Brazilians report lower income and food insecurity after pandemic

A study entitled Epicovid 2.0: Inquérito nacional para avaliação da real dimensão da pandemia de Covid-19 no Brasil (“Epicovid 2.0: A national survey to assess the real scale of the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil”), carried out by the Ministry of Health, shows that 48.6 percent of Brazilians saw a reduction in income due to the pandemic and 47.4 percent faced food insecurity, i.e. people who were unable to provide food for themselves on a daily basis.

The impact was stronger among the poorest and in households headed by women. Approximately 34.9 percent of the people lost their jobs and 21.5 percent interrupted their studies during the pandemic. Furthermore, 14.7 percent of those interviewed reported the death of a family member due to COVID-19.

The figures show that more than 28 percent of the Brazilian population—60 million people—declared they had been infected by the disease. 

The survey

Epicovid 2.0 was conducted across 133 Brazilian cities, with a sample of 33,250 interviews. The respondents were selected at random, with only one person per household answering the questionnaire.

Coordinated by the Ministry of Health, the research was carried out by the Federal University of Pelotas (UFPel), in cooperation with the Catholic University of Pelotas (UCPel), the Federal University of Health Sciences of Porto Alegre (UFCSPA), the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), and the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV).