The Sustainable Development Indicators – SDI 2012, which IBGE releases at Rio +20, give a broad view of the country, in four dimensions: environmental, social, economic and institutional. The 62 indicators, produced or brought together by IBGE, show strong and weak points.  Among the strong points are: the reduction, in six years, of approximately 77% of the annual crude deforestation of the Legal Amazon, the increasing number of protected areas, the decrease in the infant mortality rate by half in one decade and the growing access to water and sewage networks as well as garbage collection services.  Among the weak points are the remaining socio-economic and gender inequalities. Almost half of the indicators registers favorable results, part of them with some kind of exception. Thus, most of the air polluters in urban areas recorded a stable trend or a drop, but the numbers are still high in some cities and metropolitan regions, even higher than the established patterns. One of the greatest challenges is sanitation, whose partially low rates related to water, sewage and waste collection, destiny or adequate treatment, interacting with other indicators, point to consequences, such as: the recurrent high number of hospital admissions due to diseases related to the lack of sanitation, more common in the North and Northeast.  Or the rising threats to biomes and Brazilian endangered species.  The recycling levels are high, even though more associated to the activities of waste pickers than to selective collection. The homicide and traffic accident rates are still high in Brazil.

 Considerations on the environment open the survey, which brings 20 indicators that directly evaluate air, land and water quality, the Environmental Dimension of the SDI –2012 returns to polemic themes, such as the use of pesticides. However, the complexity of the ecological issue can also be considered in the scope of a less exploited theme: the invading species, which can become agricultural plagues or disease vectors, just like the dengue mosquito, from Africa.

The complete publication of the Sustainable Development Indicators of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics – SDI 2012 can be accessed at

www.ibge.gov.br/home/geociencias/recursosnaturais/ids/default_2012.shtm 

 

 

Environmental Dimension: in the 1992-2010 period, 90% of reduction in the consumption of ozone depleting substances

 

The SDI gathers, under the theme “Atmosphere”, indicators for the greenhouse effect, the ozone layer depletion and air pollution.

 

As to the former, the surveys reveal a slower growth in the emissions.  However, the deforestations in the Amazon and the fires in the cerrados account for more than 50% of the total of the liquid emissions. It is worth highlighting that the destruction of forests and other native vegetations stands for more than 75% of the liquid emissions of CO₂.

 

In relation to ozone depleting substances, the consumption of the 11.099 tonnes ODP (Ozone Depletion Potential in tonnes) in the year 2000 fell to 1.208 tonnes ODP in 2010. In those ten years, the consumption of CFC (chlorofluorocarbon), the most dangerous product, also decreased considerably: from 9.278 tonnes ODP to -14 tonnes ODP (the negative number stands for exports or destruction of remaining stocks); simultaneously, the consumption of alternative less aggressive  compounds raised, with a highlight to HCFCs (hydrochlorofluorocarbons), from 623 tonnes ODP to 1.240 tonnes ODP.

 

As to the concentration of air pollutants in urban areas, there was a sharper reduction of the suspended particulate matter (SPM) and respirable suspended particle (RSP of 10 micrometre or less), but those figures, at times, surpass those established by Conama – National Council for the Environment (240 and 150 micrograms per cubic meter - µg/m3, respectively).

 

Pesticides and Fertilizers: use advantages and disadvantages

 

Six indicators refer to the Earth:  the use of fertilizers, pesticides, agro-pastoral areas, fires and forest fires, deforestation of the Amazon and deforestation of extra-amazonian biomes.

 

The Brazilian agricultural development model, focused on productivity gains, has been generating an increasing use of fertilizers and pesticides.  In 2010, the quantity of fertilizers negotiated was 155Kg/ha: 43.7Kg/ha of nitrogen, 51.8Kg/ha of phosphorus and 59.6Kg/ha of potassium. The Southeast presented the largest concentration of fertilizers per area unit (208.1Kg/ha), above the Brazilian average.

 

Among pesticides, the herbicides stand for more than 50% of the consumption (quantity which is delivered to trade and not directly to producers). In 2009, the consumption of pesticides was of 3.6Kg/ha. Pesticides and fertilizers increase the agricultural output, but they can also inflict injury on the environment and on population’s health.

 

The agroforestry data show that the growth of crop areas and planted pastures over natural pastures, even though recording a rise of the production per area, means a wider use of fertilizers and pesticides and a higher possibility of environmental contamination. In 2010, the overall planted area in the country was at 65.371.447 ha, which corresponds to 7.7% of the total surface.

 

Deforestation in the Amazon falls. In the Atlantic Forest, there are less than 12% of the original area left

 

One of the main threats to the Brazilian ecosystems come from fires and forest fires, but the number of heat sources detected by satellites, in 2011, fell almost 50% in relation to 2010: 61,687 against 133,133. The largest and most recurrent concentration occurs at the “Arc of Deforestation and Fires”, in the South and East regions of the legal Amazon – Rondônia, Acre, Amazonas, Roraima, Pará, Amapá, Tocantins, Maranhão (West) and Mato Grosso.   

 

Since 2004, there has been a downward trend in the deforestation of the Amazon as a whole, with oscillations in some states.  Since 2004, the annually deforested area fell from more than 25000 Km² to less than 10000 Km² today. Despite this reduction in the last years, today the cleared area is close to the 20% of the original forested area of the Amazon.

 

The situation of the extra-amazonian biomes is not less critical:  the remaining area of the Atlantic Forest, in 2010, was 12% of a total area of 128.898.972 ha; the 113.923.019 ha of cleared area was substituted by agricultural, pastoral and urban areas. The rates are high in all federation units, however, in relative terms, Goiás presents the highest rate (95%) and Santa Catarina, the lowest (77%). In the other biomes, the Pampa presents the greatest percentage of deforestation: 54% (2009 data), followed by the Cerrado, which, in 2010, was cleared in 49%. In the Caatinga, until 2009, the figure was 46%, and the lowest relative value was attributed to Pantanal, with 15%.

 

Biochemical oxygen demand of the Brazilian rivers which cut the great urban areas is high, reflecting the deficiencies of basic sanitation in Brazil

 

Two indicators measure the quality of Brazilian fresh water: the Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) and the Water Quality Index (WAI). The high values of BOD and low values of WQI, in parts of the river that cut metropolitan zones, such as Tietê (São Paulo) or Iguaçu (Curitiba), reflect the reduced treatment percentage of collected and released sewage in interior waters (rivers and dams). In general, there was a slight improvement in the last few years: 77.3% of the Northeastern monitoring points, 80% of Southern points and 80.6% of the Southeastern points have average values according to the patterns established by the National Council of the Environment (from 0 to 5.0 mg/l). As to the WQI, 68.0% of the Northeastern, 71.4% of the Southern and 74.3% of the Southeastern points presented good water quality.

 

The balneability indicator uses the quantity of bacteria present in beach waters in order to consider them proper or not proper for bathing activities.   An improvement trend was seen in some places, such as Porto da Barra and Farol da Barra, in Salvador (BA), Toninhas, in Ubatuba (SP) and Balneário Camboriú (SC).  In 2010, 24% of the population was living in coastal areas, with a greater concentration in the Southeast and in the Northeast, principally in Vitória (ES) and Santos (SP) and in the oriental Northeastern coast, between Salvador (BA) and Natal (RN).

 

Fauna and flora have more than a thousand threatened species, 544 in the Atlantic Forest

 

The Brazilian fauna has 627 species threatened with extinction, half of which are “vulnerable”, which means, susceptible to disappearing from nature in the medium run. Poultries, fresh water fish and insects are the highest risk groups: 160, 142 and 96 threatened species, respectively (2005 data). The flora has 461 endangered species. The arboreal species are more vulnerable, because, besides deforestation and fires, the relatively slow growth prevents the natural recovery from the destruction provoked by logging activities. The Atlantic Forest stands for the greatest number of fauna and flora species threatened with extinction (275 and 269, respectively), followed by the Cerrado (131 of the flora and 99 of the fauna) and by the Amazon (118 species of the fauna and 24 of the flora).

