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South America. Brazil is 8,456,510 square kilometers of land compared to 9,161,923 square kilometers for the United States. Capital: Brazilia.
Brazil is divided into states and has a federal Congress divided between the Chamber of Deputies and Senate. Brazil's president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, elected in 2002, is a former shoeshine boy and metal worker. He is commonly described as a man of the Left.
Figures unless otherwise stated are from the CIA Factbook.
Estimated per capita GDP:
2007 $9,700 (Ranks 98th)
GDP annual growth rate estimated for 2007: 4.9 percent. (Ranks 113rd)
Uruguay and Argentina have higher per capita GDPs, but, regarding real GDP, Brazil is described by the CIA Factbook as "South America's leading economic power and a regional leader."
In the 1970s, Brazil invested in the production of alcohol to replace gasoline. With help from its alternative fuel production, Brazil expects to be energy sufficient In 2006. Many of its cars use alternative fuels and many of its gas stations have two sets of pumps: one for "alcohol" the other for gasoline. Brazilians and Japanese are engaged in a joint venture for Brazil exporting ethanol (alcohol) to Japan.
Brazil has a vast amount of land not suited for food crops but that can grow crops for automobile fuel.
Estimated for 2004, Brazil produced 1.561 million barrels of oil per day but consumed 2.199 million barrels per day. Saudi Arabia in 2004 was producing 8.711 million barrels of oil per day.
In 2004 Brazil's exports rose 32 percent. Its exports for 2005 is estimated at $115.1 billion, imports at $78.0 billion.
Twenty percent of the population is involved in agriculture - a decline from 23 percent but high compared to the more highly industrialized countries, which are typically between 2 and 3 percent.
Investment in its economy estimated for 2004 is 18 percent of GDP compared to 15.2 percent for the United States. Sweden's is 15.7 percent.
2007: deaths 6:19; births 16.3 2005: deaths 6.15; births 16.83 2003: deaths 6.13; births 17.67
Estimated for July 2007: 190 million, up from 186 million in 2005
Infant mortality estimated for 2007: 27.62, down from 29.61 in 2005 (deaths before the age of one year, per 1,000 live births)
Average life expectancy estimated for 2007: 72.24, up from 71.7 in 2005
Living with HIV/AIDS, ages 15 to 49: 0.7 percent (2003)
Brazil, according to the BBC on October 23, 2005, has the world's highest death toll from firearms.
Brazil has one of the more unequal distributions of wealth. The wealthiest 10 percent do 48 percent worth of the nation's consumer shopping, and the lowest 0.7 percent (1998 figures). The wealthiest 10 percent in the United States do 30.5 percent worth of shopping and the lowest 1.8 percent. These figures for Sweden are 20.1 percent and 3.7 percent.
Land in Brazil is said to be largely in the hands of a few wealthy families.
In the two largest cities, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, a third of the people, it is said, live in slums.
Whites are 55 percent of the population. Mixed black and white are 38 percent, black 6 percent and India 1 percent. The country is 80 percent Roman Catholic.
Brazil has a vast tropical forest area where Indian peoples live. According to the CIA Factbook, deforestation is destroying the habitat and endangering "a multitude of plant and animal species indigenous to the area," and "there is a lucrative illegal wildlife trade."
In Brazil are desparate people and others willing and able to take advantage of them. The result: slavery. People have been told they could have good jobs in Amazonia. Transported there they are then forced to pay for their transportation, food, tools and housing. According to a report at Antislavery.org, "some 18,000 people have been released from forced labor in Brazil since 1995," and in 2006 "thousands of Brazilians continue to be trafficked from impoverished parts of the country."
UPI reports two San Francisco policemen in Brazil during the Pan American Games were stopped by "two uniformed police officers" and searched for drugs. Although no drugs were found the Brazilian cops told the two tourists they would have to pay a bribe or be arrested. The Brazilian cops left the tourists' with $2,200 of their money and an MP3 player.
SOURCES:
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/
Copyright © 2008 by Frank E. Smitha. All rights reserved.