Map of Brazil | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
Military | Transportation | Transnational Issues | Year: Guide1989199019911992199319941995199619971998199920002001200220032004200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 | More stats

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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 became Latin America's leading economic power by the 1970s. Highly unequal income distribution remains a pressing problem.


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Location: Eastern South America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean

Geographic coordinates

Map reference: South America, Standard Time Zones of the World

Area
Total: 8,511,965 km²
Land: 8,456,510 km²

Land boundaries:

Coastline: 7,491 km
Contiguous zone: 24 nm
Continental shelf: 200 m depth or to depth of exploitation
Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
Territorial sea: 12 nm

Maritime claims

Climate: mostly tropical, but temperate in south

Terrain: mostly flat to rolling lowlands in north; some plains, hills, mountains, and narrow coastal belt

Elevation

Natural resources: iron ore, manganese, bauxite, nickel, uranium, phosphates, tin, hydropower, gold, platinum, petroleum, timber

Land use
Arable land: 7%
Permanent crops: 1%
Meadows and pastures: 19%
Forest and woodland: 67%
Other: 6%

Irrigated land: 27,000 km² (1989 est.)

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources

Natural hazards

Geography


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Population: 156,664,223 (July 1993 est.)
Growth rate: 1.35% (1993 est.)

Nationality
Noun: Brazilian(s)
Adjective: Brazilian

Ethnic groups: Portuguese, Italian, German, Japanese, Amerindian, black 6%, white 55%, mixed 38%, other 1%

Languages: Portuguese (official), Spanish, English, French

Religions: Roman Catholic (nominal) 90%

Demographic profile

Age structure

Dependency ratios

Median age

Population growth rate: 1.35% (1993 est.)

Birth rate: 21.77 births/1000 population (1993 est.)

Death rate: 8.3 deaths/1000 population (1993 est.)

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1000 population (1993 est.)

Population distribution

Urbanization

Major urban areas

Environment
Current issues:
Current issues note: largest country in South America; shares common boundaries with every South American country except Chile and Ecuador

Air pollutants

Sex ratio

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate: 61.7 deaths/1000 live births (1993 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 62.7 years
Male: 58.28 years
Female: 67.33 years (1993 est.)

Total fertility rate: 2.49 children born/woman (1993 est.)

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Drinking water source

Current health expenditure

Physicians density

Hospital bed density

Sanitation facility access

Hiv/Aids

Major infectious diseases

Obesity adult prevalence rate

Alcohol consumption

Tobacco use

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

Education expenditures

Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1990)
Total population: 81%
Male: 82%
Female: 80%

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment


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Country name
Conventional long form: Federative Republic of Brazil
Conventional short form: Brazil
Local long form: Republica Federativa do Brasil
Local short form: Brasil

Government type: federal republic

Capital: Brasilia

Administrative divisions:

Dependent areas

Independence: 7 September 1822 (from Portugal)

National holiday: Independence Day, 7 September (1822)

Constitution: 5 October 1988

Legal system: based on Roman codes; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

International law organization participation

Citizenship

Suffrage: voluntary between 16 and 18 years of age and over 70; compulsory over 18 and under 70 years of age

Executive branch: president, vice president, Cabinet

Legislative branch: bicameral National Congress (Congresso Nacional) consists of an upper chamber or Federal Senate (Senado Federal) and a lower chamber or Chamber of Deputies (Camara dos Deputados)

Judicial branch: Supreme Federal Tribunal

Political parties and leaders

International organization participation:

Diplomatic representation
In the us chief of mission: Ambassador Rubens RICUPERO
In the us chancery: 3,006 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20,008
In the us telephone: (202) 745-2,700
In the us consulates general: Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, and New York
In the us consulates: Dallas, Houston, and San Francisco
From the us chief of mission: Ambassador Richard MELTON
From the us embassy: Avenida das Nacoes, Lote 3, Brasilia, Distrito Federal
From the us mailing address: APO AA 34,030
From the us telephone: 55 (61) 321-7,272
From the us fax: 55 (61) 225-9,136
From the us consulates general: Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo
From the us consulates: Porto Alegre, Recife