 

The number of protected areas grow, especially those of sustainable use

 

As an effort to keep the biodiversity, the delimitation of protected areas is fundamental – Conservation Units (CUs) and Private Natural Heritage Reserves (RPPN) – where the exploitation of natural resources is either forbidden or controlled by specific legislation.   The CUs can be: of Total Protection (national parks, biological reserves, etc), where the presence of permanent populations and economic activities are forbidden; or of Sustainable Use (like APAs – Areas of Environmental Protection and extractive reserves), in which the presence of traditional populations is permitted.   The RPPNs are private properties, with low impact activities, as ecotourism, for example.

 

In 2011, the country accounted for 310 CUs (750.475 km2, not considering the marine CUs, which stand for 14,349 km2), encompassing 8.8% of the national territory and 574 RPPNs (4.728 Km2). The Amazon has the largest protected area, with 16% of its total area made of CUs, of which 8% are of total protection, also covering the largest CUs in terms of extension.  In the majority of the biomes, however, the protected area is relatively small and fragmented, staying below the worldly average, of 5%.  The RPPNs are concentrated in the Central-West region, with 61.7% of its total area occupied by these reserves, mainly in the states of Mato Grosso (36.6%) and Mato Grosso do Sul (18.4%).

 

Besides habitat destruction and fragmentation and extractive practices (hunting, capturing and collecting), the introduction and dispersion of exotic invading species stands out among the main causes of biodiversity loss. They are also responsible for direct and immediate economic losses, as in the case of the golden mussel. In 2010, 330 invasive species, terrestrial and aquatic, were registered in Brazil. 180 were animals – with the predominance of fish (60) and mammals (18) – and 146 plants – with a greater number of trees (58), followed by herbs and grass (47).   

 

More than 40% of the species are originating from Asia (26.1%) and from Africa (15.5%), but Brazil also stands in the second place in the list as an originating country, together with South America and Tropical America (18.5%, the three of them).  The star-faced marmoset is an example of a Brazilian invasive species: originating from the Northeast, it was taken to the forests of the Central-South region as a pet and it competes today with the local tamarins. The invasive species are spread over the whole country and 60% of the municipalities record the existence of at least one of them.

 

Water and sewage networks expand in the Country, but there are deficiencies

 

The indicators of sanitation are access to the water supply system, access to sanitary sewer and sewage treatment, waste collection and final destination.

 

The analysis of the access to the water supply network shows a continuously increasing percentage of the population with an adequate supply: 93.1% in the urban zone in 2009. The numbers were higher in the Southeast (97.1%) and in the South (95.3%), followed by the Northeast (92.0%), the Central-West (91.6%) and the North (68.7%). The highlights were São Paulo (99.3% of the urban population) and, at the other end, Rondônia (49,2%). In the rural zone, 32.8% of the dwellers have access to the general network. This percentage is low because the supply through wells or springs (55.3%) and other forms (11.9%) prevails.

 

Concerning sanitary sewers, in 2009, about 80% of the urban dwellers and 25% of the rural ones were provided with a general network of sewage collection or septic tanks. In the studied period, from 1992 to 2009, there was a continuous growth of the percentage of the urban households covered by a collecting network. The federation units standing in the top positions, in the last year of the period, were São Paulo (91.1%), Distrito Federal (89.4%) and Minas Gerais (89.1%), and, in the last positions, there were Rondônia (5,2%), Pará (2,7%) and Amapá (1,1%).  

