Rio Janeiro – Every year, more people turn older than 40, reflecting a trend of aging population. According to the National Survey by Household Sampling (Pnad), disclosed on Friday (18th), from 2007 to 2008, the total number of people that age grew 4.5%.
According to the Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics (IBGE), which was responsible for the survey, the population aged 60 or older has also increased. In 2008, 21 million Brazilians were in that age bracket, or 11.1% of the total. In the year before, there were 19.7 million.
The trend of aging is more pronounced in the states of Rio de Janeiro and Rio Grande do Sul, in which 14.9% and 13.5% of the population are 60 or older, respectively. In terms of regions, the rate is higher in the South (38.1%) and Southeast (37.8%).
Younger Brazilians (up to 4 years old), in turn, are in higher number in the states of Acre (11%), Roraima (10.2%) and Amazonas (10.1%). In 2008, the North region was the only one in the country in which the number of people in that age bracket (1.4 million) exceeds that of inhabitants over 60 years old (1.1 million).
“The North region traditionally has a younger age structure,” said the manager of the Pnad, Maria Lucia Vieira. “There, women have a higher fertility rate [number of children] and life expectancy is lower due to disease, access to healthcare and living conditions,” she explained.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
