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Brazil - The extension of the General Social Insurance Scheme
4. Brazil - The extension of the General
Social Insurance Scheme
Brazil is a country committed to its social expenditure, and particularly committed to the extension of social security. A proof of such a commitment is
the country‘s well- structured social security scheme and the innovations made in expanding coverage.
The Brazilian social security system Previdência Social - Social Security is divided into three essential schemes, briefly explained below
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: 1 General Social Insurance Scheme RGPS: together with the social insurance scheme
for civil servants, it is Brazils main social security scheme, ensuring the coverage of private sector workers, covering employers, employed workers, domestic workers,
independent workers, and rural workers. It is characterized by being a compulsory registration scheme, and by its public management.
2 General Social Insurance Scheme for Civil Servants RPPS: this scheme has many features in common with the general scheme, such as mandatory registration, and
public management. The main difference is the fact that it is specifically for civil servants.
3 Supplementary Insurance Scheme: this scheme stands out for being a supplementary private management and voluntary registration scheme aimed at workers with a
higher income. Through this scheme, beneficiaries may have access to increases in their retirement pension
―aposentadoria‖, among other benefits which surpass the limits of the other two schemes.
There are also further types of voluntary personal saving, as well as social assistance programmes targeted at the most vulnerable social groups. Nevertheless, for the purposes
of this document, we shall focus our analysis on the General Scheme, and on the coverage expansion options it offers independent workers.
4.1. Social security coverage situation
According to the data of the Brazilian Social Welfare Ministry 2008a, in 2007, 64 per cent of the working population was registered in one of the social protection schemes
as contributors. The remainder non-contributory 36 per cent represent approximately 29.87 million people. However, of the total number of non-contributors, around 1.22 million
people access social security services as beneficiaries, which is why the percentage of the socially unprotected working population corresponds to 35 per cent.
Figure 2 shows the distribution of the working population benefitting from social protection in the year 2007. The first to stand out are the contributors of the Social
Insurance General Scheme 72 per cent, followed by Special Insurance contributors 15 per cent, by the contributors of Civil Servant and Military specific Schemes 11 per cent,
and lastly by those who have access to social protection as beneficiaries 2 per cent.
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For a more detailed analysis of Brazils Social Welfare System, see document «Panorama da Previdência Social Brasileira» - «Overview of Brazilian Social Welfare» Ministério da Previdência
Social, 2008a - Ministry of Social Welfare.
Innovations in extending social insurance coverage to independent workers
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Figure 2. Brazil: Overview of the Working Populations Social Protection, 2007
Source: Social Welfare Ministry, 2008a based on the 2007 National Household Survey.
Own-account workers stand out among the groups with greater coverage problems. According to the data of the Social Welfare Ministry 2008a, in 2007 approximately 44
per cent of such workers having contributory capacity did not have social security, whereas in the group of workers without contributory capacity 31.7 per cent were in the same
situation.
According to the information given by the Social Welfare Ministry 2008a, own- account workers had a 23.7 per cent coverage rate in 2007, which is low when compared to
civil servants 100 per cent, private sector employees 76.7 per cent, and domestic workers 34.4 per cent.
The most recent data available for same Ministry reveal that 48 per cent of the economically active population are contributors to one of the social protection schemes.
In 2008, the Social Insurance General Scheme had a total of 39,652,510 contributors, the category of individual contributors being the second one in importance 14.60 per
cent, surpassed only by the category of employed workers either in the public or private sector, who represent 80 per cent of this schemes total number of contributors.
4.2. Innovative measures for inclusion in social insurance
The enactment of the 1988 Federal Constitution is one of the main Brazilian social security landmarks, since it entailed a series of changes in social security, and above all,
the consolidation of the Social Security System Alves Rangel et al., 2009. Specifically, Article 194 establishes the general provisions for Brazilian social
security, referencing essential aspects such as universality of coverage, uniformity and equivalence which must characterise the benefits and services of urban and rural
populations, among others, and which are vitally important in building a comprehensive social security system.
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Brazil - The extension of the General Social Insurance Scheme
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