 Report noted:

‘Brazilians enjoy freedom to travel within and outside of the country, and to make decisions about their places of residence and employment… Gang violence, militias, and police violence in some parts of the country, especially favelas, have impeded free movement and access to education. According to a report by Fogo Cruzado, which that tracks gun violence in certain areas of Brazil, there were 673 shootings in the Rio de Janeiro metropolitan area in the first five months of 2023; 460 occurred near schools, prompting lower attendance and school closures. Movement within the state of Bahia and especially in the state capital of Salvador was affected by organized criminal groups that engaged in violent clashes with each other and with police during the year.’^{[footnote 176]}

13.2.2 The AI 2024 Report noted:

‘Heavily armed police operations oriented towards the “war on drugs” in favelas and marginalized neighbourhoods resulted in… restrictions on freedom of movement…In October [2023], more than 120,000 residents of the favela Complexo da Mare in Rio de Janeiro city were impacted by six days of police operations. During this period, more than 17,000 students did not have access to school and more than 3,000 medical service appointments were suspended.’^{[footnote 177]}

13.2.3 See also: Insecurity and crime.

13.3 Road networks

13.3.1 Encyclopaedia Britannica, in an entry dated 19 May 2023, noted:

‘A 3,400-mile (5,1OD-kilometre) east-west segment extends from Recife, on the Atlantic coast, through Maraba, ltaituba, Humaita, and Rio Branco to Cruzeiro do Sul, on the Peruvian border. The two major north-south links are Rio de Janeiro-Brasilia-Porto Franco-Belem and Sao Paulo-Cuiaba­ Santarem, further west. An additional road links Cuiaba northwestward with the Transamazonian highway at Humaita and continues northward to Manaus and beyond to the partially completed Northern Perimeter Highway.’^{[footnote 178]}

13.3.2 The World Travel Guide (WTG}, part of the UK-based Columbus Travel Media (CTM)^{[footnote 179]}, noted in an undated article: ‘Federal highways crisscross the country between major cities and are denoted by the letters BR plus a number. BR-101 is the longest in the country, running for nearly 4,800km (2,980 miles}, from Natal south to Florian6polis, via Rio de Janeiro. Smaller roads take the initials of the state (eg RJ for Rio de Janeiro) plus a number.’^{[footnote 180]}

13.4 Rail networks

13.4.1 The WTG noted: ‘Passenger rail connections in Brazil are virtually non­ existent, apart from a few inner-city commuter lines in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. A few scenic tourist lines still run, notably the Serra Verde Express… operating services from Curitiba to Morretes in Parana, and from Campo Grande to Miranda in the Pantanal.’^{[footnote 181]}

13.4.2 The Rio Times, an English-language newspaper and news website covering events in Latin America^{[footnote 182]}, stated in a 2023 article that: ‘Brazil has 15 urban rail systems, but only 12 of its 27 state capitals offer metro, train, or light rail options, with Sao Paulo hosting the largest network.’^{[footnote 183]}

13.5 Airports

13.5.1 The WTG noted: ‘Brazil has one of the largest internal air networks in the world, and there are air services between all Brazilian cities… Internal flights in Brazil are possible with the shuttle service between Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, a regular service from Sao Paulo to Brasilia and a shuttle service from Brasilia to Belo Horizonte.’^{[footnote 184]}

14. Documentation

14.1 Identity documents

14.1.1 KPMG, an audit, tax and advisory service operating in 143 countries and territories^{[footnote 185]}, noted in an article dated 13 July 2022: ‘The Brazilian national identity document, currently called “Registro Geral” or the RG (General Registration), will be gradually replaced by a new document called “Carteira de ldentidade Nacional” (CIN (National ID Card))… As the CIN implementation will be done gradually, the current national identity card (the RG) remains valid until 2032.’^{[footnote 186]}

14.1.2 Forbes reported in September 2023: ‘The National Civil Identity Card (ICN) is an upgraded version for Brazil’s existing paper ID cards, and began to be issued nationwide in July 2022. The main rationale for the project is to centralize the country’s civil identification system and use the ICN database to authenticate users accessing public services online.’^{[footnote 187]}

