The Summary of Social Indicators 2007 –An Analysis of Life Conditions of the Brazilian Population – shows that the gross rates of school attendance of some age groups had very significant relative increase from 1996 to 2006.

The Summary of Social Indicators 2007 – An Analysis of Life Conditions of the Brazilian Population – shows that the gross rates of school attendance of some age groups had very significant relative increase from 1996 to 2006. For children aged 0-3 years, the percentages doubled in this period, from 7.4% to 15.5%. In the second age group, of children aged 4-6 years, the rates changed from 53.8% to 76.0%, that is, they were over 40% up. Besides, the delay of students in elementary school fell by 41.6% in ten years.In terms of higher education, the survey shows that, in 2006, 76.4% of the students attended private universities, and only 23.6% were enrolled in public institutions. Nevertheless, over half of the students who received higher education in public institutions (54.3%) belonged to the richest 20% of the population. The IBGE survey also reveals that the income of families exerts a major influence in the access of children and youngsters to education and in their permanence at school. In the poorest families, only 9.9% of the children up to 3 years of age attended day care centers, in 2006. In ten years, the number of working children aged 10-15 years fell from 3.6 million to 2.5 million. However, the survey found 235 thousand children aged 10-17 who declared to work in the streets. In another age group, 14.6 million among the 19.0 million persons aged 60 years of age or over, that is, 76.6%, received benefits from Social Security. Rio de Janeiro had the highest number of persons aged 60 years of age or over (14%) in relation to the overall population; another highlight, in this case, was the presence among the elderly of 66 men for each group of 100 women at the same age. Also, from 1996 to 2006, the number of women who declared to be the reference person of the family increased from 10.3 million to 18.5 million all over the country. The employment rate of children was higher in families headed by women: 44.1%, versus 40.3% in families headed by men. These are some of the results of the Summary of Social Indicators 2007, which is mainly formed by data from the National Household Sample Survey (PNAD) and contains specific chapters on: Education, Households, Families, Marriages, Judicial Separations and Divorces, Color, Women, Elderly Persons, Teenagers and Youngsters.

 

Delay in elementary school fell by 41.6% in ten years

In 2006, the gross rates for school attendance of some age groups had very significant relative increase, compared to 1996. For children aged 0-3, the percentages doubled in this period, having changed from 7.4% to 15.5%. In the age group of children aged 4-6, rates changed from 53.8% to 76.0%, an increase of over 40%. 

School attendance for the group aged 7-14 years was almost universal in 2006 (97.6%); there were no striking differences concerning sex or color. The scenario was less favorable, however, for teenagers aged 15-17, who are expected to be in high-school. Even considering the increase of access to school of this group from 69.5% to 82.2%, between 1996 and 2006, the net school attendance rate¹ in 2006 did not reach half of the population segment – it was 47.1%. In the North and Northeast Regions, there were states in which this percentage was lower than 30%, for example, in Pará (28.4%) and Alagoas (25.4%).

From 1996 to 2006, there was satisfactory reduction of school delay in elementary school, especially due to the implementation of a system of continuous progression (automatic approval) in elementary school. The choice of this system depends on a decision made by each city government, but, according to the Anísio Teixeira National Institute of Education Studies and Researches (Inep), it is already in effect in 10% of the Brazilian education institutions. About 25.7% of the students in elementary school were late in the correlation age/school year in 2006, that is, about 8.3 million in a total of 32.5 million students. In 1996, this rate was 43.9%, resulting in decrease of 41.6% in the period.

Among the Major Regions, the highest delay rate in elementary school was registered in the Northeast, 37.9%; the lowest one, in the South (15.5%). Between 1996 and 2006, the major decrease of the rate (51.0%) was that in the Southeast Region. Among the metropolitan areas, Salvador had, in 2006, the highest delay rate (33.1%); São Paulo had the lowest one (9.8%), having faced significant reduction from 1996 to 2006 (63.0%). The decrease in the rate of the metropolitan area of Belo Horizonte in this period was also significant (62.1%).     

School delay is highest in the final years of elementary school. In 2006, while in the first four school years the delay rate was about 20.7%, in the last four ones it reached 31.4%. The Northeast had the highest rates for both segments: 31.2% for the first and 46.0% for the second one. The South had the lowest rates: 11.3% and 20.0%, respectively.