 

In the rural areas, where septic tanks prevail - and are becoming more common (7.3% in 1992 and 19.5% in 2009) – São Paulo, Distrito Federal and Rio de Janeiro have the highest percentages of collecting networks:  44.3%, 22.6% and 17.9%, respectively. The lowest, of just 0.5%, are in Rio Grande do Sul, Tocantins and Paraíba.  

 

It is not enough, however, to collect sewage; it is imperative to treat it, for, among other damage, the lack of adequate treatment favors the emission of greenhouse gases, especially methane. In ten years (1995-2005), the percentage of treated sewage, in relation to the collected portion, rose from 8.7% to 61.6%, remaining stable from 2006 to 2008, when it reached 66,2%.  In 2008, the regions with the highest percentages of treatment were the Central-West (88.9%), the Northeast (86%) and the South (78.8%). The Southeast only treated 58.5% of the collected sewage. It is important to emphasize that the numbers presented refer to the percentage of treated sewage in relation to collected sewage. Therefore, some of the high values could be the result of a low sewage collection.

 

Waste collection for almost all urban population (98.2%), but a lot of regional inequality in the final destination

 

The indicator of access to the service of domestic waste collection presents more favorable results as to sustainable development than the other sanitation indicators. In 2009, 98.2% of the urban dwellers had their waste collected.

 

But, as it happens with sewage, just collection is not enough to eliminate some harmful effects, such as soil and water pollution, caused by waste leachate, a liquid substance produced in uncontrolled landfills. From 1989 to 2008, there was a growth of quite more than twice of the quantity of waste with an adequate final destination, coming from 28.8% to 66.4%; the inadequate forms (released, in an unprocessed state, in dumps or flooded areas and other destinations, like being burned in the open) fell almost at the same extent:  from 71.2% to 33.6%. The percentage of collected and properly disposed waste – to which selective collection, recycling and composting of organic waste contributes - was higher, in 2008, in the South and Southeast (respectively, 81.8% and 82.9%) and lower in the North (36.1%), the Northeast (44.3%) and the Central-West (29.5%).  

 

Economic Dimension: recycling and energy consumption increase, but the contribution of non-renewable sources in the production of electricity rises too

 

The 12 indicators of the 2012 SDI economic dimension deal with the macroeconomic and financial performance of the country and with the impacts in the consumption of natural resources (minerals and energy).  Aspects related to the use and contribution of the energy sources (renewable and non-renewable) as well as the production and management of the residues resulting from energy consumption and production are approached.

 

Energy consumption per capita reaches the highest level in eight years: 52.9 GJ/inhab

 

In 2010, the energy consumption per capita (the share of energy each Brazilian uses in a year) reached 52.9 gigajoules per inhabitant (GJ/inhab). It was the highest index since the beginning of the time series, in 1992, surpassing 2008, when the biggest rate had occurred (50 GJ/inhab), after a reduction to 48.3 GJ/inhab, in 2009. The rise in the consumption is related to the country’s development level and to the greater access to essential consumer goods and infrastructure services. The efficiency of the energy use in the Brazilian economy has been kept stable, due to the almost simultaneous growth of energy consumption and of the GDP throughout the years.

 

The contribution of renewable sources to energy production is of 45.5%

 

In 2010, 45.5% of the energy used in Brazil came from renewable sources, which can produce energy continuously if sustainable management measures are taken; however, the Brazilian energetic matrix is still partially dependent of non-renewable sources. There was a slight rise in the contribution of natural gas (from 8.7% in 2009 to 10.8% in 2010) and of mineral coal and derivatives (from 4.7% to 5.2%), whereas the contribution of petroleum and derivatives remained stable (37.9% in 2009 and 37.6% in 2010), as well as that of uranium and derivatives (1.4% in both years).   

 

The contribution of the main renewable sources to the total energy supply has been kept stable in the last years, with a slight drop between 2009 and 2010: sugar cane derivatives (from 18.2% to 17.8%), hydraulics and electricity (from 15.2% to 14.0%) and firewood and charcoal (from 10.1% to 9.7%).