14.1.3 Exame, a Brazil-based ‘media tech company working on the news, education, investment and events fronts’^{[footnote 188]}, shared a picture of the new ID card in an article dated 14 June 2024. CPIT redacted personal information from the image:

^{[footnote 189]}

14.2 Passports

14.2.1 KPMG, in its article of 13 June 2022, noted: ‘The new Brazilian passport model will be issued starting in September 2022, and it will have a validity period of 10 years.’^{[footnote 190]}

14.2.2 Brazilian news agency UOL^{[footnote 191]} shared the below image of the front cover of the new passport:

^{[footnote 192]}

15. Support for returnees

15.1.1 Hibiscus Initiatives, a UK registered charity which provides advocacy, support, and specialist services to vulnerable foreign nationals and Black, Minority, Ethnic and Refugees (BMER) affected by criminal justice and immigration systems^{[footnote 193]}, noted in their report ‘Field Trip to Brazil 2020’, published in 2021:

‘We strive to assist and support clients to successfully reintegrate in their home countries by extending our referral programme to local support organisations and networks to obtain accommodation, provide or secure seed capital assistance to start small businesses, and help with other resettlement needs…

‘There are several supports [that Brazilians] can access e.g. SENAC capacity training (vocational training course). This can be accessed via local councils (municipalities). Vulnerable groups can access different support services e.g. the programme “Bosa Familiar” where cash is given to a family on social benefits. (This is managed by the Ministry of Citizenship).

Application forms can be accessed online via the municipality’s website or hard copy available from their office. Citizens who are returning to the country need to show proof of address and ID card to apply for funds.

‘IOM [International Organization for Migration] Brazil offer support to most returnees in Brazil. They established their office in Brazil in 2015 in order to carry out activities which include: reforms in domestic immigration law, migrants wellbeing and reintegration programmes. The returnee programme has two designated offices; one in Sao Paulo and the other in Brasilia. The IOM in Sao Paulo is funded in partnership with several EU countries such as Portugal, Ireland, Switzerland, Holland, and Italy. Each Program operates differently based on the main objectives and priorities set by the relevant Government. ..

‘Although the IOM does not currently have a funded project with the UK, they can refer them onto the correct departments in the municipalities within the returnee’s hometown. Assistance can include reintegration guidance from other NGO’s providing support…

‘[The Center for Human Rights and Citizenship] CDHIC aims to promote and create a society free of prejudice, sexism, racism, discrimination and xenophobia for refugees and immigrants. Since 2010, they have provided services to both returning Brazilians and refugees by providing support and reintegration services in collaboration with the IOM. They work to influence policy reforms within immigration laws and policies in Brazil.’^{[footnote 194]}

16. Humanitarian situation

16.1.1 In its Operation Update regarding flooding in Rio Grande do Sul, dated 4 July 2024, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) reported:

‘Heavy rainfalls hit the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul between April 29 and May 4 [2024], causing the worst climate catastrophe in its history. Over 1,000 millimeters of rainfall was recorded during this period, leading to floods, landslides, and mudslides. According to the Brazilian Civil Defense, as of June 10, 2024, 478 municipalities (out of 496) have been impacted. On May 13, the state government declared a state of calamity throughout Rio Grande do Sul, with 46 cities listed under public calamity and 320 under emergency state. The rain has affected a total of 2,398,255 people, with 806 reported injuries and 175 confirmed deaths. The disaster has displaced 422,753 people, of whom 16,128 have been living in temporary shelters for the past month.

‘During the reporting period [11 May 2024 to 16 June 2024^{[footnote 195]}], the water levels decreased, and several areas across the state became accessible for humanitarian support. In many areas, the affected population has been cleaning their houses and streets are full of household items lost due to the floods, creating the risk of the spread of vector-borne and water-borne diseases. According to the Ministry of Health, as of 19th June, 21 deaths of leptospirosis were confirmed, with 363 confirmed cases and 5.501 suspected. From 26/04 to 20/06, in the Region of Rio Grande do Sul, there were 151 official reports of people suffering from acute diarrhea.

