Classe C
View from the terrace of Vicentina Silva Machado's apartment in Rocinha, the biggest "favela" in Rio de Janeiro. “Favelas” are home to millions of people in Brazil’s biggest cities and carry a heavy stigma as places of violence and misery. But Brazil's recent economic good fortunes and successful social programs have been lifting millions of Brazilians from poverty and promoting an explosive growth of Brazil's lower middle class. It was thanks to the consumption of this new middle class, now the majority of the country's population, that Brazil managed to avoid being seriously afected by the recent global economic meltdown. It’s in places like Rocinha, which are getting wealthier together with its residents, that the impact of this transformation can be most clearly noticed.