 

In 2010, the petroleum and natural gas reserves were considered sufficient, with a life cycle estimated in 19 years for petroleum and 18 for gas. There can be oscillations in the next evaluations of the life cycle of petroleum, due to the recent discoveries of petroleum in the pre-salt layer.

 

 Aluminum recycling reached, in 2009, the highest value since 1993: 98%

 

Aluminum remained as a highlight of the national recycling process, with a percentage of 98.2% in 2009, the highest in the time series begun in 1993. This high value reflects the high market value of aluminum scrap. In Brazil, recycling is an economic alternative for the low-income population. Paper, glass, PET resin and steel cans, of a lower market value, record recycling indexes among 47% and 55% - lower than aluminum cans – but, even so, the former products record an increasing growth pace. The cartons and tetrapaks remain in the lowest level of recycling, with a registered drop from 26.6% in 2008 to 22.2% in 2009. The need to separate the component materials (paper, aluminum, plastic) is an obstacle in the recycling of these kinds of packagings. The best way to expand the recycling levels of materials in Brazil is to extend the selective collection.

 

Institutional Dimension: civil society organizations post strong gain, 270%

 

The nine indicators of the 2012 SDI institutional dimension comprise the capacity of getting organized and the institutional efforts made by governments and by society to make the required changes for an actual implementation of sustainable development.

 

Number of civil society organizations, in nine years, advances from 66.5 to 184.4 (per a hundred thousand inhabitants)

 

From 1996 to 2005, there was a significant growth in the number of civil society organizations per 100 thousand inhabitants, going from 66.5 to 184.4, a rise of almost 270%.  Private foundations and nonprofit associations are considered civil society organizations. The major concentration of organizations was in the South (287.3), followed by the Southeast (184.5), the Central-West (166.3), the Northeast (155.6) and the North (112.1). In the Southeast and the Central-West, the majority of the organizations are of a religious type (62.3 and 51.9, respectively); in the South, the highlights are cultural and leisure organizations (61.3); in the North, professional and employers’ associations; and in the Northeast, development organizations and civil rights defense organizations.

 

Water resources: the number of municipalities that participate in river basin committees grow (61.1%, in 2009)

 

 

The participation of municipalities in River Basin Committees (CBH), which deal with the management of water resources, keeps growing in the country:  from 46.8% in 2002 to 61.1%, in 2009. In relation to the major regions, the Southeast and the South present, respectively, 85.6% and 63.6% of the municipalities participating in CBH, which are percentages above the national average. The North (24.9%), Central-West (44.6%) and Northeast regions (49.8%) present the lowest percentages of municipal participation.

 

There was also an increase in the proportion of municipalities with active environmental councils (which meet at least once in 12 months), from 22.3% in 2001 to 39.9% in 2009. Rio de Janeiro is the state that had the greatest proportion of municipalities with active councils, 71.7%. Conversely, Piauí had only 5.8%.

 

These results show the rising interest of society and Government in the management of natural resources.

 

In seven years, the initiatives of the Local Agenda 21 fell, from 50.6% to 41.2%

 

From 2002 to 2009, the proportion of municipalities that had initiatives in support of the Local Agenda 21 fell from 50.6% to 41.2%, indicating that some Agendas 21 were initiated but did not go on. Conversely, in relation to the Local Agenda 21 Forum kickoff, the proportion rose from 22.9% to 30.1% in 2009. It is possible to deduce, then, that many municipalities first created the Forum and only then initiated the process of implantation of the Agenda 21. Among the regions, the Southeast and the Northeast presented the greatest percentages, with, respectively, 51.4% and 42.2% of the population living in municipalities with a Local Agenda 21. The North (24.6%) and the Central-West regions (19.6%) present the lowest percentages. The South stands at an intermediate position (29.4%), but still far from the national proportion.

