Socioeconomic vulnerability in the cearens semiarid

a study from the state mesoregions

Abstract

The semi-arid region is seen, in academic and institutional spheres, as a territory that presents recurring histories of vulnerabilities, the latter being understood as the failure to meet the basic needs for the survival of individuals, which involves elements related to health, education, income and sanitation. Based on this, there is that, in recent years, the semi-arid region of Ceará pointed to the need for specific care, appropriate social and economic development mechanisms, in addition to the lack of public policies that address the problems faced by the region. The objective of this study is to create an index that measures the vulnerability levels of the semi-arid region of Ceará, by proposing the Socioeconomic Vulnerability Index (IVSE), based on the Factor Analysis (AF) methodology and with data extracted from the Demographic Census of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), in 2010. The results pointed to the creation of three factors, named socioeconomic conditions, demographic conditions and health condition, respectively. So, it is concluded that there is a great heterogeneity in socioeconomic vulnerability in this region. Furthermore, the need to redimension the role of the State in areas considered to be strategic, such as health, education and the generation of jobs and income, is highlighted, given that high levels of vulnerability have been identified in the region studied.

Keywords: Vulnerability. Semiarid. Ceará. Factor analysis. Development.