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Anyone Who Formalizes a Business and Undertakes It in Old Age Can Triple Their Income
News summary
- This is what the study Senior Entrepreneurship From the Perspective of the National Household Sample Survey (PNAD Contínua) points out, from the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae), carried out using data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
- The Sebrae study shows that, in the fourth quarter of 2025, formalized entrepreneurs 60+ reached the highest average income of the entire historical series, which began in 2012. On average, they received R$7,458, an amount more than three times higher than the income of informal entrepreneurs (R$2,152).
- According to the study, formalization not only increases income in the short term, but increases the return throughout the entrepreneur's entire life cycle and promotes advances in the education of senior entrepreneurs.
- Between 2012 and 2025, the proportion of these business owners without education or with incomplete primary education fell by 22 percentage points, from 68% to 46%.
Anyone who formalizes a business and undertakes it in old age can triple their income. This is what the study Senior Entrepreneurship From the Perspective of the National Household Sample Survey (PNAD Contínua) points out, from the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae), carried out using data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). The Sebrae study shows that, in the fourth quarter of 2025, formalized entrepreneurs 60+ reached the highest average income of the entire historical series, which began in 2012. On average, they received R$7,458, an amount more than three times higher than the income of informal entrepreneurs (R$2,152).
According to the study, formalization not only increases income in the short term, but increases the return throughout the entrepreneur's entire life cycle and promotes advances in the education of senior entrepreneurs. Between 2012 and 2025, the proportion of these business owners without education or with incomplete primary education fell by 22 percentage points, from 68% to 46%. The share with complete secondary education or more increased from 24% to 42%, an increase of almost 19 percentage points.
“Brazil had 4.5 million senior entrepreneurs in the fourth quarter of 2025, an increase of 59% compared to 2012. Despite this growth, the universe of entrepreneurs over the age of 60 still represents only 15% of the total number of business owners, while the senior population corresponds to 20% of all Brazilians of working age”, says the president of Sebrae, Rodrigo Soares. Profile As entrepreneurs age, their participation as heads of household increases. Among young people, the proportion is 37% and among seniors this representation grew to 67%, in the fourth quarter of 2025. In the opposite direction, the condition of having a child in the household, common among younger people (35.5%), practically disappears among the elderly (0.7%). In the historical series, however, the proportion of seniors occupying the position of head of household fell from 78% in 2012 to 67% in 2025. The drop was accompanied by an increase in the status of spouse, which rose from 18% to 27% in the period.
Source: Agência Brasil