The delay is reflected in the average waiting period for the conclusion of the study cycles. In 2006, according to data from INEP, it used to take someone, on average, five years to finish the fourth grade and 10 years to finish the eighth grade. Also according to INEP, the estimate was that 87.5% of the students would finish the fourth grade of elementary school, a percentage which is much lower when the eighth grade is considered (53.8%).

The preference of Brazilian students for the private education system has increased. In 2006, 76.4% of the students attended private universities, whereas only 23.6% were in public institutions. However, over half of the students who attended high school in public schools (54.3%) belonged to the 20% richest population members.

 

Adult education (literacy classes and others) benefits 2.5 million students

In Brazil, illiteracy reaches 14.4 million persons at 15 years of age or over and is concentrated in the lowest social classes, in rural areas, especially in the Northeast, among the oldest, black and brown ones. On the other hand, it is important to notice that between 1996 and 2006, the percentage of youngsters aged 15-24 years of age was very reduced and reached 5.8%.  

Literacy courses and adult education in general (including elementary and high school) benefited, in 2006, about 2.5 million persons aged over 15 years, among whom about 40% lived in the Southeast Region. The highest attendance rate occurred in elementary adult education (35.8%), followed by adult high school (33.3%) and, finally, by adult illiteracy courses (30.9%). Only 6.6% of these students were older than 60. Black and brown persons were the majority (59.5%) in relation to the white ones (39.9%) – it is worth mentioning that in the distribution of the population as a whole, whites totaled almost 50%, and blacks and browns, 49%.

At the same time, although it is still low, the average number of years of schooling has improved year after year. From 1996 to 2006, this average changed from 5.7 to 7.2 years of schooling for people aged 15 or over, which represents increase of only 1.5 year in the period.

Considering the different age groups, however, it is possible to notice significant increase. The average number of years of schooling for children aged 11 years was 3.4 in 2006, compared to 2.6 years in 1996. At this age, the child is expected to have finished 4 years of schooling.

Regarding youngsters aged 15 years or over, who should have completed 8 years of schooling, the average was 6.5 years of schooling in 2006, contrasting with 5.2 years in 1996.  The average figure of 8.5 years represents the conclusion of the first eight years of elementary school, which was only reached in 1996 by the population aged 18 years or over – in 2006.

In 2006, the average number of years of schooling increased gradually up to the group aged 20-24 years, when the average reached its peak, 9.1 years. In the group aged 25-59 years, the average fell once more (7.4 years) and among the population 60 years of age or over, it was 3.8 years of schooling. In the group aged 10-16, the dwellers of the South Region had the highest average of years of schooling; in the groups aged 17 years on, the Southeast had the highest averages.        

There was a higher average of years of schooling for persons who were among the richest 20% in terms of distribution of income in the country. Whereas in the first fifth part of the population (the poorest 20%), the average was 3.9 years of schooling, for the last fifth part (the richest 20%), it was 10.2 years. In the Northeast Region, the average number of years of schooling for persons in the first group was only 2.9 years; in the Southeast it was 5.0. Among the richest 20% in the Northeast, the average was 8.1 years, versus 10.8 years for the same category in the Southeast.

 

Illiteracy rate of blacks and browns is more than twice as that of white persons

In terms of the population distribution by ethnic groups, the data of 2006 seem to corroborate the trends expected for the decade, with small increase of the participation of the black population (6.9%) and with slight decrease of the white (49.7%) and brown population (42.6%). Among the social indicators for the white group, on the one hand, and of blacks and browns, on the other, both can be considered highlights: the indicators which refers to education and the ones which refers to economic participation.

In terms of education, illiteracy, functional illiteracy and school attendance rates remain presenting significant differences. In absolute figures, in 2006, among 14.4 million of illiterate Brazilians, over 10 million were black or brown. Illiteracy rates for the population aged 15 years of age or over were 6.5% for whites and twice as much, 14%, for blacks and browns.  

Functional illiteracy rate was also much lower for whites (16.4%) than for blacks (27.5%) and browns (28.6%). The average number of years of schooling for the population 15 years of age or over showed there was advantage of 2 years for whites (8.1 years of schooling) in relation to blacks and browns (6.2 years). The distribution by color or race of those who attended school aged 18 to 24 years showed significant differences: whereas 56% of the white persons in this age group were higher education students, among blacks and browns this percentage was 22%.  In 1996, this distribution of students in this age group was 30.2% for whites and 7.1% for blacks and browns. These results show improvement for both segments in relation to the delay between the age and the course attended.

