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Brazil |
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| Background: |
Following three centuries under the rule of Portugal, Brazil became
an independent nation in 1822. By far the largest and most populous
country in South America, Brazil has overcome more than half a century
of military intervention in the governance of the country to pursue
industrial and agricultural growth and development of the interior.
Exploiting vast natural resources and a large labor pool, Brazil is
today South America's leading economic power and a regional leader.
Highly unequal income distribution remains a pressing problem. |
| Location: |
Eastern South America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean |
| Geographic
coordinates: |
10 00 S, 55 00 W |
| Map
references: |
South
America |
| Area: |
total: 8,511,965 sq km
land: 8,456,510 sq km
note: includes Arquipelago de Fernando de Noronha, Atol
das Rocas, Ilha da Trindade, Ilhas Martin Vaz, and Penedos de Sao Pedro
e Sao Paulo
water: 55,455 sq km |
| Area
- comparative: |
slightly smaller than the US |
| Land
boundaries: |
total: 14,691 km
border countries: Argentina
1,224 km, Bolivia 3,400 km, Colombia 1,643 km, French Guiana 673 km,
Guyana 1,119 km, Paraguay 1,290 km, Peru 1,560 km, Suriname 597 km,
Uruguay 985 km, Venezuela 2,200 km |
| Coastline: |
7,491 km |
| Maritime
claims: |
contiguous zone: 24 NM
territorial sea: 12 NM
continental shelf: 200 NM or to edge of the continental
margin
exclusive economic zone: 200 NM |
| Climate: |
mostly tropical, but temperate in south |
| Terrain: |
mostly flat to rolling lowlands in north; some plains, hills, mountains,
and narrow coastal belt |
| Elevation
extremes: |
lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point:
Pico da Neblina 3,014 m |
| Natural
resources: |
bauxite, gold, iron ore, manganese, nickel, phosphates, platinum, tin,
uranium, petroleum, hydropower, timber |
| Land
use: |
arable land: 6.3%
permanent crops: 1.42%
other: 92.28% (1998 est.) |
| Irrigated
land: |
26,560 sq km (1998 est.) |
| Natural
hazards: |
recurring droughts in northeast; floods and occasional frost in south
|
| Environment
- current issues: |
deforestation in Amazon Basin destroys the habitat and endangers a multitude
of plant and animal species indigenous to the area; there is a lucrative
illegal wildlife trade; air and water pollution in Rio de Janeiro, Sao
Paulo, and several other large cities; land degradation and water pollution
caused by improper mining activities; wetland degradation; severe oil
spills |
| Environment
- international agreements: |
party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine
Living Resources, Antarctic Seals, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate
Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species,
Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine
Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical
Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but
not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
| Geography
- note: |
largest country in South America; shares common boundaries with every
South American country except Chile and Ecuador
|
| Population: |
182,032,604
note: Brazil took a count in August 2000, which
reported a population of 169,799,170; that figure was about 3.3% lower
than projections by the US Census Bureau, and is close to the implied
underenumeration of 4.6% for the 1991 census; estimates for this country
explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to
AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality
and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the
distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected
(2003 est.) (July 2003 est.) |
| Age
structure: |
0-14 years: 27.1% (male 25,151,855; female 24,196,506)
15-64 years: 67.2% (male 60,667,014; female 61,683,580)
65 years and over: 5.7% (male 4,232,784; female 6,100,865) (2003
est.) |
| Median
age: |
total: 27 years
male: 26.2 years
female:
27.7 years (2002) |
| Population
growth rate: |
1.15% (2003 est.) |
| Birth
rate: |
17.67 births/1,000 population (2003 est.) |
| Death
rate: |
6.13 deaths/1,000 population (2003 est.) |
| Net
migration rate: |
-0.03 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2003 est.) |
| Sex
ratio: |
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years:
1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.69 male(s)/female
total population:
0.98 male(s)/female (2003 est.) |
| Infant
mortality rate: |
total: 31.74 deaths/1,000 live births
female:
27.68 deaths/1,000 live births (2003 est.)
male: 35.61 deaths/1,000
live births |
| Life
expectancy at birth: |
total population: 71.13 years
male: 67.16 years
female: 75.3 years (2003 est.) |
| Total
fertility rate: |
2.01 children born/woman (2003 est.) |
| Nationality: |
noun: Brazilian(s)
adjective: Brazilian |
| Ethnic
groups: |
white (includes Portuguese, German, Italian, Spanish, Polish) 55%, mixed
white and black 38%, black 6%, other (includes Japanese, Arab, Amerindian)
1% |
| Religions: |
Roman Catholic (nominal) 80% |
| Languages: |
Portuguese (official), Spanish, English, French |
| Literacy: |
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total
population: 86.4%
male: 86.1%
female: 86.6%
(2003 est.)
