The top 1% of Brazilians earned 17,447 reais a month last year, while the poorest half of their 210 million compatriots earned 540 reais per head. The increase in pay to the poorest reduces the Gini index to 0.518 in a country that is the 17th in the world in the gap between rich and poor.

In the last decade the difference between the income of the 1% megarich and that of the poorest 50% has been reduced significantly.