Abstract:"Fortunately, both poverty and extreme poverty have shown a significant decrease in Brazil. According to data from the National Household Sample Survey (Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios—PNAD), poverty dropped over 20 per cent between 2004 and 2013, to about 9 per cent of the Brazilian population. Extreme poverty fell from about 7 per cent to 4 per cent over the same period. Much of this decline was due to the expansion of then labour market and the significant increase in transfers to poor households, through both social security and the Bolsa Família programme (Rocha 2013)". (...)