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Indicator

Income inequality (Gini index)

Gini index of per capita household income (all sources): 0 = perfect equality, 1 = maximum inequality.

Unit
index (0 to 1)
Population
Residents of permanent private households
Territory
Brazil
Frequency
Annual
Desirable direction
Lower is better

Comparisons

The start and end points always come from the same series. The rule for choosing the years is given next to each comparison.

  • 2002 → 2009: 0.589 → 0.543 index (0 to 1) (-7.9%).
    Series: Annual PNAD (Ipea calculation). Rule: Last year before the first term (2002) and last year available within the second (2009; the PNAD was not carried out in 2010, a Census year).
  • 2022 → 2025: 0.517 → 0.511 index (0 to 1) (-1.2%).
    Series: Continuous PNAD (IBGE). Rule: Last year before the third term (2022) and last full year available, in the same series.

Annual PNAD (Ipea calculation)

Gini of per capita household income calculated by Ipea with the Annual PNAD. Inactive series; no data in Census years (2000, 2010), when the PNAD was not carried out; ends in 2014.

Methodology sheet (checked against the official metadata)
Variable
DISOC_RDCG: Income - inequality - Gini coefficient - INACTIVE
Unit in the source
-
Territory
Brazil
Population
People in private households (Annual PNAD; excluding the rural area of the former North region through 2003)
Frequency in the source
Annual
Annual value
Annual PNAD value
Values
index
Seasonal adjustment
not applicable
Revisions
Inactive series; no Census years.
Metadata
official lookup (checked on 2026-10-14)
Annual PNAD (Ipea calculation), 1995 to 2014, in index (0 to 1). The values are in the table below.Lula 1Lula 20.0000.1510.3010.4520.6021995199719992001200320052007200920112013
Annual PNAD (Ipea calculation). Source: IBGE, Annual PNAD; Ipea calculation (Ipeadata) (Ipeadata DISOC_RDCG), extracted on 2026-10-14. Hollow points: preliminary or partial data. Shaded bands, bounded by dashed lines: years of Lula's terms in office (also marked in the table).
Table with all values (18 periods)
Annual PNAD (Ipea calculation) (index (0 to 1))
PeriodValueStatusTerm in office that year
19950.601revisedother government
19960.602revisedother government
19970.602revisedother government
19980.600revisedother government
19990.594revisedother government
20010.596revisedother government
20020.589revisedother government
20030.583revisedLula 1
20040.573revisedLula 1
20050.570revisedLula 1
20060.563revisedLula 1
20070.556revisedLula 2
20080.546revisedLula 2
20090.543revisedLula 2
20110.531revisedother government
20120.530revisedother government
20130.528revisedother government
20140.518revisedother government

Download CSV · Original query (Ipeadata DISOC_RDCG)

Continuous PNAD (IBGE)

First visit (fifth visits in 2020 to 2022); 2021 weighting; reweighting based on the 2022 Census may revise the series in the 2026 cycle.

Methodology sheet (checked against the official metadata)
Variable
10681: Gini index of per capita household income, at average prices of the year
Unit in the source
Index
Territory
Brazil (N1)
Population
Residents of permanent private households, except boarders, domestic workers, and their relatives
Frequency in the source
annual (2012 to 2025)
Annual value
Annual indicator of the Continuous PNAD (first visit; fifth in 2020 to 2022)
Values
index
Seasonal adjustment
not applicable
Revisions
2021 weighting; reweighting based on the 2022 Census applied to the annual themes in the 2026 cycle (claims indice-gini.ibge.*).
Metadata
official lookup (checked on 2026-10-14)
Continuous PNAD (IBGE), 2012 to 2025, in index (0 to 1). The values are in the table below.Lula 30.0000.1360.2730.4090.5452012201420162018202020222024
Continuous PNAD (IBGE). Source: IBGE, Continuous PNAD (income from all sources) (SIDRA 7435, variável 10681), extracted on 2026-10-14. Hollow points: preliminary or partial data. Shaded bands, bounded by dashed lines: years of Lula's terms in office (also marked in the table).
Table with all values (14 periods)
Continuous PNAD (IBGE) (index (0 to 1))
PeriodValueStatusTerm in office that year
20120.540finalother government
20130.532finalother government
20140.526finalother government
20150.524finalother government
20160.537finalother government
20170.539finalother government
20180.545finalother government
20190.543finalother government
20200.523finalother government
20210.543finalother government
20220.517finalother government
20230.517finalLula 3
20240.504finalLula 3
20250.511finalLula 3

