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Brazil: A Lost Decade

Updated: April 2023

Key Insights

Brazil has suffered meager growth over the past decade.
Wealth, in GDP per capita terms, has actually fallen over the last ten years.
Overall, it’s performance in economic terms, has been abysmal.
Compared with China and India, the "BRIC" countries with which it was so closely identified in 2001, Brazil has massively underperformed.

ECONOMY SIZE

When measured in Purchasing Power Parity terms, including estimates for its large informal economy, Brazil's GDP is the eighths largest in the world, the second largest in the Americas region and fourth largest in the Emerging Markets.

Gross Domestic Product: 2022
Ranked by GDP

Country Extract of country GDP by Size See full interactive table	GDP PPP (Billions)	GDP Data Quality Grade	Share of Global GDP %

Germany	$5,009	A	2.9%
Indonesia	$4,811	C	2.8%
Brazil	$4,288	B	2.5%
Turkey	$3,695	B	2.2%
France	$3,537	A	2.1%
United Kingdom	$3,477	A	2.0%
Mexico	$3,377	C	2.0%
Italy	$3,179	A	1.9%
Korea, Rep.	$2,880	A	1.7%
Saudi Arabia	$2,441	B	1.4%

Access the interactive all country GDP by Size table

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Brazil Experiences a Decade of Stagnation

GDP Data Quality

Data rankings are produced from scores in five areas: Base year recency; System of National Accounts framework version; Informal economy size; Statistical resources available; and likelihood of Government interference. Scores are based on a 0-100 scale. Read more...
Official GDP data for Brazil are rated grade B - Good.
Brazil's GDP data quality ranks 53rd globally, 7th for the Americas region and 11th of 24 countries in the Emerging Markets.

Data Quality Ratings: Americas Region
Index: 0 = Extremely poor quality, 100 = Good as it gets

Country Extract of country table See full interactive version	Data Quality Index	Data Quality Grade	Base Year	SNA Version	Informal Economy %	Resoucres Index 0-100	Corruption Index 0-100

United States	95.9	A	Chained	2008	7.3	100.0	69
Canada	95.8	A	Chained	2008	11.2	100.0	74
Chile	89.9	A	Chained	2008	19.3	86.7	67
Costa Rica	86.2	B	Chained	2008	26.6	91.1	54
Uruguay	81.2	B	2016	2008	31.7	80.0	74
Colombia	79.9	B	Chained	2008	33.3	82.2	39
Brazil	79.6	B	Chained	2008	33.2	81.1	38
Bahamas, The	79.4	B	2012	2008	30.2	100.0	64
Dominican Republic	76.7	B	Chained	2008	33.9	72.2	32
Guatemala	71.3	C	Chained	2008	48.6	73.3	24
Mexico	70.7	C	2013	2008	29.2	80.0	31
Suriname	69.4	C	2015	2008	33.0	57.8	40
El Salvador	69.2	C	2014	2008	40.9	82.2	33
Trinidad and Tobago	65.6	D	2012	2008	31.6	47.8	42

Access the interactive all country Data Quality Ratings table

Key:
Data Quality Index numbers shown on a scale of 0-100.
         0 = Poor, 100 = Excellent.

Resources Index numbers shown on a scale of 0-100.
         0 = Low level of resources, 100 = High level of resources.

Corruption Index numbers shown on a scale of 0-100.
         0 = High corruption, 100 = Low corruption.

Grade definitions:
         A: As good as it gets;
         B: Use with caution;
         C: Unreliable for many purposes
         D: Extremely poor quality.

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ECONOMIC GROWTH

Brazil's Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) over the last 10, 5 and 3 years was 0.4%, 1.3% and 1.1% respectively.
On a 10-year CAGR basis Brazil ranks as one of the slowest growing economies in the Americas region and 23rd of 24 countries in the Emerging Markets over the past decade.