‘On the 16th of June, the Brazilian Civil Defense released a new alert for floods and heavy rains in a large portion of the state - between the 16th and 17th of June, rains reached 30mm in 24 hrs. around most of the state, with some areas reaching 60mm.On the night of the 16th of June, the Brazilian Civil Defense alerted for new floods in rivers Cai, Cadeia, and Sinos, alerting citizens to evacuate their houses… The situation in Rio Grande do Sul has worsened after the 14th of June…

‘As of June 16th, 2024, the dam of Bugres in Sao Francisco de Paula was still at risk of failure, requiring urgent measures to preserve lives. Additionally, two other dams were reported to be under alert, needing urgent measures to prevent failure, and six dams were under “attention” status, needing repairs and monitoring.’^{[footnote 196]}

16.1.2 Reporting on the same flooding on 26 June 2024, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) added:

‘As of 19 June 2024, the state of Rio Grande do Sul in southern Brazil, continues to face the consequences of the unprecedented flooding that began in late April, which has entailed large-scale assistance to a significant number of people. According to the latest report from the state’s Civil Defense, approximately 388,000 people remain displaced, with around 10,500 in 227 official shelters. The disaster has resulted in 177 reported deaths, with 37 people still missing.

‘The extensive flooding has also caused significant damage to infrastructure and livelihoods, with over 4,500 kilometers of roads, avenues and highways affected, complicating transportation and logistics. The agricultural sector has been significantly impacted, with an estimated 2.7 million hectares of soil losing fertility, equating to almost the entire land size of Belgium, according to a Brazilian science institute (EMATER). The economic impact is expected to be severe, with Rio Grande do Sul facing zero or negative economic growth until August, potentially losing up to 4.2 per cent of its forecasted growth…

‘In the capital city, water levels have receded, enabling the reopening of basic services, including the main bus terminal. While this has improved transportation and logistics, the international airport is expected to remain inoperative until December, forcing thousands of passengers to take flights to other capital airports or smaller airports in nearby cities… The floods in the state of Rio Grande do Sul damaged 689 healthcare establishments, placing significant strain on the healthcare industry…

‘…The displacement of communities was severe, reaching almost 600 thousand individuals forced to leave their homes and currently close to 12,000 living in temporary shelters (down from over 80,000 at peak of the crisis)…

‘… According to the Water Quality Department of the State Health Secretariat (VIGIAGUA), around 270,000 people lack access to safe drinking water.’^{[footnote 197]}

16.1.3 The Global Compact on Refugees, an international agreement prepared with the support of the United Nations which provides a framework to improve the worldwide response to the needs of refugees^{[footnote 198]}, reported in an undated article:

‘In Brazil, UN Agencies and civil society are working closely with the Brazilian Federal Government to support persons coming from Venezuela displaced by the political and economic crisis in their country. The response to new arrivals includes the creation of the Federal Emergency Assistance Committee and the expansion of the capacity of authorities to respond to the needs of people forced to flee in the border state of Roraima (in the north) in matters of documentation, shelter, protection of the rights of women, children, adolescents and persons with disabilities, support for indigenous Venezuelans, voluntary internal relocation to other Brazilian states and host communities, and, finally, the strengthening of infrastructure and sanitation.’^{[footnote 199]}

16.1.4 ACAPS, an ‘independent analysis-provider… helping humanitarian workers, influencers, fundraisers, and donors make better-informed decisions and respond more effectively to disasters’^{[footnote 200]}, noted in an undated article on their website:

‘As at August 2023, Brazil hosted around 501,000 Venezuelan refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers. The main ports of entry are the states near the northern border region.