A consequence of these differences can be observed between persons 25 years of age or over who had 15 or more years of schooling, that is, who had received complete higher education. In Brazil, in 2006, only 8.6% of the population had this level of schooling, and, in this group, 78% were whites, 3.3% blacks and 16.5% were brown. Over 12% of the white persons had finished higher education, whereas the participation of blacks and browns did not reach 4%.

 

White persons earned, on average, 40% more than blacks or browns with the same level of schooling

The average income of blacks and browns was always lower than that of white persons. Even when the income per hour according to groups of study is considered, differences remain. The income per hour of whites was, on average, 40% higher than that of blacks and browns for the same group of schooling level.

In terms of the participation in the appropriation of national revenue, the distribution between the poorest 10% and the richest 1% showed that, among white persons were, in 2006, 26.1% of the poorest ones; in higher classes, whites represented about 86%. On the other hand, blacks and browns totaled 73% among the poorest persons and a little more than 12% among the richest ones. There was unevenness in all the Regions surveyed.

 

Only 7.4% of the children in the poorest families attended day-care centers

The survey also showed that the income of families affected the access and permanence of the 48.4 million children and teenagers up to 14 years of age in school. Most families (40.4%) with children and teenagers in this age group were, in 2006, among the poorest ones in the country, with monthly income per capita of up to ½ of a minimum wage. This situation is most worrying in the Northeast Region, where families with children up to 14 years of age were in the group with lower income, as a result of the combination of higher fertility and a higher level of poverty. In Alagoas (69.2%), Ceará (67.6%) and Piauí (99%), most families with children and teenagers belonged to a lower income group, whereas in Santa Catarina only 16.6% of the families were in this situation.

In these poorest families, only 9.9% of the children aged 0-3 years attended day-care centers, probably due to the lower supply of places in public day-care centers. Considering families with monthly income per capita of over three minimum wages, the access to this service and to pre-school increased to 40.7% of the children. This percentage was 15.5% for the overall numbers of families. Although still reduced, the percentage of children in day-care centers doubled in almost 10 years, since it was 7.4% in 1996. As for the access of children aged 4-6, in poorest families to pre-school, the percentage was 68.1%, whereas in families which received over 3 minimum wages per capita, access was universal, being about 95% in all the Regions.

The income of families had a major influence in the beginning of the school life of children (day-care and pre-school) and in high-school (15-17 years of age); it was less significant in elementary school (6-14 years of age), which is compulsory and is virtually universal. Among the poorest 20%, 72.7% were enrolled in high school, whereas among the richest 20%, a total of 93.6% were. When the percentage of youngsters aged 18-24 years were studying is considered, the percentage in the richest families is almost twice as that in the poorest families (24.6%).

Over half (50.6%) of the youngsters between 18 and 19 years of age worked, and only 20% of this group combined work and study. The percentage of working youngsters in this age group (60.8%) was above the percentage of men (40.5%). A total of 17.2% of the youngsters dedicated themselves to household tasks. In the group aged 20-24 years, 64.4% worked, and only 14.7% worked and studied. Over half (54.5%) of the working youngsters between 16 (the minimum working age in the country) and 24 years of age received up to one minimum wage and worked a total of 40–44 hours per week.

 

Agricultural establishments in the Northeast concentrate child labor

Illegal child labor, predominantly rural, was concentrated in the Northeast Region. Among the 2.7 million workers between 5 and 15 years, 1.4 million were in agricultural activity and approximately 776 thousand in agriculture came from the Northeast Region. In the group aged 5–9 years, there were 237 thousand. The percentages of child labor showed improvement in the last decade. The number of working children aged 10-15 years fell by 4.2 million, in 1996, to 2.5 million, in 2006. In the group aged 10-17, the Summary shows that 235 thousand children and teenagers worked in the streets. Among youngsters aged 16-17, labor is predominantly non-agricultural, representing 72.2% of the total (1,7 million) and is concentrated in the Southeast Region (757 thousand).

