Brazil's wealth gap narrows

Brazil's wealth gap narrowed as the country's Gini coefficient dropped from 0.521 in 2008 to 0.518 in 2009, according to a survey released Wednesday.

The Gini coefficient is an index to measure wealth imbalance that goes from zero to one. The higher the figures, the more concentrated the wealth is.

According to the nationwide household survey by Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, the access to basic services has increased from 2004 to 2009.

In 2004 only 50 million households had access to electric lighting. The number grew to 57.9 million in 2009.

Waste collection reached 51.9 million households in 2009, up from 43.7 million in 2004. Water supply by a general network climbed to 49.5 million households in 2009 from 42.4 million in 2004.

Workers' income increased 2.2 percent between 2008 and 2009, but failed to reach the level of 1996.

The survey also showed negative figures, mostly due to the financial crisis. The unemployed surged from 7.1 million in 2008 to 8.4 million in 2009, up 18.5 percent.

Source: Xinhua