‘The high flow of population movements in Roraima makes accommodation the main need. Although Venezuelans can move from Roraima to other states, geographical barriers, such as natural hazards in the Amazon Rainforest, make it difficult for them to do so. The scarcity of formal jobs and language limitations also hinder their access to essential goods and services. Access to food, education, and protection are among their most urgent humanitarian needs.^{[footnote 201]}

16.1.5 ACAPS further reported in the same article: ‘Extratropical cyclones and heavy rain have been affecting states such as Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul since September, resulting in displacement and the need for shelter, clean water, and food. As at the end of November [2023], the drought had affected about 600,000 people in the state of Amazonas, which declared an emergency in 59 of 62 municipalities on 19 October.’^{[footnote 202]}

Research methodology

The country of origin information (COi) in this note has been carefully selected in accordance with the general principles of COi research as set out in the [Common EU European Union) Guidelines for Processing Country of Origin Information (COi), April 2008, and the Austrian Centre for Country of Origin and Asylum Research and Documentation’s (ACCORD), Researching Country Origin Information - Training Manual 2024. Namely, taking into account the COi’s relevance, reliability, accuracy, balance, currency, transparency and traceability.

The country information section has an ‘updated’ date up to which the COi included was published or made publicly available. Any event taking place or report published after this date will not be included in the CPIN.

Sources and the information they provide are carefully considered before inclusion. CPIT may provide source assessment and comment on the information provided. Factors relevant to the assessment of the reliability of sources and information include:

• the motivation, purpose, knowledge and experience of the source

• how the information was obtained, including specific methodologies used

• the currency and detail of information

• whether the COi is consistent with and/or corroborated by other sources

Wherever possible, multiple sourcing is used and the COi compared to ensure that it is accurate and balanced, and provides a comprehensive and up-to-date picture of the issues relevant to this note at the time of publication.

The inclusion of a source is not, however, an endorsement of it or any view(s) expressed.

Each piece of information is referenced in a footnote.

Full details of all sources cited and consulted in compiling the note are listed alphabetically in the bibliography.

Terms of Reference

The ‘Terms of Reference’ (ToR) provides a broad outline of the issues relevant to the scope of this note and forms the basis for the country information.

The following topics were identified prior to drafting as relevant and on which research was undertaken:

• Geography and demographics

• Economy

• Social support/ economy

• Food security

• Housing and living conditions

• Healthcare

• Education

• Insecurity and crime

• Freedom of movement

• Documentation

• Support for returnees

• Humanitarian situation

  • areas affected by conflict/natural disasters

  • conditions in these areas, including availability of food, water and shelter

  • internally displaced populations

  • government and non-governmental support and services provided to displaced populations

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2. CIA, ‘World Factbook: United Kingdom’ (Geography), 26 June 2024 ↩

3. CIA, ‘World Factbook: Brazil’ (Geography), 26 June 2024 ↩

4. WPR, ‘Brazil States 2024’, no date ↩

5. CIA, ‘World Factbook: Brazil’ (Map), 26 June 2024 ↩

6. CIA, ‘World Factbook: Brazil’ (People and Society), 26 June 2024 ↩

7. MRG, ‘Who we are’, no date ↩

8. MRG, ‘Brazil’ (Communities), February 2024 ↩

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11. WPR, ‘About’, no date ↩

12. WPR, ‘Brazil States 2024’, no date ↩

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14. CIA, ‘World Factbook: Brazil’ (People and Society), 26 June 2024 ↩

15. The Guardian, ‘Mixed-race people become Brazil’s biggest population group’, 22 December 2023 ↩

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20. MRG, ‘Brazil’ (Communities), February 2024 ↩

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23. Eberhard, DM, and others, ‘Ethnologue: Languages of the World - Brazil’, 2024 ↩

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27. CIA, ‘World Factbook: Brazil’ (People and Society), 26 June 2024 ↩

28. USSD, ‘2023 Country Report on Human Rights Practices: Brazil’ (section 6), 23 April 2024 ↩

29. UNHCR, ‘Climate and Sustainability Interventions - Brief overview of key … ‘ (page 1}, May 2023 ↩

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43. Falha de S.Paulo, ‘Poverty Decreases in Brazil in 2022 and Affects 31.6% of …’, 7 December 2023 ↩

