Around 35% of the old-aged in the municipalities up to 20 thousand inhabitants contribute with 30 to 50% of the household monthly income, while in the municipalities over 500 thousand this percentage is 17%. In the whole Country, 27% of the old-aged are responsible for more than 90% of the household income. These data can be found in the "Social Municipal Indicators – an analysis of the results of the sample of the Demographic Census 2000", which the IBGE is publishing now. The new publication contains information about demographic aspects, color, education, labor market and housing units disaggregated among the 5,560 Brazilian municipalities.

In 2000, in Brazil, 66.8% of the persons of 60 years old and over were retired and 11.2% were pensioners. The proportion of old-aged retired diminished as the population size of the municipalities increased, while with the pensioners the opposite was observed. In the municipalities up to 5 thousand inhabitants the percentage of retired persons was 76.9% and of the pensioners was 7.4%. Regarding those municipalities with more than 500 thousand inhabitants the percentages were 59.8% for the retired and 13.9% for the pensioners.

According to the study, the major occurrence of retired persons in the smaller municipalities is probably related to the widespread of the social security benefits that happened during the nineties. Since these smaller municipalities are mainly rural, the old-aged that live there could benefit themselves from the Assistance Program of the Rural Worker /Assistance and Social Security Fund of the Rural Worker (PRORURAL/FUNRURAL), which assisted farmers, fishermen and prospectors. Regarding the biggest municipalities, where prevail urban occupations and a more formal labor market, the period of contribution for social security may be an important factor that explains the lower percentage of retired persons and pensioners.

In the smaller municipalities, almost 40% of the housing units have a high degree of vulnerability

In Brazil, 22.1% of the housing units had, in 2000, a major degree of vulnerability. This degree is measured by an indicator that considers three main aspects: household income up to 1/2 minimum wage per capita (minimum wage equals to R$ 260.00), responsible person with less than four years of study and the presence of children up to 14 years old. The proportion inclines to be higher in the less populated municipalities, reaching 39.2% in those that have between 10.001 to 20.000 inhabitants and is less expressive in the more populated municipalities.

When we observe only the indicator of household income per capita, according to the Demographic Census, 26.7% of the Brazilian housing units had up to 1/2 minimum wage, in contrast to 28.4% which had income above to 2 minimum wages. In the municipalities with up to 20 thousand inhabitants, it was observed a higher importance of the housing units with household income per capita up to 1/2 minimum wage, ranging between 37% and 42%. Regarding the housing units with income above 2 minimum wages, the variations according to the size were still more significant: from 13.2% in the municipalities up to 5 thousand inhabitants to 44.0% in the municipalities with population above 500 thousand inhabitants (see graph 4 of publication).

Percentage of employees with a formal contract ranges from 18% to 44%, according to the size of the municipalities

The situation in the labor market also changes considerably according to the groups of the population size in the municipalities. In 2000, the employees represented more than half of the employed population (52.9%), but this percentage ranged from 39.4% in the smaller municipalities to 59.7% in the bigger municipalities (see table 13 in publication). In this category, the same happened in the separation of those with and without a formal contract. While in the municipalities with population up to 5 thousand inhabitants and between 5001 to 10 thousand inhabitants, those with a formal contract represented, respectively, 18.3% and 18.6% of the employees, in the municipalities with more than 500 thousand inhabitants this percentage amounted to 44.1%.

In the second more frequent category, the self-employed workers, there was a small variation in the population size: participation of 27.7% in the smaller municipalities and 21.0% in the bigger municipalities. The proportion of employed persons without income, by its way, falls significantly as increases the group of population size, representing 1.4% in the municipalities with more than 500 thousand inhabitants and around 19% in those up to 10 thousand inhabitants. Regarding the analysis of the publication, this is observed, partly, because of the more rural profile of these municipalities, which have more family enterprises. This also explains the major employment of children and youth in these places. In the municipalities of smaller population size, the level of employment of the persons from 10 to 17 years old reaches 22.5% against 8.4% in the more populated municipalities. The group of elders of 60 years old and over also presented a higher proportion of employed persons in the smaller municipalities.

Regarding the contribution to social security there wasn’t observed any big difference by population size in the municipalities, but a significant difference was observed regionally. The North Region presented the lowest percentage of employed contributors (29.3%) and the Central West Region, the highest (64.1%). In the South, this percentage was 60.5%; in the Southeast, 50.2%; in the Northeast 37.0%. In Brazil, entirely, 51.5% of the employed population contributed to social security.

Functional illiteracy reaches 40% of the smaller municipalities

In 2000, the occurrence of functional illiteracy, which refers to the proportion of persons with less than 4 completed years of study, was more intense in the municipalities of smaller population size. It was 39.0% in those with up to 5 thousand inhabitants, reached 43.5% in the municipalities with population from 10,001 to 20 thousand inhabitants, and fell to 15.6% in the more populated municipalities.

In relation to school lagging, the situation in the less populated municipalities is unfavorable. With 14 years old, for example, the average years of study should be equivalent to 8 years, which is the period necessary for the conclusion of the elementary instruction according to the age-series adjustment of the Brazilian educational system. This average, nevertheless, was only attained with 18 years old in the Southeast and South of Brazil. In the smaller municipalities, with 14 years old, the average of years of study varied from 4.4 to 4.9 against 5.5 and 5.6 in the municipalities with more than 100 thousand inhabitants.