 

Over 80% of the elderly aged 65 years of age or over receive benefits from social security

The aging process of the Brazilian population demanded attention from the State, in relation to social security and health matters, as well as from families, which will have to take responsibility for the welfare of these people. Of the 19 million persons aged 60 years of age or over, 14.6 million (76.6%) received benefits from social security. In terms of elderly persons aged 65 or over, this percentage rises to 84.6%. In the areas with a higher concentration of persons in this age group, the matters relative to aging become priorities, as, for example in São Paulo (2,.1 million), which concentrated, in 2006, 45% of the persons aged 65 or over. Rio de Janeiro had the higher proportion of elderly persons (14%) in relation to the overall population, and was the highlight for having 66 men for each 100 women, in this age group.

Working elderly persons aged 60 years or over totaled 5.9 million (30.9%). Among them, 3.6 million were retired and worked. In the group aged 70 years or over, the percentages of employed elderly were very significant, especially in the South (25.1%) and Northeast Regions (21.9%). The main category among the elderly persons is own-account labor (40%), especially in the North and Northeast Regions, in which this percentage surpassed 45%. Own-consumption work (subsistence agriculture) was performed by 21.5% of the elderly, especially in the South (33.2%). Employers made up 7% of the elderly aged 60 or over. 

 

White elderly live longer than black or brown ones

Approximately 2.4 million elderly persons lived in poverty (earning up to ½ of a minimum wage) and represented 12.4% of all the elderly in the country. Poverty was higher, in 2006, among the elderly in the Northeast, where 23.5% of them received up to ½ of a minimum wage. The Summary revealed that most elderly (44.5%) live with their children; however, the proportion of women who live alone increased from 11.1%, in 1996, to 13.2%, in 2006.

The Summary of Social Indicators showed that a lower percentage of elderly were self-declared blacks or brown (41.6%), compared to those who declared to be white (57.2%). Among the white persons, 11.7% lived beyond 60 years, whereas among blacks and browns this percentage falls to 8.6%, reflecting the more precarious life conditions of the black and brown populations, compared to those of the white population; these results are based on social and economic differences, especially in relation to he highest mortality rates in several ethnic groups and also to the lower level of schooling.    

 

Elderly men marry more often than women in the same age group

The Summary of Social Indicators presents some data combinations based on the Civil Register Statistics of 2005, when, for example, the total number of marriages in Brazil was 835,846, that is, 3.6% higher than in 2004. Still in 2005, it was observed that, among women, the highest legal marriage rate occurred in the group aged 20-24 years (29.8‰). Men had the highest rates in the group aged 25-29 years (31.3‰).  Legal marriage rates² of women are higher only in the two younger age groups (15-19 and 20-24 years). In the other ones, the rates observed for men are, systematically, higher than those observed for women. Among individuals 60 years of age or over, legal marriage rates were 3.3‰, for men, and 0.8‰ for women, that is, elderly men marry more often than women in the same age group.

Marriage dissolutions through judicial separation in Brazil increased by 7.4%, compared to 2004, restarting, this way, a movement of gradual increase. Nevertheless, in relation to non-consensual judicial separations, 45% resulted from dishonorable behavior or violation of marriage rules and were required by the woman. For the same reasons, men wanted separation in 13.3% of the cases. Other 40% of granted non-consensual, in 2005, were based on the fact the couple was already separated.

Divorces granted in the country, in 2005, when compared to those in the pervious year increased, in the North Region, by 17.8% and in the Southeast Region, the highest increase, by 21.8%. In the Northeast, South and Central West Regions, the percentages of increase were below the national average, respectively, 15%, 5.8% and 2.9%. Besides, in divorce statistics, there is a predominance of women who are granted the guard of younger children. In 89.5% of the divorces granted in Brazil, the responsibility for the children was granted to women. The minimum level obtained was 80.6%, in Acre, and the biggest proportion, in Rio de Janeiro (94.8%).

 

The Metropolitan Area of Rio de Janeiro has 100 for each 86 men

The Brazilian population in 2006, with 187.2 million inhabitants and demographic density of 22 inhabitants/km2, was concentrated in the Southeast, South and Central West Regions, which are the ones with major social and economic development.  Together, they accounted for 120.4 million inhabitants, making up 64.3% of the Brazilian population. Only the metropolitan area of São Paulo, which is equivalent to 10.5% of the population in the country, surpassed, in absolute figures (19.7 million), any of the 26 Federative Units in the country.  

