Human Development in Brazil - Essay Example

Conditions are slowly improving for all Brazilians, as the Human Development Indicators(HDI) imply, though translating the figures into real progress is more difficult. The HDI is developed by the United Nations Development Programme to aid in determination of how well “countries turn income into health and educational opportunities”(UNDP). The 2006 report indicates that Brazil falls into the fifty-eighth place among one hundred seventy seven nations. The HDI is calculated by combining three sets of data: lifespan, knowledge and standard of living.

The UNDP provides other indices such as the Human Poverty Index(HP1 and HP) and the Gender Related Development Index(RDI). HDI is the most inclusive and allows for a better understanding of overall data. Brazil is by no means a poor country, with abundant natural resources and $30 billion in foreign capital invested by 2002. However, “forty million live on less than $2 per day, while twenty million live on less than $1 per day.”(UNDP). Inequality of income is linked to gender, race and geographical region.

The Northeast, where the greatest disparities exist, is comparable economically to nations such as Kenya. The UNDP has set a goal of lowering poverty to below ten percent by the year 2015. This goal seems fully attainable as the poverty rates fall from twenty percent in 1991 to roughly fourteen 2 percent by 2000. Obstacles such as slowing economic growth are identified as barriers to attaining that goal.