Estimating the costs for implementing a maternity leave cash transfer program for women employed in the informal sector in Brazil and Ghana

Table 1 Characteristics of the countries: Brazil and Ghana

Variable	Brazil	Ghana
Total Population, no	211,049,527	30,417,856
GDP per capita, PPP$	14652	5413
Informal employment, % ^a	38.27	83.18
Working-age population, % (15-64 years)	69.74	59.54
Labor force female, %	43.58	46.50
Population of women, no. (%)	107,316,363 (50.85)	15,001,771 (49.32)
Fertility rates, total births per woman	1.73	3.87
Current duration, maternity leave (weeks) for the formal sector^b	17	12
Exclusive breastfeeding, % of children aged under 6 months^c	45.0	52.1

Notes: GDP, Gross Domestic Product; PPP$, Purchasing Power Party constant 2017 international dollars.
^aInformal employment is based on a harmonized measure of the International Labour Organization (ILO), is reported in the World Development indicators 2015 [30].
^bData were form ILO 2014 [3].
^cData for Ghana was obtained from the World Development Indicators 2014 [30] and for Brazil from the Indicadores de aleitamentomaterno no Brasil, ENANI [31].
Data sources: World Development Indicators 2019 [30] (unless otherwise specified).

ISSN: 1475-9276