The metropolitan areas of São Paulo, Curitiba and Porto Alegre had the most balanced men/women ratio, with approximately 92 men for each 100 women. On the other hand, the metropolitan areas of Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and Recife show that, for each 100 women, there were 86 and 88.5 women.

 

Rio Grande do Sul has the lowest fertility rate in the country

Overall fertility rate (average number of children a woman would have had by the end of her fertile life) remained on a falling trend, having changed from 2.7, in 1996, to 2.0 children per woman, in 2006. The highest rate was that of Roraima (3.3), and the lowest, that of Rio Grande do Sul (1.6). Several countries, especially the European ones, have reached figures extremely below the so-called level of natural population replacement (2 children). One example is Cuba, whose rate in 2005 was 1.6 children and contrasted with Bolivia, in which the average was 3.7 children per woman. Argentina is at the same level of Brazil. The only fertility rate which increased from 2005 to 2006 was that of women aged 15-17, that is, of teenage mothers.

The increase of life expectancy at birth combined to the decrease of overall fertility levels resulted in the absolute and relative increase of the elderly population. In fact, the average life expectancy at birth in Brazil in 2006 was 72.4 years. Average life expectancy at birth increased, between 1996 and 2006, by 3.5 years; women, in this case, were in better conditions than men (the increase for women was from 72.3 to 75.8 years; for men, it was from 65.1 to 68.7 years).

 

 

Alagoas has the highest infant mortality rate

 

Infant mortality rate in Brazil remains on a falling trend, having changed from 36.9% to 25.1%, between 1996 and 2006. The improvement of housing conditions, especially the relative increase of the number of households with proper sanitation, has contributed to the reduction of infant mortality. Rio Grande do Sul was the state which had the lowest infant mortality rate (14.9‰) and Alagoas, with 51.9‰, had the highest rate in 2006.

 

 

 

There are more single-person families³ and more women who have children and do not have a spouse

 

The results of PNAD 2006 show the continuation of the trends already observed in the last 10 years – increase of the proportion of persons who live alone, of couples without children, of women who have children and do not have a spouse, and also, a reduction of the proportion of occurrence of couples with children. This phenomenon is a result of a group of factors, such as the increase of life expectancy, the reduction of fertility and of mortality rates.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Female single-parent families⁴ are the highlights in urban and metropolitan areas, in which cultural aspects provide more freedom. In the country, the average in 2006 was 18.1%, showing increase of almost 3 percentage points in relation to 1996 (15.8%). In the metropolitan areas, the proportion changed from 16.6%, in Curitiba, to 25.5%, in Recife.  

On the other hand, it is interesting to observe that there high percentages of family arrangements headed by women with a partner. The national average was 20.7%, whereas in the metropolitan areas the figures changed from 17.7%, to 30.5% in the metropolitan areas of Rio de Janeiro and Ceará, respectively. In general, the reference person is a man. Two main hypotheses can be used in order to explain the continuous increase of this type of arrangement at the moment: the increase of female power or of the unemployment of men.

 

Average number of family members remains on a falling trend

PNAD 2006 confirms the falling trend of family size, which changed from the average of 3.6 persons, in 1996, to 3.2% in 2006. In Brazil, 67.7% of the families were formed by a father, a mother and their children, regardless of the presence of other relatives. However, in 1996, this percentage was 73.3%. Considerable regional differences are observed: in the states of the North and Northeast, families with children were more common than in other Federative Units.

The so-called single person families  represented 10.7% of the total in the country, and have increased, especially due to the higher life expectancy of Brazilians in the last few years. About 40% of these units, in 2006, were used by persons over 60 years of age.

 

Half of the Brazilian families earned less than R$ 350.00

The average family income per capita, according to data from PNAD 2006, was about R$ 596.00. In half of the families, however, income was below R$ 350.00.

 

 

Considering the income of families in the group of the first four tenths of income distribution (the poorest 40%), the average figure was R$ 146.00, or a little less than ½ of a minimum wage in that year. In the last tenth of income distribution, income reached almost R$ 2678.00, that is, 18 times more. Considering the group of about 565 thousand families which made up the richest 1%, the average income was R$ 7,688.00 per capita. Results evidence the bad income distribution in the country.

 

A total of 47% of women without a partner lived on up to ¾ of a minimum wage per capita⁵

 

He strategies of reproduction of single-parent families, the female ones, especially (which, in 2006, made up about 10.7 million) are particularly difficult, since 47% of them lived on up to ¾ of the minimum wage per capita⁶. This difficult economic situation is even more serious among those families in which all the children were under 16 years of age, of which 60% lived on up ¾ of a minimum wage per capita.