44. Xe.com, ‘6.85 USD to GBP - Convert US Dollars to British Pounds’, 2 December 2024 ↩

45. Britannica Money, ‘purchasing power parity’, 21 September 2024 ↩

46. lnvestopedia, ‘Gini Index Explained and Gini Coefficients Around the World’, 14 April 2024 ↩

47. WB, ‘Brazil Country Climate and Development Report’ (pages 8, 31), 2023 ↩

48. Encyclopedia Britannica, “‘Brazil”’ (Welfare and health), 24 June 2024 ↩

49. Global Citizen Solutions, ‘About Us’, no date ↩

50. Xe.com, ‘2,836 BRL to GBP - Convert Brazilian Reais to British Pounds’, 2 December 2024 ↩

51. Xe.com, ‘3,442 BRL to GBP - Convert Brazilian Reais to British Pounds’, 2 December 2024 ↩

52. Xe.com, ‘4,648 BRL to GBP - Convert Brazilian Reais to British Pounds’, 2 December 2024 ↩

53. Global Citizen Solutions, ‘The Cost of Living in Brazil’, 16 June 2024 ↩

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55. UN CEDAW, ‘Concluding observations…’ (page 11), 6 April 2024 ↩

56. Xe.com, ‘8,802 USD to GBP - Convert US Dollars to British Pounds’, 2 December 2024 ↩

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60. USSD, ‘2023 Country Report on Human Rights Practices: Brazil’ (section 7E), 23 April 2024 ↩