Brazil's Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) over the last 10-years

Country Extract of country CAGR See full interactive table	Global Rank:	GDP Data Quality: Grade	CAGR 10 Year: 2012-2022	CAGR 5 Year: 2017-2022	CAGR 3 Year: 2019-2022	Global Growth Share: Percentage

Russia	137	C	0.8%	1.1%	0.3%	0.9%
Japan	138	A	0.6%	0.0%	-0.6%	0.8%
Lesotho	139	D	0.5%	-1.7%	-1.8%	0.0%
Greece	140	A	0.5%	1.3%	1.5%	0.0%
Jamaica	141	E	0.5%	0.1%	-0.7%	0.0%
Yemen, Rep.	142	E	0.4%	-1.4%	-1.1%	0.0%
Angola	143	E	0.4%	-0.8%	-0.6%	0.0%
Brazil	144	B	0.4%	1.3%	1.1%	0.4%
Italy	145	A	0.3%	0.3%	0.2%	0.2%
Argentina	146	D	0.3%	0.0%	1.5%	0.1%
Bahamas, The	147	B	0.2%	-0.1%	-1.3%	0.0%
Kuwait	148	D	0.2%	0.3%	0.0%	0.0%
Belarus	149	B	0.0%	0.2%	-1.1%	0.0%
Brunei Darussalam	150	E	-0.4%	0.4%	-0.7%	0.0%
Trinidad and Tobago	151	D	-0.7%	-0.3%	-2.2%	0.0%

Access the interactive all country CAGR table

Over the past 10 years the global economy has grown by 35%. Brazil's contribution to this growth was 0.4% once allowances are made for the informal economy size.

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WEALTH

GDP per Capita has declined over the past 10 years in Brazil, performing poorly comparaed to other countries in the Americas region and in the Emerging Markets generally.
In GDP per Capita terms, Brazil ranks 20th for the Americas region and 18th for the Emerging Markets.

Brazil's GDP Per Capita Growth: 10 Years
Index: 1996 = 100

GDP Per Capita: Americas Region
Ranked by GDP per Capita

Country Extract of country GDP per capita See full interactive table	GDP Per Capita PPP (Int$)	GDP per Capita Data Quality Grade

Uruguay	$31,844	B
Chile	$31,502	A
Costa Rica	$27,849	B
Dominican Republic	$26,323	C
Mexico	$25,670	C
Suriname	$21,185	C
Colombia	$20,989	B
Brazil	$19,910	B
Bolivia	$14,835	E
Jamaica	$13,569	E
El Salvador	$13,192	C
Guatemala	$12,700	C
Honduras	$9,401	E
Haiti	$4,524	E

Americas Average	$29,334	-
Emerging Markets Average	$39,578	-

Access the interactive all country GDP per Capita table

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Brazil’s GDP per Head Growth is Tiny: Compared With Other BRICs

INEQUALITY

The distribution of income in an economy and can be measured on a country by country basis by the Gini Coefficient. Gini values are not all up-to-date but in the case of Brazil the data relates to 2019, so is relatively recent.
World Economics has Indexed the Gini Coefficient in relation to each country for comparison purposes. The Index is on a scale of 0-100. A high value indicates a more egalitarian society - and a low value suggests a lot of the national income is in the hands of a relatively small section of the population.
Brazil ranks 114th globally, 23rd for the Americas region and 22nd in the Emerging Markets for Inequality.

Inequality Rankings: Americas Region
Index: 0-100, 0 = High Inequality; 100 = High Equality

Country Extract of country Inequality See full interactive table	Regional Rank	Inequality Index	Poverty % of Population

Chile	10	50.0	0.0%
Mexico	11	48.9	3.1%
Ecuador	12	48.0	6.5%
Costa Rica	13	41.3	2.1%
Panama	14	36.2	0.0%
Honduras	15	35.2	14.8%
Colombia	16	34.9	10.3%
Brazil	17	31.6	1.7%
Nicaragua	18	30.7	3.4%
Jamaica	19	30.7	0.0%
Guyana	20	30.7	0.0%
Bahamas, The	21	30.7	0.0%
Suriname	22	30.7	0.0%
Trinidad and Tobago	23	30.7	0.0%
Haiti	24	30.7	24.5%

Access the interactive all country Inequality table

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DEBT

World Economics produces GDP data in Purchasing Power Parity terms with added estimates for the size of the informal economy and adjustments for out-of-date GDP base year data.
Brazil's is officially reported as having a debt-to-GDP ratio is calculated to be 88% by the IMF.
Using the World Economics GDP database, Brazil's GDP is calculated to be 33% larger than official estimates. Its debt ratio is consequently calculated at 66.2%

Debt-to-GDP Ratio for Emerging Market Countries
Ranked by % of GDP

Country Extract of country debt See full interactive table	Global Rank	Debt-to-GDP Ratio

