Brazil in Brief |
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Location: Eastern South America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean
Map references: South America, Standard Time Zones of the World
Area:
total area 8,511,965 sq km
land area 8,456,510 sq km
comparative area slightly smaller than the US
Note: includes Arquipelago de Fernando de Noronha, Atol das
Rocas, Ilha da Trindade, Ilhas
Martin Vaz, and Penedos de Sao Pedro e Sao Paulo
More detailed territorial information
from Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. IBGE
Land boundaries: total 14,691 km, 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, Suriname5 97 km,
Uruguay 985 km, Venezuela 2,200 km
Coastline: 7,491 km
Maritime claims:
contiguous zone 24 nm
continental shelf 200-m depth or to depth of exploitation
exclusive economic zone 200 nm
territorial sea 12 nm
International disputes: short section of the boundary with Paraguay,
just west of Salto das Sete
Quedas (Guaira Falls) on the Rio Parana, is in dispute; two short sections
of boundary with Uruguay
are in dispute - Arroio Invernada (Arroyo de la Invernada) area of
the Rio Quarai (Rio Cuareim)
and the islands at the confluence of the Rio Quarai and the Uruguay
River
Climate: mostly tropical, but temperate in south
Terrain: mostly flat to rolling lowlands in north; some plains,
hills, mountains, and narrow coastal
belt
Natural resources: iron ore, manganese, bauxite, nickel, uranium,
phosphates, tin, hydropower,
gold, platinum, petroleum, ti mber
Land use:
arable land 7%
permanent crops 1%
meadows and pastures 19%
forest and woodland 67%
other 6%
Irrigated land: 27,000 sq km (1989 est.)
Environment:
current issues deforestation in Amazon Basin; 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 natural hazards recurring droughts in northeast; floods
and occasional frost in south
international agreements party to - Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity,
Climate Change, Endangered
Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea,
Marine Dumping,
Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Whaling;
signed, but not ratified -
Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Tropical Timber
Note: largest country in South America; shares common boundaries
with every South American
country except Chile and Ecuador
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Population: 158,739,257 (July 1994 est.)
Population growth rate: 1.28% (1994 est.)
Birth rate: 21.48 births/1,000 population (1994 est.)
Death rate: 8.63 deaths/1,000 population (1994 est.)
Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1994 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 59.5 deaths/1,000 live births (1994 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population 62.25 years
male 57.41 years
female 67.32 years (1994 est.)
Total fertility rate: 2.44 children born/woman (1994 est.)
More detailed population information
from Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics
Nationality:
noun Brazilian(s)
adjective Brazilian
Ethnic divisions: Portuguese, Italian, German, Japanese, Amerindian,
black 6%, white 55%, mixed
38%, other 1%
Religions: Roman Catholic (nominal) 70%
Languages: Portuguese (official), Spanish, English, French
Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1990 est.)
total population 81%
male 82%
female 80%
Labor force: 57 million (1989 est.)
by occupation services 42%, agriculture 31%, industry 27%
More Detailed Labor Information from
Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics
General Outlook of the People
Brazilians are friendly, warm, and happy people. Above all they are
free-spirited and resent being
told what to do. Brazilians are gregarious, outgoing, and love to be
around people. The hot climate
allows them to spend a great deal of time outdoors, often just chatting
with friends or watching
people. Women should be aware that it is common for Brazilian men to
stare at them or make
comments as they walk by; women should not respond in any way to such
actions. Brazilians can be
very opinionated, and the vigor with which they argue for their convictions
often leads foreigners to
believe that they are angry. Visitors should not be offended by such
behavior. Brazilians tend to view
time more as a sequence of events rather than hours, minutes, and seconds.
For this reason they may
appear to have an extremely casual attitude about time.
