Downward transfers within families in Brazil: Who receives financial support from the elderly?

In Brazil, the proportion of elderly living with their offspring has increased steadily over the last decades. At the same time, the Social Security System has become almost universal, allowing most elderly to receive social benefits in the form of cash transfers. Accordingly, total net public transfers to the elderly exceeded net public transfers to children by more than fivefold in 2002. Not surprising, many children and adults rely on elderly income, but we still do not know who they are. This study benefits from using the methodology developed by the National transfers Account (NTA) project to examine the main demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of household members who cohabitate with elderly in Brazil. We distinguish five living arrangements and households where the elderly have a surplus (disposable income greater than current private consumption). We are particularly interest to look at the characteristics of families and individuals who life with elderly “net givers”.