|
| Economy
- overview: |
Possessing large and well-developed agricultural, mining, manufacturing,
and service sectors, Brazil's economy outweighs that of all other South
American countries and is expanding its presence in world markets. The
maintenance of large current account deficits via capital account surpluses
became problematic as investors became more risk averse to emerging
market exposure as a consequence of the Asian financial crisis in 1997
and the Russian bond default in August 1998. After crafting a fiscal
adjustment program and pledging progress on structural reform, Brazil
received a $41.5 billion IMF-led international support program in November
1998. In January 1999, the Brazilian Central Bank announced that the
real would no longer be pegged to the US dollar. This devaluation helped
moderate the downturn in economic growth in 1999 that investors had
expressed concerns about over the summer of 1998, and the country posted
moderate GDP growth. Economic growth slowed considerably in 2001-02
- to less than 2% - because of a slowdown in major markets and the hiking
of interest rates by the Central Bank to combat inflationary pressures.
New president DA SILVA, who took office 1 January 2003, has given priority
to reforming the complex tax code, trimming the overblown civil service
pension system, and continuing the fight against inflation. |
| GDP: |
purchasing power parity - $1.34 trillion (2002 est.) |
| GDP
- real growth rate: |
1% (2002 est.) |
| GDP
- per capita: |
purchasing power parity - $7,600 (2002 est.) |
| GDP
- composition by sector: |
agriculture: 8%
industry: 36%
services:
56% (2001 est.) |
| Population
below poverty line: |
22% (1998 est.) |
| Household
income or consumption by percentage share: |
lowest 10%: 0.7%
highest 10%: 48% (1998) |
| Distribution
of family income - Gini index: |
60.7 (1998) |
| Inflation
rate (consumer prices): |
8.3% (2002) |
| Labor
force: |
79 million (1999 est.) |
| Labor
force - by occupation: |
services 53%, agriculture 23%, industry 24% |
| Unemployment
rate: |
6.4% (2001 est.) |
| Budget: |
revenues: $100.6 billion
expenditures: $91.6
billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (2000) |
| Industries: |
textiles, shoes, chemicals, cement, lumber, iron ore, tin, steel, aircraft,
motor vehicles and parts, other machinery and equipment |
| Industrial
production growth rate: |
2.3% (2002 est.) |
| Electricity
- production: |
321.2 billion kWh (2001) |
| Electricity
- production by source: |
fossil fuel: 8.3%
hydro: 82.7%
other:
4.6% (2001)
nuclear: 4.4% |
| Electricity
- consumption: |
335.9 billion kWh (2001) |
| Electricity
- exports: |
0 kWh (2001) |
| Electricity
- imports: |
37.19 billion kWh; note - supplied by Paraguay (2001) |
| Oil
- production: |
1.561 million bbl/day (2001 est.) |
| Oil
- consumption: |
2.199 million bbl/day (2001 est.) |
| Oil
- exports: |
NA (2001) |
| Oil
- imports: |
NA (2001) |
| Oil
- proved reserves: |
8.507 billion bbl (January 2002 est.) |
| Natural
gas - proved reserves: |
221.7 billion cu m (January 2002 est.) |
| Agriculture
- products: |
coffee, soybeans, wheat, rice, corn, sugarcane, cocoa, citrus; beef
|
| Exports: |
$59.4 billion f.o.b. (2002 est.) |
| Exports
- commodities: |
transport equipment, iron ore, soybeans, footwear, coffee, autos |
| Exports
- partners: |
US 24.2%, Argentina 11.6%, Germany 5.4%, Netherlands 4.4%, Japan, Italy
(2001) |
| Imports: |
$46.2 billion f.o.b. (2002) |
| Imports
- commodities: |
machinery, electrical, and transport equipment, chemical products, oil
|
| Imports
- partners: |
US 27.4%, Argentina 13.5%, Germany 8.9%, Japan 5.0%, Italy (2001) |
| Debt
- external: |
$222.4 billion (2002) |
| Economic
aid - recipient: |
$30 billion IMF disbursement (August 2002) |
| Currency: |
real (BRL) |
| Currency
code: |
BRL |
| Exchange
rates: |
reals per US dollar - 2.9212 (2002), 2.3577 (2001), 1.8301 (2000), 1.8147
(1999), 1.1605 (1998)
note: from October 1994 through 14
January 1999, the official rate was determined by a managed float; since
15 January 1999, the official rate floats independently with respect
to the US dollar |
| Fiscal
year: |
calendar year
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