- Excerpt adapted from Jaime Sichman
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Names:
conventional long form Federative Republic of Brazil
conventional short form Brazil
local long form Republica Federativa do Brasil local short form Brasil
Digraph: BR
Type: federal republic
Capital: Brasilia
Administrative divisions: 26 states (estados, singular - estado)
and 1 federal district* (distrito
federal); Acre,
Alagoas,
Amapá,
Amazonas,
Bahia, Ceará,
Distrito Federal*,
Espirito Santo,
Goiás,
Maranhão,
Mato Grosso,
Mato Grosso
do Sul, Minas
Gerais, Pará,
Paraíba,
Paraná
, Pernambuco,
Piauí,
Rio de Janeiro,
Rio Grande do
Norte, Rio
Grande do Sul, Rondônia,
Roraima,
Santa
Catarina,
São Paulo,
Sergipe,
Tocantins
Independence: 7 October 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
Suffrage: voluntary between 16 and 18 years of age and over
70; compulsory over 18 and under
70 years of age
Executive branch:
chief of state and head of government President Fernando Henrique CARDOSO
(since 1 January
1995); election last held October 1994; results - Fernando Henrique
Cardoso 54%, Luis Inacio
LULA da Silva 24%; Others 22%; Itamar Franco was the previous President
cabinet Cabinet; appointed by the president
Legislative branch: bicameral National Congress (Congresso Nacional)
Federal Senate (Senado Federal) Results of the 1994 Elections will
be posted at a later
date. Prior to that elections were last held 3 October 1990 ; results
1990 - percent of vote by party
PMBD 33%, PFL 16%, PSDB 12%, PDS 4%, PDT 6%, PT 1%, other 28%; seats
- (81 total as
of 3 February 1991) PMDB 27, PFL 15, PSDB 10, PTB 8, PDT 5, other 16
Chamber of Deputies (Camara dos Deputados) election last held 3 October
1990 (next to be
held October 1994); results - PMDB 21%, PFL 17%, PDT 9%, PDS 8%, PRN
7.9%, PTB 7%,
PT 7%, other 23.1%; seats - (503 total as of 3 February 1991) PMDB
108, PFL 87, PDT 46,
PDS 43, PRN 40, PTB 35, PT 35, other 109
Judicial branch: Supreme Federal Tribunal
Political parties and leaders: National Reconstruction Party
(PRN), Daniel TOURINHO,
president; Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), Luiz HENRIQUE
da Silveira, preside
nt; Liberal Front Party (PFL), Jorge BORNHAUSEN, president; Workers'
Party (PT), Luis Inacio
LULA da Silva, president; Brazilian Workers' Party (PTB), Rodrigues
PALMA, president;
Democratic Workers' Party (PDT), Leonel BRIZOLA, president; Progressive
Rene wal Party
(PPR), Paulo MALUF, president; Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB),
Tasso JEREISSATI,
president; Popular Socialist Party (PPS), Roberto FREIRE, president;
Communist Party of Brazil
(PCdoB), Joao AMAZONAS, secretary general; Liberal Party (PL ), Flavio
ROCHA, president
Other political or pressure groups: left wing of the Catholic
Church and labor unions allied to
leftist Workers' Party are critical of government's social and economic
policies
Member of: AfDB , AG (observer), CCC, ECLAC, FAO, G-11, G-15,
G-19, G-24, G-77,
GATT, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, IDA, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF,
IMO,
INMARSAT, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, LAES,
LAIA,
LORCS, MERCOSUR, NAM (observer), OAS, ONUSAL, OPANAL, PCA, RG, UN,
UNAVEM II, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNOMOZ, UNOMUR, UNPROFOR,
UPU, WCL, WHO, WFTU, WIPO, WMO, WTO
Diplomatic representation in US:
chief of mission Ambassador Paulo Tarso FLECHA de LIMA
ch ancery 3006 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008
telephone (202) 745-2700
FAX (202) 745-2827
consulate(s) general Boston, Chicago, Hong Kong (Trust Territories
of the Pacific Islands), Los
Angeles, Miami, New York, and San Juan (Puerto Rico)
consulate(s) Houston and San Francisco
US diplomatic representation:
chief of mission Ambassador Melvyn LEVITSKY
embassy Avenida das Nacoes, Lote 3, Brasília, Distrito Federal
mailing address APO AA 34030
telephone [55] (61) 321-7272
FAX [55] (61) 225-9136
consulate(s) general Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo
consulate(s) Porto Alegre, Recife
Flag: green with a large yellow diamond in the center bearing
a blue celestial globe with 27 white
five-pointed stars (one for each state and district) 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)
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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 i n creased 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 and by March 1994 had risen to
42% per month) continues to
undermine economic stability. Itamar FRANCO, who assumed the presidency
following President
COLLOR'S resignation in December 1992, was out of step with COLLOR'S
reform age nda;
initiatives to redress fiscal problems, privatize state enterprises,
and liberalize trade and investment
policies are gaining momentum under the new administration of Fernando
Henrique Cardoso.
Brazil's natural resources remain a major, long-term economic strength.
Inflation in 1995 is
forecasted to be around 30%.
National product: GDP - purchasing power equivalent - $1.04 trillion
(1997 est.)
