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Datafolha revealed that two in every three Brazilians carry debts, that rotating credit ensnares 27% of respondents, and that desperation led 52% to cut food, 50% to reduce utilities, and 38% to suspend the purchase of medicine to try to survive the financial crunch.
Two in every three Brazilians have some type of financial debt, according to a Datafolha survey released on Saturday (18) based on interviews conducted on April 8 and 9, 2026. The survey consulted 2,002 people in a sample proportional to all regions of the country, with an estimated error of two points up or down and a confidence level of 95%. The numbers depict a scenario in which debts are not limited to the banking system: 41% of Brazilians who turned to acquaintances for borrowed money simply did not pay it back. Among formally indebted individuals, 29% are overdue on credit cards, 26% have pending bank loans, and 25% owe commercial installment payments.
The pressure on household budgets has pushed Brazilians to make cuts that go far beyond the non-essential. Datafolha found that 64% eliminated leisure activities, 60% stopped eating out, another 60% switched brands for cheaper alternatives, 52% bought less food, half reduced spending on energy, water, and gas, 40% intentionally delayed bill payments, and 38% stopped purchasing medicine or honoring debt installments. When asked spontaneously about their biggest personal problem, 37% of Brazilians responded with financial issues: low income, accumulation of debts, and a cost of living that keeps rising.
The tightness index that ranks the financial situation of Brazilians
Datafolha constructed a metric that evaluates eight types of budget restrictions to measure the degree of distress families are experiencing. The result shows that 45% of Brazilians live under intense economic pressure: 27% at a level classified as tight and 18% in a severe condition, a range in which income commitment affects nearly all aspects of daily life. Another 36% are in a moderate situation, and only 19% were classified as free from significant restrictions.
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These percentages mean that for almost half of the population, the daily question is not “what to buy,” but “what to cut.” The fact that 52% of Brazilians have reduced their food purchases demonstrates that the adjustment has already surpassed the boundary of comfort and reached basic survival. And the 38% who have given up on medication to avoid increasing their debts reveal that the financial crisis has turned into a health risk: in a country where millions depend on continuous medication for hypertension, diabetes, and other chronic conditions, interrupting treatment due to lack of money transfers the cost of the present to a hospital emergency in the future.
How rotating credit became a trap for Brazilians
Datafolha found that 27% of Brazilians use the revolving credit of their credit cards, a mode that is automatically activated when the consumer pays only the minimum amount of the bill. Of this total, 5% resort to revolving credit regularly and 22% sporadically, but even occasional use can lead to accelerated indebtedness because the interest rates for this mode are among the highest in the national financial market. The unpaid balance is refinanced at rates that can exceed 400% per year, which means that a bill of a few hundred reais multiplies into thousands in a matter of months.
For Brazilians who are already operating at the limit, revolving credit functions as a mechanism that accelerates indebtedness instead of alleviating it. The consumer believes they are up to date because they paid the minimum, but in practice, they are incurring a new debt with each bill, and when they realize the accumulation, they no longer have credit available to cover even the next minimum amount. It is at this point that the card ceases to be a payment tool and becomes the primary source of financial distress. Of the 29% of Brazilians who are delinquent on their credit cards, a significant portion reached this situation through the revolving cycle.
What Brazilians owe beyond banks and credit cards
Debts are not concentrated only in the formal financial system. Datafolha identified that 28% of respondents have overdue essential service bills: 12% owe for phone and internet, 12% have pending taxes such as IPTU and IPVA, 11% accumulate debt on their electricity bill, and 9% on their water bill. These are services that no family can do without, and delays in these items generate immediate consequences: power cuts, suspension of phone lines, and inability to license vehicles.
The most revealing data about the depth of the crisis among Brazilians, however, is that of informal loans. Four in ten people who borrowed money from friends or relatives simply did not pay it back, a percentage that turns solidarity into a source of conflict and erodes bonds that should function as a safety net in difficult times. When even loans among acquaintances become unpayable debts, it is a sign that the problem has transcended the banking sphere and contaminated personal relationships for a large portion of the population.
What Datafolha numbers say about the remedy for the crisis of Brazilians
The combination of widespread indebtedness, abusive interest rates on revolving credit, and insufficient income creates a self-perpetuating cycle. Brazilian people who have cut back on food and medicine to try to pay off debts are not solving the problem: they are shifting the cost from one area to another, sacrificing health and nutrition in exchange for temporary financial relief that does not address the structural cause of the squeeze. The Datafolha survey is a snapshot from April 2026, but the conditions that generated this scenario have accumulated over years of high interest rates, weak economic growth, and persistent inflation on basic consumer items.
The remedy for this situation goes beyond individual budget management. As long as revolving credit charges interest above any reasonable repayment capacity and the income of Brazilians does not grow at the same pace as the cost of living, the levels of indebtedness are likely to remain at this level or worsen. The 37% who identify financial issues as their biggest personal problem are not talking about luxury or ambition: they are talking about food, electricity, water, and medicine, the four pillars that sustain daily life and that, for millions of families, have already ceased to be a guarantee.
And you, are you among the Brazilians who owe money? Have you ever had to cut back on medicine or food to balance the monthly bills? Share your experience in the comments.
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