By FERNANDO NOGUEIRA DA COSTA*
Income and wealth inequality is insurmountable, however, educational inequality can be alleviated by leveling up, reducing the first
The Human Development Index (HDI) is a composite measure to assess a country's development in three main areas: health (life expectancy at birth), education (average years of study and expected years of schooling) and income (Gross Domestic Product per capita).
Quality and access to education are crucial because they irreversibly change the context for human development. Investments in school infrastructure, teacher training and inclusion policies raise the educational level of the population. “Human capital” is the individual’s earning capacity.
Access to quality health services directly impacts life expectancy and overall well-being. Public health programs, basic sanitation and vaccination campaigns are examples of initiatives capable of improving health indicators.
Income level influences access to essential goods and services. Job creation policies, increases in the minimum wage and reduction of social inequalities contribute to increasing the average income of the population.
Brazil’s HDI has evolved slowly and gradually over the decades, reflecting the impacts of economic and social policies in different periods. During the military regime (1964-1985), Brazil experienced economic growth that was touted as an “economic miracle,” but with income concentration and increased social inequalities. In 1970, at the height of the “miracle,” Brazil’s HDI was 0,462, considered “very low,” similar to the current HDI of Guinea in West Africa.
With the return to democracy, there was a greater focus on social policies, resulting in gradual improvements in the HDI. However, the neoliberal era (1990-2002) was marked by economic reforms with absolute priority on stabilizing inflation and opening the market to globalization. Although inflation was relatively controlled, income growth was low and neoliberal policies also resulted in increased social inequality, urban violence, increased poverty and precarious employment.
In the 2003st century, Brazil's Human Development Index (HDI) increased between 2022 and 2015, despite falling in 2020, 2021 and 19 due to economic depressions. The COVID-2020 pandemic and the resulting social distancing in 2021 and XNUMX contributed to the decline in the HDI, including due to the decline in life expectancy due to the denialism of the far-right military president and the ineffectiveness of neoliberal economic policy.
The HDI ranges from 0 to 1: the closer to 1, the greater the country's human development. It is published by the UNDP in its annual report.
In 2019, Brazil's HDI was 0,765, but with the government of a man unqualified for the position, the country fell two positions in the international ranking. In 2020, Brazil's HDI plummeted to 0,758 and, in 2021, even further: 0,754.
However, in 2022, right-wing populism decided to resume social policy for electoral reasons – and Brazil's HDI returned to 0,760 in the “high human development” category. Between 1990 and 2022, Brazil's HDI grew by 22,6%.
Despite this, Brazil fell two positions in the UN's global ranking, going from 87th to 89th place, among 193 nations. Worse still, Brazil is the ninth most unequal country in the world in terms of income distribution, according to the UNDP.
There was a reduction in funding for social policies in Brazil until 2022. The result of the dismantling of public policies in Brazil, from the 2016 coup until 2022, was the worsening of the living conditions of the Brazilian population. This was reflected in the HDI.
However, given the advances in social developmentalism and the setbacks in right-wing populist neoliberalism, it is necessary not to focus solely on economic or political fluctuations in the current situation, but to assess long-term performance. Is there a historical trend capable of improving the living conditions of the majority of the Brazilian population?
Yes, regarding the fundamental variable of education. The 2022 Demographic Census shows the evolution of the population's level of education. In 2022, among the Brazilian population aged 25 or over, 35,2% had the level of education “no education and incomplete primary education”, 14% had the level of “complete primary education and incomplete secondary education”, 32,3% had the level of “complete secondary education and incomplete higher education” and 18,4% had the level of “complete higher education”. This is relatively low in the world.
However, a comparison with previous demographic censuses shows a very significant evolution of these indicators. In 2000, at the beginning of the 63,2st century, 25% of the Brazilian population aged 6,8 or over had “no education or incomplete primary education” and only 2022% had completed higher education – a proportion almost three times lower than that seen in XNUMX.
The increase in the population's level of education between the 2000 and 2022 census operations occurred in all major regions and in all units of the Federation. In 2022, the largest proportion of the population aged 25 or over with a higher education degree was in the Central-West region (21,8%), due to the Federal District with 37% (a large advantage over the second-placed state, São Paulo, with 23,3%), and the smallest was in the Northeast region (13%).
In 2000, the proportion of the white population aged 25 or over with higher education (9,9%) was more than four times higher than that found in the population of people of color or mixed race (2,4%) and black (2,1%). In 22 years, these proportions rose 15,9 percentage points for people of color or mixed race, 9,9 percentage points for people of color or mixed race and 9,6 percentage points for people of color or mixed race. The multiples fell to double.
Among the population living in Brazil aged 25 or over, women have an average of 9,8 years of schooling higher than that of men (9,3 years). The difference in the average number of years of schooling in favor of women is wider among the population aged up to 49 years, declining in the older age groups.
In the population aged 80 or over, men have an average of slightly higher years of schooling (4,9 years) than women (4,8 years). Thanks to feminism and the inclusion of women in the job market, this notable change in educational attainment by gender and age has occurred.
Among the 10 general areas in the classification of professions, the most common general area among people with a completed undergraduate degree was the area of “Business, administration and law”. The 2022 Census identified 8.408.722 people with a completed undergraduate degree in this general area: almost 1/3 of the total. Next come the general areas of “Health and well-being” (4.146.840 people), “Education” (3.601.124 people), “Engineering, production and construction” (2.371.066 people), “Arts and humanities” (1.921.753 people), “Social sciences, communication and information” (1.754.239 people), “Natural sciences, mathematics and statistics” (960.347 people), Computing and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) (817.628 people), “Agriculture, forestry, fisheries and veterinary medicine” (536.708 people). The general area with the lowest number of people with a completed undergraduate degree was “Services” (499.370 people).
Where do these 23,5 million professionals with higher education work?a active life (9% of graduates are over 65 years old)? The preliminary results of the 2022 Census do not yet provide information, but we can hypothesize, through data from PNADC-Jan 2025 on the average real monthly income of employed people, that they are mainly among the 3,5 million employers with CNPJ (R$ 8.917), the 8 million military personnel and statutory public servants (R$ 5.973) and especially among the 6,8 million self-employed workers “pejotizados”, that is, with CNPJ (R$ 4.689).
In 2024, the usual real income of workers with a higher education degree was R$6.619, according to IBRE-FGV. For public school teachers with a bachelor's degree, the national starting salary floor is R$2.900. In the private school system, salaries for teachers range from R$2.500 to R$5.000, depending on the institution and region. University professors in public institutions with a master's or doctorate degree earn salaries above R$13.000. This depends on several factors, such as area of activity, experience, and geographic location.
According to RAIS 2023, referring to the formal job market, according to level of education, the average salaries were R$2.650,00 for complete elementary education, R$2.791,24 for complete secondary education, and R$8.144,25 for complete higher education.
In the groups of economic activities, the average salaries in the Extractive Industries (including Petrobras and Vale) stood out at R$8.961 and Electricity and Gas (concessionaires requiring technical knowledge) at R$9.570, in Financial and Insurance Activities at R$9.023, International and Extraterritorial Organizations at R$8.733, Information and Communication at R$6.415, Public Administration, Defense and Social Security at R$6.053.
Income and wealth inequality is insurmountable, but educational inequality can be reduced by leveling up. It will decrease.
*Fernando Nogueira da Costa He is a full professor at the Institute of Economics at Unicamp. Author, among other books, of Brazil of banks (EDUSP). [https://amzn.to/4dvKtBb]
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