Understanding Politics

Education

Education under Figueiredo

1979–1985

The World Bank adult literacy series only begins at 74.6% in 1980 (population aged fifteen and over), and the catalog's other education series start after this government. This page therefore records mostly what changed in the rules: the return of the constitutional earmark of revenue for education and the end of compulsory vocational training in secondary school.

This visualization is descriptive and does not show that a government caused the change. See the methodology.

What started

Cuts, withholdings and limits

No cut recorded for this period.

Change in the series over the period

From the year before the start to the last year of the period, with an optional lag. Compare with Latin America and neighbors: if all moved together, the change is probably not a government's doing.

Absolute change in the series unit (p.p. = percentage points); relative change, in %, only where shown.

no lag

Indicator Window BrazilArgentinaChileColombiaMexicoLatin America & Caribbean
Adult literacy rate (% of people aged 15 and over) % 1979–1984 no datano datano datano datano data+1.9 p.p.
Mean years of schooling (UNDP) years 1979–1984 no datano datano datano datano datano data

1-year lag

Indicator Window BrazilArgentinaChileColombiaMexicoLatin America & Caribbean
Adult literacy rate (% of people aged 15 and over) % 1980–1985 * no datano datano datano datano data+1.9 p.p.
Mean years of schooling (UNDP) years 1980–1985 * no datano datano datano datano datano data

2-year lag

Indicator Window BrazilArgentinaChileColombiaMexicoLatin America & Caribbean
Adult literacy rate (% of people aged 15 and over) % 1981–1986 * no datano datano datano datano data+1.8 p.p.
Mean years of schooling (UNDP) years 1981–1986 * no datano datano datano datano datano data

Adult literacy rate (% of people aged 15 and over)

%. Background bands: Brazil's presidents, not those of the chart's other geographies. Years with data: Brazil: 1980–2024 (22 years); Argentina: 1980–2020 (4 years); Chile: 1982–2017 (7 years); Colombia: 1993–2024 (21 years); Mexico: 1980–2024 (25 years).

Adult literacy rate (% of people aged 15 and over)
Source: World Bank — World Development Indicators · Source version: 2026-10-08 · Collected on: 2026-11-01 · License: CC-BY-4.0
Download data (CSV) · View the code: collection code · chart.ts
View the data as a table
Year BrazilArgentinaChileColombiaMexico
1980 74.6 93.9 – – 83.0
1982 – – 91.1 – –
1990 – – – – 87.6
1991 – 96.0 – – –
1992 – – 94.3 – –
1993 – – – 91.1 –
1996 – – – 91.2 –
2000 86.4 – – – 90.5
2001 – 97.2 – – –
2002 – – 95.7 – 90.3
2004 88.6 – – 92.8 90.9
2005 – – – 92.8 91.6
2006 89.6 – – 92.3 91.7
2007 90.0 – – 92.7 92.8
2008 90.0 – – 93.4 92.9
2009 90.3 – – 93.2 93.4
2010 90.4 – – 93.4 93.1
2011 91.4 – 96.7 93.6 93.5
2012 91.3 – – – 94.2
2013 91.5 – 96.3 – 94.0
2014 91.7 – – 94.2 94.6
2015 92.1 – 96.9 94.3 94.5
2016 92.8 – – 94.7 94.9
2017 93.1 – 96.4 94.9 95.0
2018 93.2 – – 95.1 95.4
2019 93.9 – – 95.3 95.4
2020 94.7 99.1 – 95.6 95.3
2021 94.8 – – 95.7 95.7
2022 94.4 – – 95.3 95.1
2023 94.6 – – 95.5 95.8
2024 94.7 – – 95.3 95.6

† series break

Mean years of schooling (UNDP)

years. Background bands: Brazil's presidents, not those of the chart's other geographies. Years with data: all series: 1990–2023.

Mean years of schooling (UNDP)
Source: UNDP — Human Development Report · Source version: HDR 2025 · Collected on: 2026-10-26 · License: CC-BY-3.0-IGO
Download data (CSV) · View the code: collection code · chart.ts
View the data as a table
Year BrazilArgentinaChileColombiaMexico
1990 3.7 8.1 8.4 6.3 5.9
1991 3.8 8.2 8.5 6.4 6.0
1992 4.0 8.3 8.5 6.4 6.1
1993 4.1 8.3 8.6 6.5 6.2
1994 4.3 8.4 8.7 6.6 6.2
1995 4.4 8.5 8.8 6.6 6.3
1996 4.6 8.5 8.9 6.7 6.4
1997 4.8 8.6 8.9 6.7 6.4
1998 4.9 8.7 9.0 6.8 6.5
1999 5.1 8.7 9.1 6.8 6.6
2000 5.3 8.8 9.1 6.9 6.7
2001 5.4 8.9 9.3 6.9 6.8
2002 5.6 9.4 9.4 7.0 7.0
2003 5.8 9.9 9.6 7.0 7.1
2004 6.0 10.0 9.7 7.1 7.3
2005 6.2 10.1 9.7 7.3 7.5
2006 6.3 10.2 9.8 6.8 7.9
2007 6.5 10.3 9.8 7.2 7.9
2008 6.7 10.4 10.1 7.3 7.9
2009 6.8 10.5 10.0 7.3 8.1
2010 6.9 10.6 9.9 7.4 8.0
2011 7.0 10.7 9.5 7.5 8.3
2012 7.2 10.8 9.8 7.6 8.5
2013 7.3 10.9 10.0 7.8 8.4
2014 7.4 10.9 10.1 8.0 8.4
2015 7.5 10.9 10.3 8.1 8.6
2016 7.7 10.9 10.4 8.2 8.6
2017 7.8 11.0 10.6 8.4 8.7
2018 8.0 11.1 10.8 8.5 8.9
2019 8.1 11.1 10.9 8.6 9.1
2020 8.3 11.1 11.1 8.9 9.2
2021 8.4 11.2 11.3 9.0 9.3
2022 8.4 11.2 11.3 9.0 9.3
2023 8.4 11.2 11.3 9.0 9.3

† series break

How to assess a government and its policies critically

Other factors that moved the same series

The 1980s were marked by the external debt crisis and the early-decade recession, which cut public revenue, and by the momentum of enrollment expansion inherited from the 1960s and 1970s. The literature points out that the earmark only showed in budgets from 1986, in the next government.

Limitations

Sources

#NumberOrigin
1 74.6 wdi.se_adt_litr_zs BRA 1980 · World Bank — World Development Indicators · Source version 2026-10-08 · Collected on 2026-11-01