Resource information
Brazil entered the 1990s suffering the
consequences of a lost decade of high inflation and slow
growth. Between 1980 and 1990, per capita income declined in
real terms, and the share of the population in extreme
poverty rose from 16.5 to 19 percent -and from 36 to 42
percent in the Northeast. Income distribution worsened. Key
social indicators improved little, particularly in the
Northeast. These adverse conditions persisted in the early
1990s because the government failed to stabilize the economy
and to articulate a development agenda. Conditions improved
only with the success of the 1994 Real Plan. Stabilization
contributed to a decline in poverty and enabled the
government to articulate a development agenda with clear
goals for education and other sectors during the remainder
of the 1990s.
