[pedrocr]

Comparing to Sweden is a bit extreme. Portugal's comparable GDP is 24k. It's still a factor of 3x but a lot of the costs in a welfare state scale with the wealth of the economy as they are just directly cost of labor. Having a reasonable welfare state, that's not world-class but isn't the US either, should be possible.

[317070]

Yes, Brazil is practically halfway between Portugal and Angola. It's half the GDP per capita of Portugal, but twice that of Angola: https://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&...

[rbanffy]

Brazil is a country of contrasts. If you are upper middle class, you more or less live in a "Portugal", have excellent healthcare, your kids go to good schools and your retirement will be comfortable. If you are below a certain line, things get worse very quickly until you reach the poorest rural regions where you live effectively like the poorest people in the world.