Education Inequalities in Contemporary Brazil: Definition, Measurement, and Outcomes

Ernica, Mauricio; Rodrigues, Erica Castilho; Soares, José Francisco

doi:10.1590/dados.2025.68.1.345x

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Original Articles • Dados rev. ciênc. sociais 68 (1) • Apr 2025 • https://doi.org/10.1590/dados.2025.68.1.345x copy

Education Inequalities in Contemporary Brazil: Definition, Measurement, and Outcomes^* * This article was written as part of the Educational Inequalities in Contemporary Brazil project, which is based at the Center for Public Policy Studies of the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) and is supported by the Tide Setúbal Foundation. The authors would like to thank Vitor Maia Senna Delgado, Carolina Silva Pena, and Fernanda Luíza Tobias, who contributed to the project at various stages.

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Abstract

This article proposes an indicator that describes each Brazilian municipality’s learning level of its elementary school students, as well as learning inequalities among groups of students defined by socioeconomic status, race, and sex. This indicator is necessary because learning inequalities are growing and are not observed by the country’s main educational indicator, the Basic Education Development Index (IDEB). This study initially conceptualizes justice in education, positioning itself in the debate on theories of justice. Then, it presents the methodological aspects of the indicator and the results obtained. The main finding is that the subjects and school grades in which the highest number of municipalities increased their learning levels are also those in which there was a strong increase in inequalities.

right to education; educational assessment; justice in education; education inequalities; IDEB

	Below Basic	Basic	Adequate/Advanced
Portuguese language – fifth grade	3,26	18,43	78,31
Mathematics – fifth grade	1,72	18,44	79,84
Portuguese language – ninth grade	4,4	23,32	72,28
Mathematics – ninth grade	2,83	30,29	66,88

Level	Fifth grade	Ninth grade
High	> -0.27	> -0.45
Medium-high	-0.6 < x < -0.27	-0.60 < x < -0.45
Medium	-1.06 < x < -0.6	-0.83 < x < -0.60
Low-medium	-1.35 < x < -1.06	-1.16 < x < -0.83
Low	< -1.35	< -1.16

	Extreme inequality	High inequality	Inequality	Low inequality	Equity	Atypical situations
Fifth-grade Portuguese Language NSE	[--, -0.962)	[-0.962, -0.506)	[-0.506, -0.00151)	--	[-0.00151, 0.00151)	[0.00151, --)
Fifth-grade Portuguese Language race	[-- ,-0.899)	[-0.899, -0.54)	[-0.54, -0.00151)	--	[-0.00151, 0.00151)	[0.00151, --)
Fifth-grade Portuguese sex	--	[-- ,-0.599)	[-0.599, -0.205)	[-0.205, -0.00151)	[-0.00151, 0.00151)	[0.00151, --)
Fifth-grade Mathematics NSE	[-- , -1.01)	[-1.01, -0.541)	[-0.541, -0.00151)	--	[-0.00151, 0.00151)	[0.00151, --)
Fifth-grade Mathematics race	[-- , -0.934)	[-0.934 ,-0.549)	[-0.549, -0.00151)	--	[-0.00151, 0.00151)	[0.00151, --)
Fifth-grade Mathematics sex	--	[-- ,-0.636)	[-0.636, -0.216)	[-0.216, -0.00151)	[-0.00151, 0.00151)	[0.00151, --)
Ninth-grade Portuguese language NSE	[-- , -0.876)	[-0.876, -0.468)	[-0.468, -0.00108)	--	[-0.00108, 0.00108)	[0.00108, --)
Ninth-grade Portuguese language race	[-- , -0.849)	[-0.849, -0.488)	[-0.488, -0.00108)	--	[-0.00108, 0.00108)	[0.00108, --)
Ninth-grade Portuguese language sex	--	[-- , -0.628)	[-0.628, -0.235)	[-0.235, -0.00108)	[-0.00108, 0.00108)	--
Ninth-grade Mathematics NSE	[-- ,-0.907)	[-0.907,-0.477)	[-0.477,-0.00108)	--	[-0.00108, 0.00108)	[0.00108, --)
Ninth-grade Mathematics race	[-- ,-0.852)	[-0.852,-0.502)	[-0.502, -0.00108)	--	[-0.00108, 0.00108)	[0.00108, --)
Ninth-grade Mathematics sex	--	[--, -0.597)	[-0.597, -0.19)	[-0.19, -0.00108)	[-0.00108, 0.00108)	--