61. J-PAL, ‘About Us’, no date ↩

62. J-PAL, ‘Tackling Brazil’s labor market challenges with evidence: JOI Brazil’s … ‘, 28 June 2023 ↩

63. Xe.com, ‘2,032 BRL to GBP - Convert Brazilian Reais to British Pounds’, 2 December 2024 ↩

64. Xe.com, ‘2,040 BRL to GBP - Convert Brazilian Reais to British Pounds’, 2 December 2024 ↩

65. Reuters, ‘Brazil creates more formal jobs than expected in September’, 30 October 2023 ↩

66. BTI, ‘Methodology’. no date ↩

67. BTI, ‘2024 Country Report - Brazil’ (page 2), 19 March 2024 ↩

68. BTI, ‘2024 Country Report - Brazil’ (page 26), 19 March 2024 ↩

69. Trading Economics, ‘About us’, no date ↩

70. Xe.com, ‘31151 BRL to GBP - Convert Brazilian Reais to British Pounds’, 2 December 2024 ↩

71. Trading Economics, ‘Brazil Unemployment Rate’, 2024 ↩

72. MercoPress, ‘About MercoPress’, no date ↩

73. MercoPress, ‘Brazil: Unemployment reaches 7.9% in Q1’, 1 May 2024 ↩

74. Xe.com, ‘2,081.5 BRL to GBP - Convert Brazilian Reais to British Pounds’, 2 December 2024 ↩

75. MercoPress, ‘Brazil: Unemployment reaches 7.9% in 01’, 1 May 2024 ↩

76. The Brazilian Report, ‘Our team’, no date ↩

77. The Brazilian Report,‘… job market remains strong despite unemployment uptick’, 30 April 2024 ↩

78. UN OHCHR, ‘Common core document… reports of States parties’ (pages 25, 26), 6 August 2020 ↩

79. Xe.com, ‘600 BRL to GBP - Convert Brazilian Reais to British Pounds’, 2 December 2024 ↩

80. Xe.com, ‘150 BRL to GBP - Convert Brazilian Reais to British Pounds’, 2 December 2024 ↩

81. BTI, ‘2024 Country Report - Brazil’ (pages 24, 25), 19 March 2024 ↩

82. Xe.com, ‘200 BRL to GBP - Convert Brazilian Reais to British Pounds’, 2 December 2024 ↩

83. ECLAC, ‘Non-contributory Social Protection Programmes Database: Latin America and …’, nodate ↩

84. IMF, ‘Strengthening Income Stabilization through Social Protection in …’ (page 14), 8 March 2024 ↩

85. Xe.com, ‘737 BRL to GBP - Convert Brazilian Reais to British Pounds’, 2 December 2024 ↩

86. WB, ‘Food Insecurity and Food Inflation in Brazil’, 19 June 2023 ↩

87. AI, ‘The State of the World’s Human Rights: Brazil 2023’, 24 April 2024 ↩

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89. IBGE, ‘Food security in Brazilian households increases in 2023’, 25 April 2024 ↩

90. IBGE, ‘Food security in Brazilian households increases in 2023’, 25 April 2024 ↩

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92. MercoPress, ‘Brazil: Lula signs into law bill on housing for the poorest’, 14 July 2023 ↩

