Illiteracy among blacks reaches 7.4%, more than double among whites, IBGE says; understand

The numbers reveal the different educational opportunities between the two groups, the institute points out

One of the main obstacles to racial equality in Brazil it is the school. While it has gradually improved for Brazilians in general, it is still very unequal between blacks and whites, as the new National Survey Continues in Campione on Families (PNAD) – Education 2022, published this Wednesday 7 from Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).

According to the survey, Brazil had 9.6 million illiterates in 2022, equal to an illiteracy rate of 5.6%. Compared to 2019, there was a slight decrease of 0.5 percentage points, or a reduction of around 500 thousand people. Breaking it down by race, the IBGE shows that while there is a decline in illiteracy even among blacks and browns, the difference between the two groups is still very large.

In 2022, for example, just 3.4 percent of whites age 15 and older were illiterate. The percentage between blacks and browns, however, was double (7.4%) in the same age group. In the over-60s group – where most of the illiterates are concentrated – the difference is even greater, from 9.3% of whites to 23.3% of blacks. These differences are repeated in all age groups.

For the first time, the PNAD recorded that more than half (53.2%) of the population aged 25 and over has completed at least compulsory basic education. I mean, they had at least completed high school. However, this percentage is 47% for blacks and browns and 60.7% for whites. From 2016 to 2022, this difference decreased slightly — it was 16.6 percentage points six years ago — but remained at a high level, indicating that educational opportunities were different for the two groups, according to the IBGE.

In the 18-24 age group, 36.7% of whites were studying in 2022, but only 26.2% of blacks. Among whites in this age group who are studying, 29.2% were in college degrees, versus 15.3% among blacks and browns. Furthermore, no fewer than 70.9 percent of blacks at that age were either out of school or had completed high school education. The rate among whites was 57.3%. Furthermore, 6% of young whites in this age group already had a college degree, while 2.9% among blacks and browns.

The average number of years of education for people aged 25 and over in 2022 was 9.9 years. From 2019 to 2022, this average grew by 0.3 years. As for color or race, again, the difference was striking, spanning 10.8 study years for whites and 9.1 years for blacks or browns, or a 1.7 year difference between these groups, which has shrunk slightly since 2016, when it was 2.0 years apart.

Regarding color or race, the adjusted high school net attendance rate was 80.8% for whites, while for blacks or browns it was 71.7%. Comparing 2019 and 2022 there is growth for blacks or browns (5 percentage points) and stability for whites, although there is a difference between the two groups of 9.1 percentage points.

The number of people aged 15-29 who are neither in education nor in work decreased by 2.4 percentage points between 2019 and 2022, when it reached 20.0%. Once again the racial difference calls attention. Among whites the percentage rose from 17.3% to 15.8%, while among blacks it rose from 25.7% to 22.8%.

Source: Terra

Rose

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