 

From 2005 to 2009, inter-institutional articulations in the municipalities grew 0.65% per year

 

In 2005, Brazil reached 6.4% of the total possible inter-institutional articulations, according to the survey’s criteria. In 2009, it reached 9%, growing, in average, 0.65% per year. Five types of articulation were considered: inter-municipal public consortium, state public consortium, federal government public consortium, partnership agreement with the private sector and community or private sector support.

 

Among the federation units, those with the greater number of articulations in 2009 were Rio de Janeiro (15.8%, where the inter-municipal articulations and the partnership with the private sector prevail), Espírito Santo (15.5%, with the predominance of inter-municipal and state articulations) and Mato Grosso do Sul (14.3%, with a majority of state and federal government articulations). At the other end, Amapá and Piauí did not reach 4% of the total possible articulations.

 

  

Social Dimension: regional inequalities by gender and color or race remain, despite social advances

 

The social dimension indicators evaluate the meeting of human needs, the improvement of life quality and social justice. They cover the themes: population; work and income; health; education; housing and security. The SDI data recorded advance in most of the 21 indicators.

 

Unemployment falls, but gender, color or race inequalities persist in the job market

 

The average annual rate of unemployment in the six metropolitan regions surveyed by the Monthly Survey of Employment (PME), Recife, Salvador, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, São Paulo and Porto Alegre, has been falling since 2003 (12.3%), with oscillations until 2010, when there was a rate of 7.0%. Despite that, inequalities remain in the job market. In average, a woman has less than 70% of the monthly average yield of a man (R$ 865.00 against R$ 1,292.00). The disparities by color or race are even bigger, with the blacks (R$ 802.00) and the browns (R$ 789.00) getting less than 60% of the whites’ yield (R$ 1,378.00). In 2009, the proportion of women aged 16 or more, employed at formal jobs, reached 48.8% of the total women in this age group. The formal market has been expanding the absorption of the female population, considering that, in 1992, this percentage was 40.9%.

 

Infant mortality falls by half in a decade

 

The infant mortality rate fell from 29.7‰ (per a thousand) in 2000 to 15.6‰ in 2010, a decrease of 47.5%. The Northeast and North regions presented rates above the national index (18.5‰ and 18.1 ‰, respectively), while the South (12.6‰), Southeast (13.1‰) and Central-West (14.2‰) are below the Brazilian average. This drop is related, among other factors, to malnutrition control. Malnutrition affected 18.4% of children in 1975 and fell to 2.8% in 2009, a reduction of, approximately, 88%.  Vaccination also contributed to the performance of this indicator, for BCG reached 100% of vaccine coverage of the children from 0 to one year old since 1995. This indicator shows the number of deaths of children younger than one year per 1,000 live births.

 

Hospitalizations due to the lack of sanitation are more common in the North and Northeast

 

Even though the number of hospital admissions related to diseases caused by inadequate environmental sanitation (DRSAI) has been diminishing since 1993 (732.8 per a thousand inhabitants), it is still high. In 2010, 320.6 cases occurred per 100 thousand inhabitants, a reduction of approximately 50%. While in the North region, 691 people per each 100 thousand inhabitants were hospitalized, in the Southeast this number reached 121, in 2010. In relation to the states, some had values higher than 900 (Pará and Piauí), whereas in São Paulo there were 88.4 hospitalizations per 100 thousand inhabitants, the lowest value in the country.

 

Percentage of adult population who did not finish elementary school falls

 

From 1992 to 2009, there was a rise from 59.7% to 85.2% in the gross school attendance rate  among students from 15 to 17 years old. The gross attendance rate measures the percentage of youngsters from 15 to 17 years old, regardless the educational level they are enrolled in. Nevertheless, in 2009, the percentage of students that effectively attended high school, that is, of those who attended the adequate level according to their age (net attendance rate), was of 50.9%. The inequalities of race and color also diminished in the period. In 1992, the gross attendance rate of white students (64.8%) was 13.4 percentage points higher than that of the blacks (51.4%) and 10 percentage points higher than that of the browns (54.8%). In 2009, the rates of the blacks (84.7%) and browns (83.8%) were lower than that of the whites (86.9%), 2.2 and 3.1 percentage points, respectively. The net attendance rates recorded inequalities: while white students reached 60.3%, black and brown students registered 43.5%, a difference of 16.8 percentage points.

