According to the Brazilian Annual Report of Social Information (Relação Anual de Informações Sociais), ‘informal care worker’ was the occupation with the largest growth rate between 2007 and 2017, growing over 500%, from 5,263 to 34,051 registered individuals (Brazilian Ministry of Economy, 2018). However, we do not know how many of these individuals provide care specifically for people living with dementia. It is also common that people who have low-paid jobs also work as informal care workers (generally informally) as a source of extra income.

A study  published in 2017 using data from the National Health Care Survey (PNS 2013, in Portuguese) showed that among older people who needed help to carry out at least one daily life activity, 81.8% received informal care only, 5.8% received paid care only, 6.8% received both paid and unpaid care, and 5.7% did not receive any care (Lima-Costa et al., 2017). Care homes in Brazil usually hire informal care workers and these individuals are not necessarily trained to perform that role and ‘learn in service’ about how to care for someone living with dementia. Care workers are commonly hired privately by people from middle and high socio-economic classes. However, we do not have official data on the specific characteristics of these people.

References:

Brazilian Ministry of Economy. (2018). RAIS 2018. http://www.rais.gov.br/sitio/index.jsf

Lima-Costa, M. F., Peixoto, S. V., Malta, D. C., Szwarcwald, C. L., Mambrini, J. V. de M., Lima-Costa, M. F., Peixoto, S. V., Malta, D. C., Szwarcwald, C. L., & Mambrini, J. V. de M. (2017). Cuidado informal e remunerado aos idosos no Brasil (Pesquisa Nacional de Saúde, 2013). Revista de Saúde Pública, 51. https://doi.org/10.1590/s1518-8787.2017051000013