 

Also, in relation to the distribution by classes of income, it was observed that 70.0% of families in the Northeast region can be considered poor, since they lived on up to ¾ of a minimum wage, whereas in the Southeast this proportion was 54.4%.

 

 

There are more women with family income per capita below ½ a  minimum wage  

Between 1996 and 2006, there was increase of the proportion of women with children who lived with a monthly family income of up to ½ a minimum wage per capita; this proportion changed from 69.3% to 74%, that is, it underwent change of 4.7 percentage points. However, considering women with family income per capita of 2 minimum wages or more, there was reduction by 6.7 percentage points, resulting in the figure of 47.7% in 2006. The data reveal a bigger number of children in poorest families, as well as they indicate that the reduction of fertility rate observed in the last few years occurred, mainly, among women in families with lower life conditions, who have chosen to have fewer children.

 

About 31% of families in which a woman was the reference person lived with monthly income of up to ½ of a minimum wage per capita. In families headed by a man, this percentage was lower (26.8%). In Maranhão, more than half of the families headed by a woman (55.3%) lived with monthly income lower than ½ of a minimum wage per capita.

 

 

Employment rate of children is highest in families headed by women

 

In Brazilian families, men, regardless of being a reference person or partner, have higher employment rates than those of all the other members. Among women, the employment rates, of both reference persons and partners, were about 54% in 2006. This similarity of rates is due to the significant increase of the participation of female partners in job market in the latest years.

The highest employment rate of children was found in families headed by women: 44.1%, versus 40.3% in families headed by men.

 

 

Brasil has 18.5 million women as household heads

The number of women which are indicated who are indicated as reference person in the family increased considerably between 1996 and 2006, having increased from 10.3 million to 18.5 million, in this period. In relative figures, this increase corresponds to change of 79%, whereas, in this period, the number of male household heads increased by 25%. In relation to female household heads, the biggest proportion of women who declared to be the reference person were in the age groups 0f 25-39 years and of 60 years of age or over, each group making up 26.7%.  

 

Women have more years of schooling than men

In urban areas, the average number of years of schooling among women is 7.4 years for the overall population and 8.9 years for the employed ones. In rural areas of Brazil, these averages are low: 4.5 years and 4.7 years, respectively. The metropolitan areas are the ones which present the highest averages years of schooling, but it the Federal District is the place which has the highest average number of years of schooling of employed women (10.4 years). On the other hand, the lowest average observed occurred in the rural areas of Piauí and Alagoas (3.2 years); in these areas women who are employed can be considered functionally illiterate and are employed in precarious jobs⁷.

In 1996, among the persons who attended higher education institutions, 55.3% were women; this figure became 57.5%, in 2006. It is worth mentioning that men have been reducing their participation in the schooling process, at least, in terms of higher education.

 

 

Women remain having fewer children

Between 1996 and 2006, the proportion of women at reproductive age (15 to 49 years of age) with children born alive remained at 63%. On the contrary, the reduction of the number of children per women has been a significant aspect. In 2006, of 32.7 million women with children, 30.9% had a child; 33.3%, two children; and 35.8%, three or more children. In 1996, however, these percentages were 25.0%, 30.1% and 44.9%, respectively. By Region, these indicators presented major changes: the North and Northeast had increase of 4.2 percentage points and 2.2 percentage points, respectively, in the proportion of women with children. For the remaining Regions there was decrease, especially the South, with reduction of 2.7 percentage points.  

There was slight increase of the proportion of teenagers (15-17 years of age) who have children: from 6.9%, in 1996, to 7.6%, in 2006. In the Northeast Region, there was the highest change of this proportion (1.2 percentage points). On the other hand, the percentage of mothers among youngsters aged 18-24 years fell by 3.1 percentage points, having changed from 38% to 34.9%. The South Region had the highest decrease (7.5 percentage points) and the North Region was the only one with increase in the proportion of women in this age group (2.8 percentage points) and which had the highest percentage compared to the other Regions (49.3%).

Also in adulthood (between 25 and 49 years of age), the proportion of women with children was reduced, especially in the South and Southeast Regions (2.9 and 2.8 percentage points, respectively). Besides, what calls attention is the reduction of the proportion of women with three or more children by 14.6 percentage points, changing from 63.2% to 48.6%.