Download CSV · Original query (SIDRA 7435, variável 10681)

Series breaks

gini-pnad-ipea × gini-pnadc-ibge: The Annual PNAD and the Continuous PNAD have no direct correspondence: in 2012 the PNAD gives 0.530 and the Continuous PNAD 0.540. The series are not spliced.

In the Synthesis of Social Indicators 2017, IBGE reports that per capita household income has been collected since the implementation of the Continuous PNAD in 2012 and that, owing to methodological differences, it is not comparable with PNAD data, discontinued in 2015; it also reports that in 2015 the questionnaire was changed to improve the capture of actual labor income.[27]

Context and interpretation

SIDRA table 7435, from the annual Continuous PNAD, presents the Gini Index of per capita household income, at average prices of the year, under the subject Income from all sources.[1]

IBGE defines the Gini index as a measure of the concentration of a distribution, whose value ranges from zero (perfect equality) to one (maximum inequality).[2]

IBGE's per capita household income includes usual income from work (persons aged 14 or older) and, for other sources, the amount received in the reference month; the deflator is the IPCA.[3]

For IBGE, income from other sources includes government social programs (Programa Bolsa Família/Auxílio Brasil, BPC-LOAS, and others), official retirement and pensions, rent and leasing, unemployment insurance or closed-season fishing insurance, alimony, donations and allowances from non-residents, and other income.[4]

IBGE table 7435 (Gini Index of per capita household income, at average prices of the year) has an annual periodicity, from 2012 to 2025.[5]

IBGE calculates the annual indicators of income from all sources using the first visit to the household; in 2020, 2021, and 2022, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Gini index and the other indicators used the fifth visit.[6]

With the results of the 2022 Population Census, IBGE updated the populations used in the expansion factors of the Continuous PNAD and applied the same methodology to the reweighting of the historical series, starting in 2012 (Technical Note 02/2025, of July 31, 2025). According to the note, on that date the estimates for the rolling quarters were released; the annual themes scheduled for release still in 2025 would have their series reweighted in their respective releases, and those already released before July 31, 2025, in the 2026 release cycle.[7]

According to Technical Note 02/2025, the annual themes of the Continuous PNAD already released before July 31, 2025 would have their estimates reweighted in the 2026 release cycle.[8]

The Gini of per capita household income published by IBGE changed between editions: in the 2024 bulletin, 2019 = 0.544 and 2024 = 0.506; in the 2025 bulletin, 2019 = 0.543 and 2024 = 0.504.[9]

The Master Sample of the Continuous PNAD from 2012 to 2024 was selected using the Geographic Operational Base of the 2010 Population Census; IBGE announced a complete update based on 2022 Census data.[10]

In Ipeadata, the PNADS_GINI series is the Gini coefficient of per capita household income from all sources, multiplied by 100.[11]

In Ipea's PNADS_GINI series, the results of the old PNAD were multiplied by the factor that, in 2012, equates the result of the old PNAD to that of the survey that replaced it; it is therefore an adjusted series, not the original PNAD data.[12]

The Ipeadata series DISOC_RDCG, of the Gini of per capita household income calculated with the PNAD, is inactive and has no data in Population Census years, when the PNAD was interrupted.[13]

SIDRA table 5801 (Sustainable Development Indicators, 2004 to 2015) measures the Gini of monthly income of persons aged 15 or older with income: this is a different concept from the Gini of per capita household income.[14]

Hoffmann, Jesus, and Almeida (2018) note that IBGE warns that the methodological differences between the traditional PNAD and the continuous PNAD prevent direct correspondence between the results of the two surveys.[15]

