Posts tagged with "poverty"

The Brazilian government’s TV channel, TVNBR, released a very interesting short documentary about extreme poverty in Brazil this week. While Brazil has become a development success story due to a growing middle class and declining levels of poverty, this documentary points out that pockets of extreme poverty still persist.

The film focuses on two cities: Brasília and Recife. When you think of cities with poverty in Brazil, the country’s capital might not be the first one to come to mind, but it’s one of the most unequal cities in the country. The documentary discusses how a lack of government investment has left parts of the city with few services; some residents working as trash pickers at the local landfill to make ends meet. Later, it talks about Recife, where government programs and investments in one of the city’s poorest and most violent neighborhoods helped turn the community around.

While this film is recommended for intermediate and advanced speakers (there are no subtitles!), it will also help you practice listening to different accents, particularly the Pernambuco accent.

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Hat tip to Super Carrinho for the link.

NPR has had quite a few stories about Brazil lately, and they are always excellent and interesting.

Check out the latest news features and be sure to listen to them, too!

The Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper online has an excellent map showing poverty and development rates throughout Brazil. On the map, you can see level of family development, access to work, income, child development, standard of living conditions, access to information and learning, and vulnerability. You can also search by municipality.

Below, the map shows living conditions, with the darkest colors being the worst and the lighter blues and browns being the best, since the value closest to one indicates a higher level of development. To examine the map, click here.

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