93. Xe.com, ‘2,640 BRL to GBP - Convert Brazilian Reais to British Pounds’, 2 December 2024 ↩

94. Xe.com, ‘1,800 BRL to GBP - Convert Brazilian Reais to British Pounds’, 2 December 2024 ↩

95. Brazilian government, SoSC, ‘Brazil’s Minha Casa, Minha Vida program is back, …’, 20 May 2024 ↩

96. Xe.com, ‘170,000 BRL to GBP - Convert Brazilian Reais to British Pounds’, 2 December 2024 ↩

97. Xe.com, ‘350,000 BRL to GBP - Convert Brazilian Reais to British Pounds’, 2 December 2024 ↩

98. MercoPress, ‘Brazil: Lula signs into law bill on housing for the poorest’, 14 July 2023 ↩

99. IBGE, ‘Privately-owned housing units are the majority…’, 6 December 2023 ↩

100. Gerson Relocation, ‘About Gerson Relocation’, no date ↩

101. Gerson Relocation, ‘Guide to Cost of Living in Brazil’, 7 November 2023 ↩

102. Gerson Relocation, ‘Guide to Cost of Living in Brazil’, 7 November 2023 ↩

103. Xe.com, ‘1 USD to GBP - Convert US Dollars to British Pounds’, 2 December 2024 ↩

104. Global Citizen Solutions, The Cost of Living in Brazil’, 16 June 2024 ↩

105. Global Citizen Solutions, ‘The Cost of Living in Brazil’, 16 June 2024 ↩

106. Al, ‘The State of the World’s Human Rights; Brazil 2023’, 24 April 2024 ↩

107. HRW, ‘World Report 2024 - Brazil’, 12 January 2024 ↩

108. HRW, ‘World Report 2024 - Brazil’, 12 January 2024 ↩

109. EIB, ‘Fairness in the favelas’, 30 March 2023 ↩

110. Statista, ‘About us’, no date ↩

111. Statista, ‘Number of households in Brazil from 2012 to 2022, by gender of .. .’, 3 November 2023 ↩

112. The World Bank, ‘Access to electricity(% of population) - Brazil’, 2023 ↩

113. US Department of Commerce ITA, ‘Renewable Energy Infrastructure’, 14 December 2023 ↩

114. Water.org, ‘About Us’, no date ↩

115. Water.org, ‘Brazil’s water and sanitation crisis’, no date ↩

116. WHO/UNICEF JMP, ‘Homepage’, no date ↩

117. The World Bank, ‘Children and Youth-Brazil’s Invisible Victims of Inequitable .. .’, 25August 2020 ↩

118. USSD, ‘2023 Country Report on Human Rights Practices: Brazil’ (section 6), 23 April 2024 ↩

119. IWA, ‘About us’, no date ↩

120. IWA, The New Legal Framework for Water and Sanitation Services in Brazil and …’, 17 April 2024 ↩

121. FH, ‘Freedom in the World 2024 - Brazil’ (F4), 24 April 2024 ↩

122. OECD, ‘OECD Reviews of Health Systems: Brazil 2021’ (pages 19, 29, 70), 14 December 2021 ↩

123. The Commonwealth Fund, ‘About Us’, no date ↩

124. The Commonwealth Fund, ‘Brazil’, 5 June 2020 ↩

125. US Department of Commerce ITA, ‘Healthcare’, 4 December 2023 ↩

126. BTI, ‘2024 Country Report- Brazil’ (page 24), 19 March 2024 ↩

127. The Commonwealth Fund, ‘Brazil’, 5 June 2020 ↩

128. US Department of Commerce ITA, ‘Healthcare’, 4 December 2023 ↩

129. UK FCDO, ‘Foreign travel advice: Brazil’ (Health), 28 June 2024 ↩

130. NHS England, Guide to NHS waiting times in England’, 2 December 2019 ↩

131. The Commonwealth Fund, ‘Brazil’, 5 June 2020 ↩

132. OECD, ‘OECD Reviews of Health Systems: Brazil 2021’ (page 18), 14 December 2021 ↩

133. UN CEDAW, ‘Concluding observations…’ (page 11), 6 April 2024 ↩

134. AI, The State of the World’s Human Rights: Brazil 2023’, 24 April 2024 ↩

135. Xe.com, ‘2.15 USO to GBP - Convert USDollars to British Pounds’, 2 December 2024 ↩

136. WB, ‘Nine key facts about poverty and inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean’, 2 July 2024 ↩

137. The Borgen Project, ‘Reforming Brazil’s Education System’, 22 November 2022 ↩

138. Xe.com, ‘146,700poo,ooo BRL to GBP - Convert Brazilian Reais…’, 2 December 2024 ↩

139. Xe.com, ‘130100010001000 BRL to GBP - Convert Brazilian Reais…’, 2 December 2024 ↩

140. Xe.com, ‘118,400,000,000 BRL to GBP - Convert Brazilian Reais…’, 2 December 2024 ↩

141. BTI, ‘2024 Country Report - Brazil’ (page 28), 19 March 2024 ↩

142. AI, The State of the World’s Human Rights; Brazil 2023’, 24 April 2024 ↩

143. US Department of Labor, ‘Child Labor and Forced Labor Reports: Brazil,’ 5 September 2024 ↩

144. HRW, ‘World Report 2024 - Brazil.’ 12 January 2024 ↩

145. FH, ‘Freedom in the World 2024 - Brazil’ (F4), 24 April 2024 ↩

146. Encyclopedia Britannica, “‘Brazil”’, 24 June 2024 ↩

147. Encyclopedia Britannica, “‘Brazil”’, 24 June 2024 ↩

148. BTI, ‘2024 Country Report - Brazil’ (page 28), 19 March 2024 ↩

149. OECD, ‘Brazil: Overview of the education system (EAG 2024)’, 2024 ↩

150. OSAC, ‘Brazil Country Security Report 2023’, 18 July 2023 ↩

151. ACLED, ‘About ACLED’, no date ↩

152. ACLED, ‘Deadly Rio de Janeiro: Armed Violence and the Civilian Burden’, 14 February 2023 ↩

153. USSD, ‘2023 Country Report on Human Rights Practices: Brazil’ (section 6), 23 April 2024 ↩

154. Global Organized Crime Index, ‘About the Index’, no date ↩

155. Global Organised Crime Index, ‘Brazil profile’ (People), 2023 ↩

156. BTI, ‘2024 Country Report - Brazil’ (pages 6, 7), 19 March 2024 ↩

157. USSD, ‘2024 Trafficking in Persons Report’, 24 June 2024 ↩

158. USSD, ‘2024 Trafficking in Persons Report: Brazil’, 24 June 2024 ↩

159. FBSP, ‘About Us’, no date ↩

160. University of Sao Paulo, ‘Violence Monitor’, no date ↩

161. G1, ‘…RJ registers more murders than SP; see the rankings of the states’, 12 March 2024 ↩

162. Global Organised Crime Index, ‘Brazil profile’ (Criminal Actors), 2023 ↩

163. BTI, ‘2024 Country Report - Brazil’ (page 6), 19 March 2024 ↩

164. Global Organised Crime Index, ‘Brazil profile’ (Criminal justice and security), 2023 ↩

165. USSD, ‘2023 Country Report on Human Rights Practices: Brazil’ (section 1A), 23 April 2024 ↩

166. BTI, ‘2024 Country Report - Brazil’ (page 6), 19 March 2024 ↩

167. FH, ‘Freedom in the World 2024 - Brazil’ (F3), 24 April 2024 ↩

168. Amnesty International, ‘Open letter to the heads of state of American states…’, 24 June 2024 ↩

169. Global Organised Crime Index, ‘Brazil profile’ (Civil society and social protection), 2023 ↩

170. ACLED, ‘Deadly Rio de Janeiro: Armed Violence and the Civilian Burden’, 14 February 2023 ↩

171. The Guardian, ‘Brazil: Lula deploys troops to ports and airports…’, 6 November 2023 ↩

172. USSD, ‘2024 Trafficking in Persons Report: Brazil’, 24 June 2024 ↩

173. BTI, ‘2024 Country Report - Brazil’ (page 6), 19 March 2024 ↩

174. Constitute, ‘Brazil’s Constitution of 1988 with Amendments through …’ (page 8), 19 October 2023 ↩

175. USSD, ‘2023 Country Report on Human Rights Practices: Brazil’ (section 2D), 23 April 2024 ↩

176. FH, ‘Freedom in the World 2024 – Brazil’ (G1), 24 April 2024 ↩

177. AI, ‘The State of the World’s Human Rights; Brazil 2023’, 24 April 2024 ↩

178. Encyclopedia Britannica, ‘Transamazonian highway’, 17 May 2023 ↩

179. WTG, ‘About Us’, no date ↩

180. The World Travel Guide (WTG), ‘Getting Around Brazil’, no date ↩

181. The World Travel Guide (WTG), ‘Getting Around Brazil’, no date ↩

182. The Rio Times, ‘About’, no date ↩

183. The Rio Times, ‘Brazil’s Urban Railways Grow by 17% in Ten Years’, 18 November 2023 ↩

184. The World Travel Guide (WTG), ‘Getting Around Brazil’, no date ↩

185. KPMG, ‘About’, no date ↩

186. KPMG, ‘Brazil - New Identity Card and Passport Models’, 13 July 2022 ↩

187. Forbes, ‘Brazil Develops Blockchain Network To Support ID Rollout’, 27 September 2023 ↩

188. Exame, ‘Institutional’, no date ↩

189. Exame, ‘National Identity Card: how to issue and what the new digital ID is for’, 14 June 2024 ↩

190. KPMG, ‘Brazil - New Identity Card and Passport Models’, 13 July 2022 ↩

191. UOL, ‘Homepage’, no date ↩

192. UOL, ‘New passport begins to be issued today; check out what changes…’, 10 March 2023 ↩

193. Hibiscus Initiatives, ‘Field Trip to Brazil 2020’ (page 3), 2021 ↩

194. Hibiscus Initiatives, ‘Field Trip to Brazil 2020’ (pages 3, 17, 21), 2021 ↩

195. IFRC, ‘Operation Update: Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul IFloods’ (page 1), 4 July 2024 ↩

196. IFRC, ‘Operation Update: Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul IFloods’, 4 July 2024 ↩

197. OCHA, ‘Brazil: Floods in Rio Grande do Sul…’ (pages 1, 3, 4, 7), 26 June 2024 ↩

198. UNHCR, ‘The Global Compact on Refugees’, no date ↩

199. Global Compact on Refugees, ‘Brazil’, no date ↩

200. ACAPS, ‘Who we are’, no date ↩

201. ACAPS, ‘Country analysis: Brazil’, no date ↩

202. ACAPS, ‘Country analysis: Brazil’, no date ↩