🪜 Brazil’s complicated income ladder

Since 2022, about 17.4 million Brazilians — nearly the population of the Netherlands — have moved up income brackets and joined what can be described as the country’s “lower middle class.” Meanwhile, the number of people in the upper and middle classes reached a record high in 2024, according to a new study by the Getulio Vargas Foundation’s Center for Social Policies (FGV-Social).

The research provides a long-term view of Brazil’s income distribution dating back to 1976, drawing on official data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics’ household survey (PNAD), which periodically measures employment and income across the population.

Defining what constitutes Brazil’s middle class is a challenge in its own right…

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