		Equity	Inequality	High inequality	Extreme inequality	Atypical situations	Total level
		High	0,05%	1,59%	0,31%	0,09%	0,00%	2,04%
	2011 n = 5531	Medium_high	0,52%	13,36%	3,74%	1,27%	0,09%	18,98%
		Medium	4,34%	21,28%	5,93%	2,64%	0,54%	34,73%
		Medium_low	5,77%	8,21%	1,50%	0,72%	1,27%	17,47%
		Low	10,69%	10,59%	1,18%	0,56%	3,76%	26,78%
		Total inequality	21,37%	55,04%	12,66%	5,28%	5,66%	100,00%
2017 n = 5544	High	0,36%	12,55%	9,56%	4,47%	0,02%	26,97%
	Medium_high	2,00%	14,32%	10,97%	5,30%	0,14%	32,74%
	Medium	4,89%	15,08%	3,45%	2,04%	0,56%	26,01%
	Medium_low	2,78%	5,74%	0,58%	0,36%	0,38%	9,83%
	Low	1,41%	2,22%	0,41%	0,16%	0,25%	4,46%
	Total inequality	11,44%	49,91%	24,96%	12,34%	1,35%	100,00%

		Equity	Inequality	High inequality	Extreme inequality	Atypical situations	s.d	Total
	2011 n = 5531	High	0,04%	0,89%	0,61%	0,49%	0,02%	0,00%	2,04%
		Medium_high	0,60%	7,67%	6,62%	3,87%	0,24%	0,00%	18,98%
		Medium	4,86%	12,66%	10,72%	5,15%	1,34%	0,00%	34,73%
		Medium_low	4,86%	6,38%	3,74%	1,12%	1,34%	0,02%	17,47%
		Low	9,46%	9,09%	3,78%	0,89%	3,56%	0,00%	26,78%
		Total inequality	19,82%	36,68%	25,47%	11,52%	6,49%	0,02%	100,00%
2017 n = 5544	High	0,70%	10,37%	9,24%	6,51%	0,14%		26,97%
	Medium_high	3,19%	10,32%	12,45%	5,81%	0,97%		32,74%
	Medium	6,15%	9,43%	6,10%	2,40%	1,93%		26,01%
	Medium_low	2,98%	3,30%	1,61%	0,45%	1,50%		9,83%
	Low	1,71%	1,03%	0,70%	0,29%	0,72%		4,46%
	Total inequality	14,74%	34,45%	30,09%	15,46%	5,27%		100,00%

		Equity	Inequality	High inequality	Extreme inequality	Atypical situations	Total
	2011 (09-07) n = 5556	High	0,11%	0,61%	0,22%	0,14%	0,00%	1,08%
		Medium_high	0,02%	1,76%	0,59%	0,52%	0,02%	2,92%
		Medium	0,41%	5,31%	2,47%	1,46%	0,09%	9,74%
		Medium_low	0,88%	15,24%	5,72%	2,23%	0,02%	24,10%
		Low	7,42%	45,68%	6,05%	2,52%	0,50%	62,17%
		Total inequality	8,84%	68,61%	15,05%	6,88%	0,63%	100,00%
2017 (15-13) n = 5557	High	0,04%	0,65%	0,83%	0,56%	0,00%	2,07%
	Medium_high	0,09%	2,18%	1,82%	1,04%	0,04%	5,16%
	Medium	0,41%	6,98%	5,22%	2,92%	0,11%	15,64%
	Medium_low	1,55%	15,46%	8,84%	4,48%	0,25%	30,57%
	Low	5,76%	31,62%	5,83%	2,88%	0,47%	46,55%
	Total inequality	7,85%	56,88%	22,53%	11,88%	0,86%	100,00%

		Equity	Inequality	High inequality	Extreme inequality	Atypical situations	s.d.	Total
	2011 n = 5556	High	0,09%	0,18%	0,40%	0,41%	0,00%	0,00%	1,08%
		Medium_high	0,09%	0,72%	1,03%	1,01%	0,07%	0,00%	2,92%
		Medium	0,58%	2,86%	3,06%	2,95%	0,29%	0,00%	9,74%
		Medium_low	2,02%	8,24%	7,31%	5,60%	0,94%	0,00%	24,10%
		Low	16,45%	17,73%	12,08%	6,77%	9,13%	0,02%	62,17%
		Total inequality	19,22%	29,73%	23,87%	16,74%	10,42%	0,02%	100,00%
2017 n = 5557	High	0,04%	0,40%	0,88%	0,72%	0,04%		2,07%
	Medium_high	0,31%	1,71%	1,71%	1,26%	0,18%		5,16%
	Medium	1,12%	6,21%	4,64%	3,10%	0,58%		15,64%
	Medium_low	4,17%	10,74%	9,27%	5,00%	1,39%		30,57%
	Low	15,46%	13,71%	7,86%	3,35%	6,17%		46,55%
	Total inequality	21,09%	32,77%	24,37%	13,42%	8,35%		100,00%