Flag description: green with a large yellow diamond in the center bearing a blue celestial globe with 23 white five-pointed stars (one for each state) arranged in the same pattern as the night sky over Brazil; the globe has a white equatorial band with the motto ORDEM E PROGRESSO (Order and Progress)

National symbols

National anthem

National heritage


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Economy overview: The economy, with large agrarian, mining, and manufacturing sectors, entered the 1990s with declining real growth, runaway inflation, an unserviceable foreign debt of $122 billion, and a lack of policy direction. In addition, the economy remained highly regulated, inward-looking, and protected by substantial trade and investment barriers. Ownership of major industrial and mining facilities is divided among private interests - including several multinationals - and the government. Most large agricultural holdings are private, with the government channeling financing to this sector. Conflicts between large landholders and landless peasants have produced intermittent violence. The COLLOR government, which assumed office in March 1990, launched an ambitious reform program that sought to modernize and reinvigorate the economy by stabilizing prices, deregulating the economy, and opening it to increased foreign competition. The government also obtained an IMF standby loan in January 1992 and reached agreements with commercial bankers on the repayment of interest arrears and on the reduction of debt and debt service payments. Galloping inflation - the rate doubled in 1992 - continues to undermine economic stability. Itamar FRANCO, who assumed the presidency following President COLLOR'S resignation in December 1992, has promised to support the basic premises of COLLOR'S reform program but has yet to define clearly his economic policies. Brazil's natural resources remain a major, long-term economic strength.

Real gdp purchasing power parity

Real gdp growth rate: -0.2% (1992)

Real gdp per capita: $2,350 (1992)

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin

Agriculture products: accounts for 11% of GDP; world's largest producer and exporter of coffee and orange juice concentrate and second- largest exporter of soybeans; other products - rice, corn, sugarcane, cocoa, beef; self-sufficient in food, except for wheat

Industries: textiles and other consumer goods, shoes, chemicals, cement, lumber, iron ore, steel, motor vehicles and auto parts, metalworking, capital goods, tin

Industrial production growth rate: growth rate -3.8% (1992; accounts for 39% of GDP

Labor force: 57 million (1989 est.)
By occupation services: 42%
By occupation agriculture: 31%
By occupation industry: 27%

Unemployment rate: 5.9% (1992)

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget: revenues $164.3 billion; expenditures $170.6 billion, including capital expenditures of $32.9 billion (1990)

Taxes and other revenues

Public debt

Revenue

Fiscal year: calendar year

Inflation rate consumer prices

Central bank discount rate

Commercial bank prime lending rate

Stock of narrow money

Stock of broad money

Stock of domestic credit

Market value of publicly traded shares

Current account balance

Exports: $35.0 billion (1992)
Commodoties: iron ore, soybean bran, orange juice, footwear, coffee, motor vehicle parts
Partners: EC 32.3%, US 20.3%, Latin America 11.6%, Japan 9% (1991)

Imports: $20.0 billion (1992)
Commodoties: crude oil, capital goods, chemical products, foodstuffs, coal
Partners:

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates: cruzeiros (Cr$) per US$1 - 13,827.06 (January 1993), 4,506.45 (1992), 406.61 (1991), 68.300 (1990), 2.834 (1989), 0.26238 (1988)


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Electricity
Production: 63,765,000 kW capacity; 242,184 million kWh produced, 1,531 kWh per capita (1992)

Coal

Petroleum

Crude oil

Refined petroleum

Natural gas

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita


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Telephones

Telephone system

Broadcast media

Internet

Broadband fixed subscriptions


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Military expenditures
Percent of gdp: exchange rate conversion - $1.1 billion, 3% of GDP (1990)

Military and security forces

Military service age and obligation

Space program

Terrorist groups


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National air transport system

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

Airports: 3,613
Usable: 3,031
With permanentsurface runways: 431
With runways over 3659 m: 2
With runways 2440-3659 m: 22
With runways 1220-2439 m: 584

Heliports

Pipelines: crude oil 2,000 km; petroleum products 3,804 km; natural gas 1,095 km

Railways

Roadways

Waterways: 50,000 km navigable

Merchant marine:

Ports and terminals


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Disputes international:

Refugees and internally displaced persons

Illicit drugs: