Brazil takes a historic HDI leap with focused planning and public spending

Amid a heated debate about Brazil’s flagship cash-transfer scheme last week, a United Nations report revealed that the country had made a giant leap on the Human Development Index (HDI) scale. The controversy erupted after a television presenter, Luciano Huck, said that Bolsa Família programme “discourages the poor from working”. As Mr. Huck was being fact-checked on social media, the UN Development Programme report revealed that the scheme had played a key role in Brazil raising its HDI score from 0.744 in 2012 to 0.805 in 2024. On the UN scale, which ranges from 0 to 1, the score of 0.805 places Brazil in the category of “very high human development.” Among the Afro-Brazilians, the HDI grew by 10.3% over 12 years, almost twice the rate for the Whites. “Achieving this positive result is not by chance; it is the result of strong public policies and an inclusive national project focused on combating inequalities,” said Guilherme Boulos, the Federal Minister for Social Development, at the launch of the report in Brasilia.