National product real growth rate: 2-3% (1998)
National product per capita: $6,300 (1997 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):5% (1997 est)
GDP—composition by sector:
agriculture: 13%
industry: 38%
services: 49% (1995)
Inflation rate—consumer price index: 4.8% (1997)
Labor force:
total: 57 million (1989 est.)
by occupation: services 42%, agriculture 31%, industry 27%
Unemployment rate: 7% (1997 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $87.5 billion
expenditures: $96 billion, including capital expenditures of
$NA (1996)
Industries: textiles, shoes, chemicals, cement, lumber, iron
ore, tin, steel, aircraft, motor vehicles
and parts, other machinery and equipment
Industrial production growth rate: 4.5% (1997 est.)
Electricity—capacity: 57.64 million kW (1995)
Electricity—production: 264.895 billion kWh (1995)
note: imported about 36.95 billion kWh of electricity from Paraguay
Electricity—consumption per capita: 1,878 kWh (1995)
Agriculture—products: coffee, soybeans, wheat, rice, corn, sugarcane,
cocoa, citrus; beef
Exports:
total value: $53 billion (f.o.b., 1997)
commodities: iron ore, soybean bran, orange juice, footwear,
coffee, motor vehicle parts
partners: EU 28%, Latin America 23%, US 20%, Argentina 12% (1996)
Imports:
total value: $61.4 billion (f.o.b., 1997)
commodities: crude oil, capital goods, chemical products, foodstuffs,
coal
partners: EU 26%, US 22%, Argentina 13%, Japan 5% (1996)
Debt—external: $192.9 billion (December 1997) crude oil, capital
goods, chemical products,
foodstuffs, coal
partners US 23.3%, EC 22.5%, Middle East 13.0%, Latin America 11.8%,
Japan 6.5% (1993)
Industrial production: growth rate 9.5% (1993); accounts for
39% of GDP
Industries: textiles and o ther consumer goods, shoes, chemicals,
cement, lumber, iron ore, steel,
motor vehicles and auto parts, metalworking, capital goods, tin
Agriculture: accounts for 11% of GDP; world's largest producer
and exporter of coffee and
orange juice conc entrate and second-largest exporter of soybeans;
other products - rice, corn,
sugarcane, cocoa, beef; self-sufficient in food, except for wheat
Illicit drugs: illicit producer of cannabis and coca, mostly
for domestic consumption; government
has a modest eradication program to control cannabis and coca cultivation;
important transshipment
country for Bolivian and Colombian cocaine headed for the US and Europe
Economic aid:
recipient US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $2.5 billion;
Western (non-US) countries,
ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-89), $10.2 million; OPEC bilateral
aid (1979-89),
$284 million; former Communist countries (1970-89), $1.3 billion
Currency: 1 real (R$) = 100 centavos
Exchange rates: CR$ per US$1 - 0.90 (May 95)
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Railroads: 30,133 km total; 24,690 km 1.000-meter gauge, 5,120
km 1.600-meter gauge, 310
km mixed 1.600-1.000-meter gauge, 13 km 0.760-meter gauge; 2,150 km
electrified
Highways:
total 1,670,148 km
paved 161,503 km
unpaved gravel/earth 1,508,645 km (1990)
Inland waterways: 50,000 km navigable
Pipelines: crude oil 2,000 km; petroleum products 3,804 km; natural
gas 1,095 km
Ports: Belem, Fortaleza, Ilheus, Manaus, Paranagua, Porto Alegre,
Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Rio
Grande,Salvador, Santos
Merchant marine: 220 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 5,139,176
GRT/8,695,682 DWT,
bulk 53, cargo 40, chemical tanker 14, combination ore/oil 12, container
11, liquified gas 11, oil
tanker 62, passenger-cargo 5, refrigerated car go 1, roll-on/roll-off
cargo 11
note in addition, 1 naval tanker is sometimes used commercially
Airports:
total 3,581
usable 3,024
with permanent-surface runways 436
with runways over 3,659 m 2
with runways 2,440-3,659 m 22
with runways 1,220-2,439 m 598
Telecommunications: good system; extensive microwave radio relay
facilities; 9.86 million
telephones; broadcast stations - Thousands of AM/FM and TV stations,
shortwave; 3 coaxial
submarine cables, 3 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT earth stations and 64 domestic
satellite earth
stations
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Branches: Brazilian Army, Navy of Brazil (including Marines),
Brazilian Air Force, Military Police
(paramilitary)
Manpower availability: males age 15-49 43,489,704; fit for military
service 29,286,530; reach
military age (18) annually 1,674,930 (1994 est.)
Defense expenditures: exchange rate conversion - $1.1 billion, 3% of GDP (1990)
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(Source: CIA Factbook 1994 with modifications.)
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