The traditional PNAD was last carried out in 2015, with September as the reference month; the continuous PNAD has been conducted since 2012, with collection spread throughout the year.[16]

Until 2003, the PNAD did not include the rural area of the former North region.[17]

Hoffmann, Jesus, and Almeida (2018) state that, in the case of the distribution of per capita household income, with data from the traditional PNAD through 2015 and from the continuous PNAD for 2016 and 2017, it is difficult to know whether the change in results from 2015 to 2016 is due to the methodological differences between the two surveys or is a real economic change.[18]

According to IBGE, in 2024 (0.504) the Gini index of per capita household income fell and reached the lowest value in the Continuous PNAD series, with a slight fluctuation in 2025 (0.511).[19]

According to IBGE, the Gini of per capita household income fell from 0.540 to 0.524 between 2012 and 2015, rose to 0.537 in 2016, and reached the highest value in the series in 2018 (0.545).[20]

IBGE reports that, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the loss of employment hit mainly lower-income workers, which may have contributed to the decline in labor income inequality among those who remained employed; in 2020, the share of social programs in per capita household income rose from 1.7% to 5.9%.[21]

In Ipea Communiqué No. 155 (2012), the Gini index of per capita household income falls continuously between 2001 and 2011, according to the PNAD.[22]

Ipea Communiqué No. 155 decomposes the decline in inequality over the decade by PNAD income sources: labor 58%, social security 19%, Bolsa Família 13%, BPC 4%, and other income 6%.[23]

The method of Communiqué No. 155 is the decomposition of the Gini by income sources (Shorrocks, 1982), in which total inequality is equivalent to the sum of the contributions of all sources, and the dynamic decomposition (Mookherjee; Shorrocks, 1982), which analyzes how each income source contributes to changes in inequality between two points in time.[24]

Communiqué No. 155 states that, without the redistributive policies sponsored by the Brazilian State, inequality would have fallen 36% less over the decade; in the same passage, the decline is decomposed by income sources, with Social Security (19%), Bolsa Família (13%), and the Continuous Cash Benefit (BPC) (4%).[25]

Communiqué No. 155 links the minimum wage to the decline in inequality through benefits: real increases in the minimum wage benefit the poorest retirees and pensioners, and the BPC is another channel of the minimum wage adjustment policy.[26]

In a technical note of November 29, 2017, IBGE reported that, although household income had been collected in the Continuous PNAD since 2012, it was releasing at that time only the 2016 data, because of the revision of the questionnaire in the 4th quarter of 2015, which changed the capture of actual labor income.[28]

In a technical note on the main methodological differences among the PME, the PNAD, and the Continuous PNAD, IBGE states that these differences make comparisons among the surveys unfeasible.[29]

In the preliminary results of the 2022 Population Census sample, IBGE reports that the Gini index of average monthly per capita household income was 0.542 for Brazil in 2022; IBGE calls these results preliminary because the sample expansion used preliminary Weighting Areas, and the non-preliminary results will be released later.[30]

In Methodological Notes No. 03/2025, IBGE states that the differences between the 2022 Census and the Continuous PNAD make a direct comparison of labor and income results unfeasible, and that the per capita household income variable also has significant differences in construction between the two surveys.[31]

What remains to be documented

  • Impact evaluations: Communiqué No. 155 does not explain how it obtained the 36%; no causal assessment is cited for that number.

Sources and evidence

Excerpts are quoted in the original language of the source.

  1. 1. SIDRA table 7435, from the annual Continuous PNAD, presents the Gini Index of per capita household income, at average prices of the year, under the subject Income from all sources.

  2. 2. IBGE defines the Gini index as a measure of the concentration of a distribution, whose value ranges from zero (perfect equality) to one (maximum inequality).

  3. 3. IBGE's per capita household income includes usual income from work (persons aged 14 or older) and, for other sources, the amount received in the reference month; the deflator is the IPCA.