Cyprus	22	73.7%
Austria	23	72.2%
Jordan	24	72.2%
Zambia	25	71.1%
Tunisia	26	68.0%
Mongolia	27	67.2%
Mozambique	28	66.7%
Brazil	29	66.2%
Bahamas, The	30	66.1%
Germany	31	63.9%
China	32	62.4%
Hungary	33	60.7%
Jamaica	34	60.1%
Iceland	35	59.9%
Egypt	36	59.8%

Americas Average			54.3%
Emerging Markets Average			43.7%

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Debt-to-GDP Ratio

POPULATION

Brazil is the sixth most populous country in the world with approximately 215 million inhabitants.
Brazil conducted a national census in 2022. Read more from the World Economics Population Data Quality Ratings and see how Brazil compares to other countries around the world and in the Americas region.

Brazil's Population Breakdown

Country Extract of country Population See full interactive table	Population Size (Millions)	Median Age (Years)	Age Dependency (Young)	Age Dependency (Old)	Age Dependency (Total)

India	1,406.6	27.6	38.1%	10.1%	48.1%
United States	334.8	37.7	28.0%	25.6%	53.7%
Indonesia	279.1	29.4	37.6%	10.0%	47.6%
Pakistan	229.5	20.2	62.8%	7.2%	70.0%
Nigeria	216.7	17.0	80.6%	5.5%	86.1%
Brazil	215.4	32.8	29.4%	13.7%	43.1%
Bangladesh	167.9	26.3	39.1%	8.6%	47.7%
Russia	145.8	38.8	26.6%	23.4%	50.0%
Mexico	131.6	29.0	37.3%	12.2%	49.4%
Japan	125.6	48.4	20.1%	51.0%	71.1%
Ethiopia	120.8	18.5	70.2%	5.5%	75.7%
Philippines	112.5	24.5	47.8%	8.3%	56.2%
Egypt	106.2	23.9	53.2%	7.7%	60.8%

Access the interactive all country Population table

Brazil has a young population profile of 29.4% and a low old population profile of 13.7%. The average age is 34 years old.

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ENVIRONMENT

Brazil's total emissions of Carbon Dioxide and Methane are considerable placing it in the top 5 of polluters by volume but on per capita level, Brazil moves down the list considerably.
The World Economics Emissions Index (on a scale of 0-100, 0=bad, 100=good) gauges the relative emissions for a country. The Emissions Index is based on the equal weighting of total Carbon and Methane emissions.

Environmental Factors
Index: 0 = High Emissions, 100 = Low Emissions

Country Extract of country table See full interactive version	Emissions Index 0-100	Carbon Emissions Total	Carbon Emissions Per Capita	Methane Emissions Total	Methane Emissions Per Capita	Air Quality PM2.5	Water Access per capita

China	0.0	11,472.4	7.9	1,213.1	0.8	38.2	94.3%
United States	47.0	5,007.3	15.0	755.7	2.3	7.2	99.9%
India	60.6	2,709.7	1.9	668.8	0.5	50.2	90.5%
Russia	63.7	1,755.5	12.0	694.5	4.8	8.9	97.0%
Brazil	79.6	488.9	2.3	443.0	2.1	10.9	99.3%
Indonesia	81.2	619.3	2.2	389.7	1.4	19.3	92.4%
Pakistan	92.0	229.5	1.0	168.9	0.8	50.1	90.1%
Mexico	92.3	407.2	3.1	143.3	1.1	17.8	99.7%
Saudi Arabia	92.4	672.4	19.0	113.8	3.2	57.2	100.0%
Australia	92.6	391.2	15.2	138.0	5.4	8.9	100.0%
Canada	93.3	545.6	14.3	103.9	2.7	6.4	99.2%
Nigeria	93.5	137.0	0.7	143.8	0.7	55.6	77.6%

See: Access the interactive all country Environmental data table

Key:
Emissions Index numbers shown on a scale of 0-100.
0 = Bad, 100 = Good.

Notes:
Format: Carbon data in Million MtCO2e and Methane data in MtCO2e, Air Quality: PM2.5

Methodology: Total Carbon and Total Methane data for each country has been indexed on a scale of 0-100 by using the standard deviation from the mean for each country. The implied Indexes are averaged to calculate a total Emissions Index which focuses on each countries emissions.

Brazil was the 42th hottest country in the World in 2021 using average annual temperature data
Temperatures in Brazil have been steadily rising since 1980.

