In Brazil, 17 million children up to 14 years old live in poverty

Approximately 17 million children up to 14 years old—40.2% of the Brazilian population in this age group—live in low-income households.

In the North and Northeast, the regions showing the direst conditions, more than half of the children (60.6% and 54% respectively) live on a monthly household income totaling a minimum wage ($151.63) or less per capita. Of this total, 5.8 million live in extreme poverty (per capita income below 25% of the minimum wage, $75.81).

The figures can be found in the Childhood and Adolescence Scenario in Brazil, a document that outlines children's living conditions in the country, released by the ABRINQ Foundation. The study collects and analyzes data from public sources, among which the Brazilian Geography and Statistics Institute (IBGE).

In its fourth issue, the publication brings together 23 social indicators divided into such topics as child labor, sanitation, mortality, and education. The document also includes bills on children under deliberation in Congress.

“In this issue, in addition to outlining the situation facing the children of Brazil, we also unveil the Childhood and Adolescence Priority Agenda in Congress. Its content brings to light the main pieces of legislation under deliberation in the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, with the position taken by the ABRINQ Foundation based on the effectiveness and protection of children and adolescents' rights in Brazil,” said Heloisa Oliveira, the foundation's executive manager.

Violence

Among the topics addressed in the document is violence against children and adolescents. According to the study, 10,465 children and teenagers of up to 19 years of age were murdered in Brazil in 2015, which accounts for 18.4% of homicides committed in the country that year. In over 80% of the cases, death was caused by guns.

The study also shows that 153 thousand reports on violation of the rights of children and adolescents' reached the Disque 100 hotline in 2015, 72.8% of calls concerning negligence, followed by psychological violence (45.7%), physical violence (42.4%), and sexual violence (21.3%).

Child labor

The document also found that, despite the decline in the number of children and adolescents involved in child labor aged 10 to 17—a reduction of some 659 thousand children and adolescents employed in 2015 compared to 2014—there has been an increase of 8.5 thousand children aged five to nine with a job. The group of children and adolescents aged 5 to 17 working totaled 2.67 million in 2015.

The study also shows more positive figures, like the coverage rate of daycare centers in the country, which went from 28.4% in 2014 to 20.4% in 2015, still distant, however, from the target set by the National Education Plan—50% by 2024.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira