36,4% of mothers have only one child, 15,9% have three, and 10,4% have four or more - Photo: Fabio Motta / Rio City Hall
According to the Rio de Janeiro City Hall – based on data from the IBGE Demographic Census, compiled by the Secretariats of Economic Development (SMDE) and Policies for Women and Care (SPM-Rio) – the city has 1,77 million mothers, representing 62,7% of the population of women in Rio aged 15 or older and 28,5% of the total population of Rio.
The fertility pattern of mothers in Rio de Janeiro indicates that 37,2% have two children, 36,4% have only one child, 15,9% have three children, and 10,4% have four or more children.
Of this total number of mothers in Rio de Janeiro, 60,1% have at least completed high school, with 22,9% having completed higher education. Regarding race, 53,0% of mothers are Black (37,1% mixed-race and 15,9% Black) and 46,7% are White. In terms of age, 8,8% are between 20-29 years old; 17,2% (30-39 years old); 20,8% (40-49 years old); 18,6% (50-59 years old); and 33,8% (over 60 years old).
Women in the job market
According to data from the Continuous National Household Sample Survey (PNAD Contínua) by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), the unemployment rate for women in Rio de Janeiro decreased by 8,7 percentage points in the last five years, going from 17,7% in 2020 to 9,1% in 2025. This improvement in access to work is a result of public policies aimed at empowering and empowering women.
As an example, in the last five years the Secretariat for Policies for Women and Care has already trained more than 480 women for the job market, with free training in areas such as technology, industry, commerce, gastronomy, languages and entrepreneurship – always with strategic partnerships with universities, technical institutions and private networks.
The data shows the strength and centrality of mothers in the construction of the city of Rio. Many of these women support their homes, care for their families, and still face challenges in accessing job and income opportunities. Therefore, investing in professional training, economic autonomy, and care policies is working towards the development of the city and the reduction of inequalities, says Mariana Xavier, Secretary of Policies for Women and Care in Rio.
There is a dynamism in the economy of the city of Rio that encourages the creation of job opportunities and income growth, a result of public policies that we have adopted. This improves the labor market as a whole, benefiting this group of women, many of whom are heads of households in Rio, explains Osmar Lima, municipal secretary of Economic Development.
