Brazilian workers' average monthly income has increased by 4.6 percent from 2004 to 2005, a survey showed on Friday.

The monthly income increased from 770 reais (about 358 U.S. dollars) in 2004 to 805 reais (about 374 dollars) in 2005, according to the National Household Sample Survey (PNAD), carried out by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).

The survey cited the reduction of the rate of inflation and the rise of the country's minimum wage, as reasons for the growth of the average income in 2005, the first significant positive variation since 1996.

The gains were concentrated on the population with lower income, the survey said, adding that the average income of the 50 percent of the workers with the lowest wages increased by 6.6 percent, above the 4.6 percent overall average rise.

This led to a slight fall in the country's income concentration rate, the institute said.

Despite the progress, IBGE officials stressed that income in Brazil continued to be highly concentrated in the hands of a minority. According to the survey, the wealthiest 10 percent pocketed 44.7 percent of the country's total income, and the poorest 10 percent had just 1.1 percent of the national income.

Ten years ago, the income concentration ratio was even higher, at 47.1 percent to 1.1 percent, the survey said.

The survey interviewed 408,148 persons in 142,471 household units in Brazil's 26 states and the Federal District (Brasilia).

Source: Xinhua