  4. 4. For IBGE, income from other sources includes government social programs (Programa Bolsa Família/Auxílio Brasil, BPC-LOAS, and others), official retirement and pensions, rent and leasing, unemployment insurance or closed-season fishing insurance, alimony, donations and allowances from non-residents, and other income.

    • Rendimento de todas as fontes 2025 (PNAD Contínua, informativo) · IBGE Official statistics
      Where: p. 1, footnote 2. Accessed October 13, 2026.
      “programas sociais do governo (Programa Bolsa Família/Auxílio Brasil, Benefício de Prestação Continuada, da Lei Orgânica da Assistência Social - BPC-LOAS, outros programas sociais do governo); aposentadoria e pensão de instituto de previdência oficial”
    • Rendimento de todas as fontes 2025 (PNAD Contínua, informativo) · IBGE Official statistics
      Where: p. 1, footnote 2, continued. Accessed October 13, 2026.
      “aluguel e arrendamento; seguro-desemprego ou seguro-defeso; pensão alimentícia, doação e mesada de não morador; e outros rendimentos”

  5. 5. IBGE table 7435 (Gini Index of per capita household income, at average prices of the year) has an annual periodicity, from 2012 to 2025.

  6. 6. IBGE calculates the annual indicators of income from all sources using the first visit to the household; in 2020, 2021, and 2022, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Gini index and the other indicators used the fifth visit.

    • PNAD Contínua, Nota técnica 01/2025: Sobre os rendimentos de todas as fontes · IBGE, Directorate of Surveys Official statistics
      Where: p. 2, paragraph 4. Accessed October 13, 2026.
      “Para o cálculo anual dos indicadores de rendimento de todas as fontes a partir da PNAD Contínua utiliza-se a primeira visita ao domicílio.”
    • PNAD Contínua, Nota técnica 01/2025: Sobre os rendimentos de todas as fontes · IBGE, Directorate of Surveys Official statistics
      Where: p. 2, paragraph 6. Accessed October 13, 2026.
      “a média do rendimento domiciliar per capita, o índice de Gini e todos os demais indicadores de rendimentos dos anos de 2020, 2021 e 2022 foi adotada a quinta visita ao domicílio, em alternativa ao padrão até então adotado (primeira visita) e temporariamente suspenso em decorrência da pandemia de COVID-19.”
    • SIDRA, descrição da tabela 7435 para a API (desctabapi) · IBGE Official statistics
      Where: Source block. Accessed October 13, 2026.
      “Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios Contínua, acumulado de primeiras visitas, exceto 2020-2022, acumulado de quintas visitas, devido à pandemia de Covid-19.”

  7. 7. With the results of the 2022 Population Census, IBGE updated the populations used in the expansion factors of the Continuous PNAD and applied the same methodology to the reweighting of the historical series, starting in 2012 (Technical Note 02/2025, of July 31, 2025). According to the note, on that date the estimates for the rolling quarters were released; the annual themes scheduled for release still in 2025 would have their series reweighted in their respective releases, and those already released before July 31, 2025, in the 2026 release cycle.

  8. 8. According to Technical Note 02/2025, the annual themes of the Continuous PNAD already released before July 31, 2025 would have their estimates reweighted in the 2026 release cycle.

  9. 9. The Gini of per capita household income published by IBGE changed between editions: in the 2024 bulletin, 2019 = 0.544 and 2024 = 0.506; in the 2025 bulletin, 2019 = 0.543 and 2024 = 0.504.

  10. 10. The Master Sample of the Continuous PNAD from 2012 to 2024 was selected using the Geographic Operational Base of the 2010 Population Census; IBGE announced a complete update based on 2022 Census data.

    • PNAD Contínua, Nota técnica 01/2025: Sobre os rendimentos de todas as fontes · IBGE, Directorate of Surveys Official statistics
      Where: p. 1, last paragraph. Accessed October 13, 2026.
      “A Amostra Mestra utilizada no período de 2012 a 2024 foi selecionada a partir de dados provenientes da Base Operacional Geográfica definida no Censo Demográfico de 2010, com atualizações de parte da malha de setores censitários feitas anualmente. Uma atualização completa da mesma ocorrerá a partir dos dados do Censo Demográfico 2022.”

