Rio, December 3, 2002 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - Brazil currently has 54 million poor people, which corresponds to 1/3 of the total population, according to the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics). Of this contingent, 49 million live on less than half the minimum wage, and the other 5 million have no income whatsoever.

The report on the situation of the world's population, produced by the United Nations Population Fund, in partnership with the IBGE, and issued today, shows that there are significant regional differences: whereas in the Northeast, the percentage of people who survive on less than R$ 106 is 51%, in the Southeast, it comes to less than 18%. (DAS)