 

Only half of the men help with household tasks

Only half of the men do household tasks (51.4%), whereas 9 in 10 women have this duty. For women, the participation in the job market does not mean getting rid of household activities. On the contrary, the participation of employed women in these tasks is even higher (92%).

Between 1996 and 2006, the participation of men in household tasks increased by 7.0 percentage points, having changed from 44.4% to 51.4%. In this period, the increase of male participation in the state of Bahia was the highest, since it changed from 28% to 52%. The state which had the major participation of men in these activities, however, was Rio Grande do Sul (69.9%), and in the metropolitan area of Porto Alegre this percentage was even higher, reaching 74.2%.

In terms of the average number of hours spent on domestic tasks, it was observed that women work twice as much as men (24.8 hours)

 

Southeast continues to be the highest pole of attraction for immigrants from the Northeast

The most significant group of Brazilian emigrants came from the Northeast Region (53.8%). The Southeast remains as the major attraction to Northeastern emigrants; 67.5% of them headed for this area. The second group which, historically, had most emigrants was the Southeast (20.0% of the total number of emigrants) who went, in general, to the Central West Region, due, most probably, to the movement in search for jobs in the last agricultural frontiers. It is also possible to see that, of the 708 thousand who came from foreign countries, 72.6% headed for the Southeast Region. It is also interesting to observe that, except for the North Region, which has the highest flow of immigrants heading for the Central West Region, the emigrants from other regions, including from foreign countries, were mainly interested in the Southeast Region.    

 

All over the country, 61.5% of the households had complete sanitation installations

Sanitation services rendered in a proper way may guarantee improvement of the population life conditions. This way, the survey classified as having proper or complete sanitation services the municipalities which had simultaneous services of water supply by internal pipe system, connected to the general network of sewage disposal or pluvial system, and with a service of waste disposal coming directly from the household.

In 2006, 61.5% of the urban Brazilian municipalities had such services. In the Major Regions, the situation was very different: in the North, only 10.5%; Northeast 34.5% and Central West, 37.2%, whereas the Southeast and South there were more favorable percentages (84% and 60.6%, respectively). Considering this increase is considered by groups of average household monthly income per capita, it was observed that as the levels of income increased, also increased the percentage of households having the three services simultaneously: 40.2% of the households attended received up to ½ of a minimum wage per capita; this percentage reached 81.9%, in the group whose income was over 5 minimum wages per capita. 

The simultaneous existence of services and goods, according to PNAD 2006, shows a different scenario. Having, at the same time, electricity, fixed telephone, computer, refrigerator, colored Television and washing machine was a privilege for only 18.5% of the total number of Brazilian households. It is worth mentioning that, in the Southeast and South Regions, for instance, ¼ % of the households had these characteristics which, in fact, reflected the level of social and economic development of these regions. In the metropolitan areas of São Paulo and Curitiba, about 32% of the households had this group of goods and services. On the other hand, the North and Northeast Regions had very low percentages, about 6%, and these data confirm the unevenness existing in the Brazilian society.

 

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¹Attendance considered appropriate for the age group, according to the educational model in effect in the country, in this case, high school.

² The legal marriage rate is obtained by the division of the number of marriages by the number of inhabitants, and by multiplying the result by 1,000. In this work were considered marriages and the population over 15 years of age.

³ Family arrangements in which there were blood ties, financial dependence or residence in one same household, and also distinct groups of persons inhabiting the same household. The concept encompasses “single-person families” and “non-family households” (groups with up to 5 persons who live under the same roof, even without blood ties). In this text, the main objective is to characterize the life conditions of families in which persons are related by blood (89.1%).    

⁴ Women with children and without a partner/husband

⁵ The limit of ¾ of a minimum wage was established based on the figure of the second fifth (poorest 40%) of the distribution of family income per capita in Brazil, in 2006, which was approximately R$ 233.00.

⁶ The limit of ¾ of a minimum wage was established based on the figure of the second fifth (poorest 40%) of the distribution of family income per capita in Brazil, in 2006, which was approximately R$ 233.00.

⁷ In Brazil, in 2006, almost 70% of the women employed in the rural areas were in the categories of non-paid workers who worked in order to aid a member of the household, or to obtain their own subsistence.