  11. 11. In Ipeadata, the PNADS_GINI series is the Gini coefficient of per capita household income from all sources, multiplied by 100.

  12. 12. In Ipea's PNADS_GINI series, the results of the old PNAD were multiplied by the factor that, in 2012, equates the result of the old PNAD to that of the survey that replaced it; it is therefore an adjusted series, not the original PNAD data.

    • Ipeadata, metadados da série PNADS_GINI (OData v4) · Ipea Official statistics
      Where: field SERCOMENTARIO, sentence 3. Accessed October 13, 2026.
      “todos os resultados originais obtidos diretamente da fonte foram multiplicados pelo fator que, em 2012, iguala o resultado da antiga PNAD ao da PNAD”

  13. 13. The Ipeadata series DISOC_RDCG, of the Gini of per capita household income calculated with the PNAD, is inactive and has no data in Population Census years, when the PNAD was interrupted.

  14. 14. SIDRA table 5801 (Sustainable Development Indicators, 2004 to 2015) measures the Gini of monthly income of persons aged 15 or older with income: this is a different concept from the Gini of per capita household income.

  15. 15. Hoffmann, Jesus, and Almeida (2018) note that IBGE warns that the methodological differences between the traditional PNAD and the continuous PNAD prevent direct correspondence between the results of the two surveys.

  16. 16. The traditional PNAD was last carried out in 2015, with September as the reference month; the continuous PNAD has been conducted since 2012, with collection spread throughout the year.

  17. 17. Until 2003, the PNAD did not include the rural area of the former North region.

  18. 18. Hoffmann, Jesus, and Almeida (2018) state that, in the case of the distribution of per capita household income, with data from the traditional PNAD through 2015 and from the continuous PNAD for 2016 and 2017, it is difficult to know whether the change in results from 2015 to 2016 is due to the methodological differences between the two surveys or is a real economic change.

  19. 19. According to IBGE, in 2024 (0.504) the Gini index of per capita household income fell and reached the lowest value in the Continuous PNAD series, with a slight fluctuation in 2025 (0.511).

    • Rendimento de todas as fontes 2025 (PNAD Contínua, informativo) · IBGE Official statistics
      Where: p. 14, end of the paragraph on the per capita household Gini. Accessed October 13, 2026.
      “Em 2022, o índice de Gini do rendimento domiciliar per capita caiu para 0,517, estabilizando-se nesse valor em 2023. Em 2024 (0,504), assim como observado para outras medidas de”
    • Rendimento de todas as fontes 2025 (PNAD Contínua, informativo) · IBGE Official statistics
      Where: p. 15, paragraph 1 (continued). Accessed October 13, 2026.
      “também diminuiu, alcançando o menor valor da série, havendo ligeira oscilação em 2025 (0,511).”
    • Rendimento médio da população brasileira atinge R$ 3.367 em 2025 · IBGE, News Agency Government communication
      Where: paragraph on inequality indicators. Accessed October 13, 2026.
      “Já o índice de Gini do rendimento domiciliar per capita apresentou leve variação, passando de 0,504, em 2024, para 0,511 no último ano, mas permaneceu inferior ao nível registrado em 2019 (0,543) e em todo o período que precedeu a pandemia.”

  20. 20. According to IBGE, the Gini of per capita household income fell from 0.540 to 0.524 between 2012 and 2015, rose to 0.537 in 2016, and reached the highest value in the series in 2018 (0.545).

    • Rendimento de todas as fontes 2025 (PNAD Contínua, informativo) · IBGE Official statistics
      Where: p. 14, paragraph on the per capita household Gini. Accessed October 13, 2026.
      “(de 0,540 para 0,524), que foi revertida a partir de 2016, quando o índice aumentou para 0,537, chegando ao maior valor da série histórica em 2018 (0,545).”
    • Rendimento de todas as fontes 2025 (PNAD Contínua, informativo) · IBGE Official statistics
      Where: PDF p. 15, paragraph on the Gini of per capita household income. Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “Entre 2012 e 2015, houve uma tendência de redução da desigualdade do rendimento per capita medida pelo índice de Gini (de 0,540 para 0,524), que foi revertida a partir de 2016, quando o índice aumentou para 0,537, chegando ao maior valor da série histórica em 2018 (0,545).”

