Brazil education studies reveal learning gaps and inequality

A study by Todos Pela Educação reveals that six out of ten students completing public high school in Brazil demonstrate learning levels below the expected basic standard. The analysis, based on Saeb results from 2005 to 2025, highlights a critical situation in mathematics, where adequate learning progressed only 3.3 percentage points over two decades, reaching 8.5%.

Data from the Atlas of Social Mobility further illustrates deep educational inequality. Only 1.58% of children from the poorest 25% of Brazilian families complete higher education, compared to 37.77% of those from the wealthiest 25%. This gap is significant for social mobility, as IBGE data indicates that professionals with higher education degrees earn an average income 163.1% higher than those with only a high school education.