Coronavirus

Covid-19 crisis to push over half of Brazilian families into default

debt families default
Photo: Andrii Yalanskyi/Shutterstock

A survey carried out by credit reporting agency Boa Vista SCPC shows that 52 percent of Brazilian families will be unable to pay their bills in the coming months, due to the economic hardship created by the Covid-19 crisis. No less than 80 percent of households have slashed their budgets to reduce the financial impact of Brazil’s halted economy. 

A study published in November 2019 in online scientific journal Lancet Global Health traced a link between economic recession and adult mortality during Brazil’s financial crisis of 2014-2016. The researchers found that a 1-percentage-point increase in unemployment was associated with an increase of 0.50 in all-cause mortality rate per 100,000 people, with deaths largely due to cancer and cardiovascular disease.