Averge Annual Temerature by Year: Brazil

Source: CCKP. World Bank Group, Climate Change Knowledge Portal

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SOCIAL

The World Economics Social Index averages multiple key social indicators covering Health, Education and Employment.
Brazil has a worse than average rank for its social metrics, 93rd out of 155 countries and 20th of 25 in the Americas region.

Social Factors: Americas Region
Index: 0 = Poor metrics, 100 = Excellent metrics

Country Extract of country table See full interactive version	Social Factors Index	Life Expectancy Years	Median Age Years	Mean Years Schooling Years	Spend on Education % of GDP	Population in Work Population %	Population in Poverty %

Panama	79.0	76.2	28.8	9.9	3.9%	54.0%	0.0%
Costa Rica	75.8	77.0	32.9	8.8	6.7%	48.6%	2.1%
Uruguay	75.6	75.4	35.2	9.0	4.6%	55.2%	0.0%
Dominican Republic	73.3	72.6	27.1	9.3	4.6%	57.0%	0.8%
Jamaica	71.1	70.5	30.8	9.2	6.0%	57.2%	0.0%
Ecuador	70.7	73.7	27.6	8.8	3.7%	60.7%	6.5%
Peru	70.4	72.4	28.2	8.9	4.0%	70.3%	4.4%
Brazil	69.9	72.8	32.8	8.1	6.0%	50.0%	1.7%
Mexico	69.7	70.2	29.0	9.2	4.3%	56.4%	3.1%
Colombia	68.3	72.8	30.8	8.9	4.9%	55.4%	10.3%
Nicaragua	67.4	73.8	24.5	7.1	4.6%	59.7%	3.4%
El Salvador	65.2	70.7	26.3	7.2	4.1%	53.3%	1.3%
Guyana	64.8	65.7	25.5	8.6	4.5%	43.6%	0.0%
Bolivia	64.2	63.6	23.9	9.8	9.8%	69.5%	4.4%
Honduras	58.7	70.1	23.4	7.1	6.4%	55.3%	14.8%

Access the interactive all country Social data table

Key:
Social Factors Index numbers shown on a scale of 0-100
0 = Poor social metrics, 100 = Excellent social metrics.

4.4% of Brazil's population is living in poverty. Poverty is defined as living on less than $1.90 a day at 2011 international prices
Brazil spends 6.2% of GDP on education, each pupil receives 8.0 years of schooling (on average) - under a year less than the global average.

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GOVERNANCE

Brazil ranks 68th globally, 14th in the Americas region and 12th in the Emerging Markets for Governance.

Governance Factors Index: Americas Region
Index: 0 = Poor, 100 = Good

Country Extract of country Governance See full interactive table	Governance Index (0-100 Index)	Rule of Law Index (0-100 Index)	Press Freedom (0-100 Index)	Political Rights (0-100 Index)	Corruption Perceptions (0-100 Index)

Trinidad and Tobago	60.1	49.7	15.1	83.7	46.7
Argentina	57.3	42.2	16.6	88.4	42.2
Suriname	57.1	50.4	25.6	86.0	44.4
Guyana	54.6	43.7	17.5	76.7	44.4
Panama	53.4	47.1	32.2	88.4	40.0
Dominican Republic	52.0	50.6	17.0	69.8	35.6
Ecuador	50.4	45	30.3	79.1	40.0
Brazil	48.5	46.3	40.2	79.1	42.2
Peru	47.5	40.9	33.4	76.7	40.0
Bahamas, The	46.7	55.1	100.0	95.3	71.1
Colombia	41.9	42.4	54.2	74.4	43.3
Paraguay	41.9	40	37.0	72.1	31.1
El Salvador	38.8	33.3	41.6	67.4	36.7
Mexico	37.0	34.4	48.7	69.8	34.4
Bolivia	34.4	26.1	48.6	69.8	34.4

Access the interactive all country Governance table

Key:
The World Economics Governance Index gives equal weight to all four criteria.

Index numbers shown on a scale of 0-100.

Governance: 0 = Poor governance, 100 = As good as it gets.
Corruption Perceptions: 0 = Bad, 100 = Good.
Rule of Law: 0 = low rule of law, 100 = High rule of law.
Press Freedom: 0 = Low press freedom, 100 = High press freedom.
Political Rights: 0 = Low political rights, 100 = High political rights.

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