Inequality: Brazil Has World’s Second-Highest Income Concentration

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil is the second country in the world with the second-highest concentration of income in the world. The wealthiest one percent account for 28.3 percent of the country’s total income.

The data places Brazil behind only Qatar, where the proportion is 29 percent. In these two countries, almost a third of the income is in the hands of the wealthiest. The study is based on the Human Development Report (HDR) of the United Nations (UN), released on Monday, December 9th.

In third place in the list appears Chile, which concentrates 23.7 percent of its total income among the wealthiest one percent. Neighboring Colombia ranks 9th, with a concentration of income among the wealthiest one percent of 20.5 percent.

The report also assessed countries according to their Human Development Index (HDI), which is based on health, education and income indicators. Measured annually, the index ranges from 0 to 1 – the higher, i.e. closer to 1, the more developed the country.

With an HDI of 0.761, Brazil ranked 79th in the list, a small improvement of 0.001 in relation to last year. Even so, Brazil dropped one position in the world ranking, from 78th to 79th.

In relation to the HDI, Brazil is one of the countries with high human development. Among the group’s Latin American countries, Cuba is ahead of Brazil, at 72nd position and an HDI of 0.778; and also Mexico, at 76th place and an HDI of 0.767.

Colombia is tied with Brazil at position 79, with an HDI of 0.761. Peru ranks 82nd with an HDI of 0.759.

At the top of the ranking, among the bloc of countries with very high human development, Norway (0.954) ranks first, followed by Switzerland (0.946) and Ireland (0.942).

At the opposite end, among the countries with low human development, the lowest HDI are in Niger (West African country), with 0.377 and the Central African Republic, with an HDI of 0.381.

Source: Carta Capital