A study entitled Mapa Autismo Brasil (MAB) – “Brazil’s Autism Map” – the first national sociodemographic profile of people with autism, released this week, reveals that access to diagnosis and therapies in Brazil remains limited.

Published by Institute Autismos, the study surveyed people with autism and their caregivers across all Brazilian states with the aim of identifying the profile of Brazilians with autism and the services to which they have access.

Notícias relacionadas:

• Autism disinformation on Telegram soars in Latin America and Caribbean.

The data show that, even though about a quarter of the Brazilian population has access to health insurance, only 20.4 percent of those surveyed reported having received a confirmed diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) through the national health care network, the SUS.

The study also indicates that only 15.5 percent of respondents said they receive therapy through the public health system, while more than 60 percent reported using health insurance plans or paying privately to access the service.

In a statement, the institute says that the issue is even more widespread.

“The results of Brazil’s Autism Map also reveal that 56.5 percent of respondents (including those using the SUS and the private sector) reported that the autistic person in question (the respondent themselves or the person under their care) receives up to two hours of therapy per week, which falls short of international recommendations – which call for multidisciplinary therapies and a high weekly workload.”

Analysis

In May 2025, Brazil’s statistics bureau IBGE for the first time released data from the 2022 census which identified 2.4 million people with ASD in Brazil – 1.2 percent of the Brazilian population.

“Unlike the census, Brazil’s Autism Map conducts a socioeconomic analysis and gauges access to services for people with autism and their caregivers, contributing to an evaluation of the current landscape and highlighting the need for improvements in public policies,” the institute noted.

Diagnosis

Brazil’s Autism Map reveals difficulties in accessing ASD diagnosis through the SUS as well as delays in diagnosis in general, which hinders early interventions.

The results indicate a concentration of diagnoses in the age group up to four years (51.7%), followed by 5–9-year-olds (17.1%) and 10–14-year-olds (6.1%).

“The difference between the median (four years) and the mean (11 years) reveals that, although most diagnoses occur early, there is still a significant number of diagnoses made at older ages, which raise the sample’s mean,” the institute warned.

The study also found that the first signs of ASD are most often noticed by close family members (55.9%) or by the autistic person themselves (11.4%), while doctors and teachers identified the first signs in only 7.3 and 9.4 percent of cases respectively.

According to the study, neurologists or pediatric neurologists were responsible for the diagnosis in 67 percent of cases, followed by psychiatrists (22.9%), which, according to the institute, highlights the need for access to specialists, who are not always available publicly or even privately in some areas.

The data show that 55.2 percent of diagnoses were made in the private healthcare system, 23 percent through health insurance plans, and only 20.4 percent through the SUS, with proportions varying across different regions of Brazil – the study indicates greater reliance on the SUS for diagnosis in the North and Northeast.

School and adult life

The results also provide a snapshot of access to education. Of the total, 83.7 percent reported attending an educational institution, with 52.26 percent attending public schools and 31 percent attending private schools, while 16 percent said they did not attend any institution.

Regarding accessibility and inclusion resources, 39.9 percent reported receiving no support whatsoever. Among the most common forms of support are social educators, monitors, or tutors (23.8%), specialized support such as school mediators or therapeutic assistants (18.8%), pedagogical adaptations (18.8%), and resource rooms (18.1%).

“The data show that school attendance alone does not guarantee effective inclusion. The high proportion of students without basic support suggests weaknesses in the implementation of inclusive education policies and inequality in access to educational resources stipulated by law,” the institute reported.

Among those aged 18 to 76, 29.9 percent of autistic respondents reported being unemployed or without income, which, according to the institute, highlights a structural challenge to inclusion.

Among those who reported being employed, 21.1 percent work as civil servants, 20 percent have formal employment, 8.1 percent are self-employed, 6.7 percent operate as legal entities, and 5.9 percent work informally.

Additionally, 4.1 percent rely on government assistance, 3.5 percent receive a retirement or disability pension, and 0.35 percent are in the military.

Data released by the Ministry of Labor and Employment show that 255,321 formal jobs were created in February. The indicator measures the difference between hires and layoffs.

The net figure is higher than in January, when the country created 115,018 jobs.

Notícias relacionadas:

• Brazil’s labor informality rate falls.
• Unemployment up to 5.8% in February, still the lowest for the quarter.

Job creation fell 42 percent compared to February of last year, driven by high interest rates and the economic slowdown. In the same month in 2025, 440,432 jobs were created, according to adjusted data that account for late filings by employers.

Cumulative figures

In January and February, there was a 37.8 percent drop in the cumulative number of formal jobs. There were 370,339 in the first two months of 2026, compared to 594,953 in the same period in 2025.

The data include adjustments, as the Ministry of Labor records late submissions by employers and revises figures from previous months.

Sectors

When broken down by industry, all five sectors surveyed reported formal job growth in February:

• Services: 177,953 jobs
• Manufacturing: 32,027 jobs
• Construction: 31,099 jobs
• Agriculture and Livestock: 8,123 jobs
• Retail: 6,127 jobs

Traditionally, February is a slow month for retail, as the sector recovers from the end of temporary Christmas contracts.

Formal employment

With the creation of formal jobs, the number of formally employed workers reached 48,837,602 at the end of February, up 0.53 percent from January and 2.19 percent from the same month last year.

A formal employment contract guarantees the rights provided under labor law, such as 30 days of paid vacation per year, a monthly meal allowance, and unemployment insurance.

Brazil’s unemployment rate for the quarter ending in February reached 5.8 percent, higher than the moving average for the quarter ending in November, when it stood at 5.2 percent.

Despite the increase, the result is the lowest for a quarter ending in February since 2012, when the time series of the Continuous National Household Sample Survey (PNAD) began. In the same quarter of 2025, the rate was 6.8 percent.

Notícias relacionadas:

• Brazil creates nearly 1.3M formal jobs in 2025.

In the quarter ending in February, Brazil had 102.1 million people in employment and 6.2 million looking for work.

The data were released on Friday (Mar. 27) by the statistics bureau IBGE.

Criteria

The IBGE survey tracks labor market trends for people aged 14 and older and takes into account all forms of employment – including formal, temporary, and self-employment, for example. 

According to the institute’s criteria, only those who actively sought a job 30 days prior to the survey are considered unemployed. The survey visits 211 thousand households across all Brazilian states and the Federal District.

The highest unemployment rate ever recorded in the series that began in 2012 was 14.9 percent, reached in two periods – in the rolling quarters ending in September 2020 and March 2021, both during the COVID-19 pandemic.