 

The same period registered a rise in the literacy rate, from 82.8% to 90.3%. That means that, in 2009, the illiterate people accounted for 9.7% of the population aged 15 or older, approximately, 14.1 million people. The number of literate white students aged 15 or older (94.1%) is greater than the number of literate black ones (86.7%) and literate brown ones (86.6%), but the differences have been narrowing down throughout the years. In 1992, the difference was of 15 percentage points and, in 2009, 7.4 points.  

 

The publication also registered a decrease of the population aged from 25 to 64 years old with less than eight years of education (unfinished elementary education), which declined 24,1 percentage points in the studied period, falling from 68.8% in 1992 to 44.7% in 2009. This is still the prevailing group, for 24.8% of the people in this age group had eleven years of education (high school) and 16.4%, 12 or more years (university, finished or not).

 

Rondônia has 11.9% of adequate households; in DF there are 80.6%

 

The number of adequate households (with up to two dwellers per dormitory and that has the services of waste collection, water supply system and sanitary sewer through a collecting network or septic tank) grew from 1992 to 2009, from 36.8% to 56.8%. Among the sanitation indicators, waste collection and water supply system are present in a greater number of municipalities (87.9% and 84.4%, respectively) than adequate sanitary sewer system, offered to 72.3% of the households. For this reason, the proportion of adequate households in the Country is not higher.  The North, Central-West (except for Distrito Federal) and Northeast regions record lower averages than the national one. While in the Southeast 72.5% of the households are considered adequate, in the North region, this proportion falls to 26.7%.

 

Homicide rates in the country are up, as a result of the high and increasing rate among men

 

In the period from 1992 to 2009, there was a rise in the homicide mortality ratio, from 19.2 to 27.1 homicides per 100 thousand inhabitants. Men-related values are considerably higher than those of women, ten times bigger in average.  The deaths by homicides affect life expectancy, which is reduced due to premature deaths, especially, of young males.

 

The North (33.8/100 thousand inhab.), Northeast (33.4/100 thousand inhab.)  and Central-West regions (32.4/100 thousand inhab.) presented, in 2009, the highest ratios of mortality by homicides. The Southeast, in the same year, recorded the lowest level of the country (21.8/100 thousand inhab.). Among the states, Alagoas (59.3/100 thousand inhab.), Espírito Santo (56.9/ 100 thousand inhab.) and Pernambuco (44.9/100 thousand inhab.) reached the highest proportions. The lowest rates were registered in Piauí (12.4/100 thousand inhab.), Santa Catarina (13.4/ 100 thousand inhab.) and São Paulo (15.8/100 thousand inhab.).

 

The ratio of mortality by transport accidents has been kept high throughout the period. The year 2000 recorded the lowest number of deaths per 100 thousand inhabitants of the time series (17.4), whereas the year with the greater number of occurrences was 1996 (22.6). In 2009, there was a reduction in the index, which became 20.1 deaths per 100 thousand inhabitants, male deaths being almost four times higher than those of women. In 2009, there were 33.3 deaths per 100 thousand men, whereas the death ratio among women was of 7.3 for each 100 thousand. The greater rates were seen in the Central-West (29.3/100 thousand inhab.) and in the South region (25.6/100 thousand inhab.), which presented in 2009 values above the Brazilian average of 20.1 deaths per 100 thousand inhabitants. The states with the greater number of deaths per 100 thousand inhabitants in the male population were Mato Grosso (58.2), Tocantins (57.6) and Rondônia (57.2). The female rates were higher in Roraima (16.1), Tocantins (13.8), Mato Grosso (12.8) and Mato Grosso do Sul (12.6).