		Equity	Low inequality	Inequality	High inequality	Total
	2011 n = 5556	High	0,27%	1,68%	0,09%	0,00%	2,04%
		Medium_high	1,59%	15,82%	1,30%	0,27%	18,98%
		Medium	3,34%	25,04%	4,12%	2,22%	34,73%
		Medium_low	1,74%	12,73%	1,92%	1,08%	17,47%
		Low	3,49%	18,82%	2,84%	1,63%	26,78%
		Total inequality	10,43%	74,09%	10,27%	5,21%	100,00%
2017 n = 5557	High	1,84%	23,54%	1,44%	0,14%	26,97%
	Medium_high	4,24%	21,83%	5,45%	1,23%	32,74%
	Medium	2,72%	17,80%	3,46%	2,02%	26,01%
	Medium_low	0,94%	7,12%	1,08%	0,69%	9,83%
	Low	0,51%	2,94%	0,70%	0,31%	4,46%
	Total inequality	10,25%	73,23%	12,14%	4,38%	100,00%

		Equity	Low inequality	Inequality	High inequality	Total
	2011 n = 5556	High	0,43%	0,63%	0,02%	0,00%	1,08%
		Medium_high	0,70%	1,96%	0,18%	0,07%	2,92%
		Medium	2,03%	7,09%	0,47%	0,14%	9,74%
		Medium_low	5,08%	17,40%	1,19%	0,43%	24,10%
		Low	11,83%	44,73%	4,00%	1,62%	62,17%
		Total inequality	20,07%	71,81%	5,85%	2,27%	100,00%
2017 n = 5557	High	0,56%	1,33%	0,16%	0,02%	2,07%
	Medium_high	1,15%	3,74%	0,22%	0,05%	5,16%
	Medium	4,10%	10,62%	0,70%	0,22%	15,64%
	Medium_low	6,96%	20,53%	2,07%	1,01%	30,57%
	Low	9,83%	31,87%	3,22%	1,64%	46,55%
	Total inequality	22,60%	68,09%	6,37%	2,93%	100,00%

Level	Below basic		Adequate/advanced
Level	Median	Difference	Median	Difference
Low	45,5%		11,1%
Medium low	32,8%	-12,7%	19,4%	8,3%
Medium	21,4%	-11,3%	33,4%	14,0%
Medium high	14,3%	-7,2%	46,2%	12,8%
High	9,24%	-5,02%	58,9%	12,8%

Level	Below basic		Adequate/advanced
Level	Median	Difference	Median	Difference
Low	44,2%		14,8%
Medium low	37,2%	-7,0%	20,3%	5,5%
Medium	24,8%	-12,4%	33,0%	12,7%
Medium high	12,3%	-12,4%	53,1%	20,1%
High	7,3%	-5,0%	66,1%	12,9%

Inequality by NSE	Below basic		Adequate/advanced
Inequality by NSE	Medians	Variation	Medians	Variation
Equity	0,994	1,000	1,216	1,000
Inequality	0,629	-0,367	1,805	0,484
High inequality	0,442	-0,555	2,002	0,646
Extreme inequality	0,328	-0,670	2,515	1,068
Atypical situations	1,267		0,930

Inequality by NSE	Below basic		Adequate/advanced
Inequality by NSE	Medians	Variation	Medians	Variation
Equity	0,968	1,000	1,148	1,000
Inequality	0,565	-0,416	1,584	0,380
High inequality	0,375	-0,613	1,548	0,348
Extreme inequality	0,269	-0,722	1,797	0,565
Atypical situations	1,268		0,922

Instituto de Estudos Sociais e Políticos (IESP) da Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UERJ) R. da Matriz, 82, Botafogo, 22260-100 Rio de Janeiro RJ Brazil, Tel. (55 21) 2266-8300, Fax: (55 21) 2266-8345 - Rio de Janeiro - RJ - Brazil
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[1] E-mail: ernica@unicamp.br; E-mail: ericacastirodrigues@gmail.com; E-mail: francisco-soares@ufmg.br;