Rio, October 13, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The quality of life in Brazil improved considerably between 1992 and 2002, but there is still much to do, especially in the Northeast, where the population continues to suffer from the lack of basic sanitation. The level of schooling is the lowest in the country, women have more children, and salaries are lower than anywhere else in the country. These are conclusions of the National Sample Survey of Residences (PNAD-2002), released on Friday (10) by the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics).

The president of the Institute, Eduardo Nunes, said that greater investments are needed in housing, education, and basic sanitation policies to improve the quality of life of the population. Nunes points out that social inequalities are aggravated by the high indexes of income concentration. "The Gini index, which measures income concentration, reveals that, in 2002, income concentration is still extremely high in Brazil, placing the country in one of the worst situations in comparison with other countries," the president of the IBGE added.

The female presence in the job market has also been growing, but men continue to receive higher salaries. The PNAD-2002 also highlights the high rate of growth in the number of residences with fixed-line or cell phones and the presence of personal computers. (DAS)