  21. 21. IBGE reports that, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the loss of employment hit mainly lower-income workers, which may have contributed to the decline in labor income inequality among those who remained employed; in 2020, the share of social programs in per capita household income rose from 1.7% to 5.9%.

    • Rendimento de todas as fontes 2025 (PNAD Contínua, informativo) · IBGE Official statistics
      Where: p. 7, section on the labor income Gini. Accessed October 13, 2026.
      “o que pode ter contribuído para a queda da desigualdade do rendimento do trabalho da população que se manteve ocupada.”
    • Rendimento de todas as fontes 2025 (PNAD Contínua, informativo) · IBGE Official statistics
      Where: p. 8, section "Share of the various types of income". Accessed October 13, 2026.
      “Nesse ano, o aumento da participação das outras fontes se deu na rubrica programas sociais do governo (de 1,7%, em 2019, para 5,9%, em 2020)”
    • Rendimento de todas as fontes 2025 (PNAD Contínua, informativo) · IBGE Official statistics
      Where: PDF p. 7, section on the labor income Gini. Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “No início da pandemia de COVID-19, estimou-se uma redução brusca do contingente de ocupados, afetando sobretudo aqueles em posições mais vulneráveis e com menores rendimentos médios”

  22. 22. In Ipea Communiqué No. 155 (2012), the Gini index of per capita household income falls continuously between 2001 and 2011, according to the PNAD.

  23. 23. Ipea Communiqué No. 155 decomposes the decline in inequality over the decade by PNAD income sources: labor 58%, social security 19%, Bolsa Família 13%, BPC 4%, and other income 6%.

  24. 24. The method of Communiqué No. 155 is the decomposition of the Gini by income sources (Shorrocks, 1982), in which total inequality is equivalent to the sum of the contributions of all sources, and the dynamic decomposition (Mookherjee; Shorrocks, 1982), which analyzes how each income source contributes to changes in inequality between two points in time.

  25. 25. Communiqué No. 155 states that, without the redistributive policies sponsored by the Brazilian State, inequality would have fallen 36% less over the decade; in the same passage, the decline is decomposed by income sources, with Social Security (19%), Bolsa Família (13%), and the Continuous Cash Benefit (BPC) (4%).

  26. 26. Communiqué No. 155 links the minimum wage to the decline in inequality through benefits: real increases in the minimum wage benefit the poorest retirees and pensioners, and the BPC is another channel of the minimum wage adjustment policy.

  27. 27. In the Synthesis of Social Indicators 2017, IBGE reports that per capita household income has been collected since the implementation of the Continuous PNAD in 2012 and that, owing to methodological differences, it is not comparable with PNAD data, discontinued in 2015; it also reports that in 2015 the questionnaire was changed to improve the capture of actual labor income.

  28. 28. In a technical note of November 29, 2017, IBGE reported that, although household income had been collected in the Continuous PNAD since 2012, it was releasing at that time only the 2016 data, because of the revision of the questionnaire in the 4th quarter of 2015, which changed the capture of actual labor income.

  29. 29. In a technical note on the main methodological differences among the PME, the PNAD, and the Continuous PNAD, IBGE states that these differences make comparisons among the surveys unfeasible.

  30. 30. In the preliminary results of the 2022 Population Census sample, IBGE reports that the Gini index of average monthly per capita household income was 0.542 for Brazil in 2022; IBGE calls these results preliminary because the sample expansion used preliminary Weighting Areas, and the non-preliminary results will be released later.

  31. 31. In Methodological Notes No. 03/2025, IBGE states that the differences between the 2022 Census and the Continuous PNAD make a direct comparison of labor and income results unfeasible, and that the per capita household income variable also has significant differences in construction between the two surveys.