Evoking admiration and criticism, the programme is now 10 years old. Brazil still struggles to create real alternatives of income generation and decent employment for all citizens. But Bolsa-Família is one of the largest existing instruments of income transfer, benefiting 13.8 million families (almost 50 million people.) It means that approximately one in four Brazilians receives the benefit – the total population is about 198 million people. Considering the scope of the programme, it has a major impact on the Brazilian economy and on people’s lives.
In 10 years, about 12% (1.7 million people)of the total beneficiaries have even been able to give up the benefit. However, some experts warn that a wide majority cannot get out of this dependence relationship with the government. The benefit is for the “extremely poor”, those with a per capita income of BRL70 per month, and for the “poor”, those with a per capita income between BRL70,00 and BRL140 per month. The average monthly stipend is BRL152. But will Bolsa-Família alone solve the problem of poverty?