In Brazil, the richest tenth owns 23,5 times more than the poorest tenth

... and that is good news! Social inequality diminished for the first time in recent history, thanks to social programs like Bolsa Família and the rise of the minimum wage.

In 2004, the richest tenth owned 27,4 times more than the poorest tenth. In the last 5 years, the revenues of the former has risen 4,9%, while the revenues of the latter increased in a much faster pace: by 22%.

The interesting thing, though, comes when we relate this piece of news with other figures:

- the average monthly wage of the poorest tenth of the population is R$ 207 (US$ 128), while the richest tenth earns R$ 4,853 a month (US$ 3,014 - not a fortune, right?)

- when we consider the number of billionaires, Sao Paulo is the 11th city in the world, with 14 uber rich residents - first is Moscow (with 74), followed by New York (71), London (36), Istanbul (34), Hong Kong (30), Los Angeles (24), Mumbai (20), San Francisco (19), Dallas and Tokyo (15 each)

- talking about millionaires, Brazil was granted with 60.000 new ones in 2007 - in 2006, there were 130.000, a colossal 46% growth

- Sao Paulo has the second largest helicopter fleet in the world - it has passed Tokyo and is just behind New York

I guess we have a lot of serious work to do when it comes to offering a quality life to all the Brazilian citizens. And if we take sustainability into account, we should probably not count on economical growth for closing the wealth distribution gap. But that discussion is worth a new post for itself. Stay tuned!

Sources: Portal Exame, Folha Online, BCG Global Wealth Report 2007