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BRAZIL
Map of BRAZIL
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Location:
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Eastern South America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean |
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Geographic coordinates:
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10 00 S, 55 00 W |
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Area:
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total: 8,511,965 sq km
land: 8,456,510 sq km
water: 55,455 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 |
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Area - comparative:
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slightly smaller than the US |
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Land boundaries:
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total: 16,885 km
border countries: Argentina 1,261 km, Bolivia 3,423 km, Colombia 1,644 km, French Guiana 730 km, Guyana 1,606 km, Paraguay 1,365 km, Peru 2,995 km, Suriname 593 km, Uruguay 1,068 km, Venezuela 2,200 km |
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Coastline:
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7,491 km |
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Maritime claims:
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territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
continental shelf: 200 nm or to edge of the continental margin |
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Climate:
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mostly tropical, but temperate in south |
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Terrain:
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mostly flat to rolling lowlands in north; some plains, hills, mountains, and narrow coastal belt |
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Elevation extremes:
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lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point: Pico da Neblina 3,014 m |
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Natural resources:
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bauxite, gold, iron ore, manganese, nickel, phosphates, platinum, tin, uranium, petroleum, hydropower, timber |
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Land use:
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arable land: 6.93%
permanent crops: 0.89%
other: 92.18% (2005) |
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Irrigated land:
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29,200 sq km (2003) |
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Total renewable water resources:
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8,233 cu km (2000) |
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Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural):
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total: 59.3 cu km/yr (20%/18%/62%)
per capita: 318 cu m/yr (2000) |
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Natural hazards:
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recurring droughts in northeast; floods and occasional frost in south |
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Environment - current issues:
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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 |
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Environment - international agreements:
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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, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
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Population:
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191,908,598
note: Brazil conducted a census 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, higher death rates, lower population growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2008 est.) |
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Age structure:
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0-14 years: 24.9% (male 24,391,338/female 23,454,418)
15-64 years: 68.7% (male 65,330,427/female 66,431,982)
65 years and over: 6.4% (male 5,055,770/female 7,244,663) (2008 est.) |
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Nationality:
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noun: Brazilian(s)
adjective: Brazilian |
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Ethnic groups:
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white 53.7%, mulatto (mixed white and black) 38.5%, black 6.2%, other (includes Japanese, Arab, Amerindian) 0.9%, unspecified 0.7% (2000 census) |
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Religions:
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Roman Catholic (nominal) 73.6%, Protestant 15.4%, Spiritualist 1.3%, Bantu/voodoo 0.3%, other 1.8%, unspecified 0.2%, none 7.4% (2000 census) |
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Languages:
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Portuguese (official and most widely spoken language); note - less common languages include Spanish (border areas and schools), German, Italian, Japanese, English, and a large number of minor Amerindian languages |
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Literacy:
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definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 88.6%
male: 88.4%
female: 88.8% (2004 est.) |
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School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education):
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total: 14 years
male: 14 years
female: 15 years (2005) |
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Education expenditures - percent of GDP:
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4% (2004) |
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Country name:
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conventional long form: Federative Republic of Brazil
conventional short form: Brazil
local long form: Republica Federativa do Brasil
local short form: Brasil |
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Government type:
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federal republic |
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Capital:
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name: Brasilia
geographic coordinates: 15 47 S, 47 55 W
time difference: UTC-3 (2 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
daylight saving time: +1hr, begins third Sunday in October; ends third Sunday in February
note: Brazil is divided into four time zones, including one for the Fernando de Noronha Islands |
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Administrative divisions:
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26 states (estados, singular - estado) and 1 federal district* (distrito federal); Acre, Alagoas, Amapa, Amazonas, Bahia, Ceara, Distrito Federal*, Espirito Santo, Goias, Maranhao, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, Para, Paraiba, Parana, Pernambuco, Piaui, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Norte, Rio Grande do Sul, Rondonia, Roraima, Santa Catarina, Sao Paulo, Sergipe, Tocantins |
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Independence:
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7 September 1822 (from Portugal) |
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National holiday:
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Independence Day, 7 September (1822)
Source: http://cia.gov
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