Brazil
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See regional map IV
Geography
Total area: 8,511,965 km²; land area:
8,456,510 km²; includes Arquipélago de
Fernando de Noronha, Atol das Rocas,
Ilha da Trindade, Ilhas Martin Vaz, and
Penedos de São Pedro e São Paulo
Comparative area: slightly smaller than the US
Land boundaries: 14,691 km total; 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:
- Continental shelf: 200 meters or to depth of exploitation
- Exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm
- Territorial sea: 200 nm
Disputes: short section of the boundary with Paraguay (just west of Guaira Falls on the Rio Paraná) is in dispute; two short sections of boundary with Uruguay are in dispute (Arroyo de la Invernada area of the Rio Quarai and the islands at the confluence of the Rio Quarai and the Uruguay); claims a Zone of Interest in Antarctica
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, crude oil, timber
Land use: 7% arable land; 1% permanent crops; 19% meadows and pastures; 67% forest and woodland; 6% other; includes NEGL% irrigated
Environment: recurrent droughts in northeast; floods and frost in south; deforestation in Amazon basin; air and water pollution in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo
Note: largest country in South America; shares common boundaries with every South American country except Chile and Ecuador
People
Population: 152,505,077 (July 1990),
growth rate 1.9% (1990)
Birth rate: 26 births/1,000 population (1990)
Death rate: 7 deaths/1,000 population (1990)
Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1,000 population (1990)
Infant mortality rate: 69 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)
Life expectancy at birth: 62 years male, 68 years female (1990)
Total fertility rate: 3.1 children born/woman (1990)
Nationality: noun—Brazilian(s); adjective—Brazilian
Ethnic divisions: Portuguese, Italian, German, Japanese, black, Amerindian; 55% white, 38% mixed, 6% black, 1% other
Religion: 90% Roman Catholic (nominal)
Language: Portuguese (official), Spanish, English, French
Literacy: 76%
Labor force: 57,000,000 (1989 est.); 42% services, 31% agriculture, 27% industry
Organized labor: 13,000,000 dues paying members (1989 est.)
Government
Long-form name: Federative Republic of
Brazil
Type: federal republic
Capital: Brasília
Administrative divisions: 24 states (estados, singular—estado), 2 territories* (territórios, singular—território), and 1 federal district** (distrito federal); Acre, Alagoas, Amapá*, Amazonas, Bahia, Ceará, Distrito Federal**, Espírito 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, Rondonia, Roraima*, Santa Catarina, São Paulo, Sergipe, Tocantins; note—the territories of Amapá and Roraima will become states on 15 March 1991
Independence: 7 September 1822 (from Portugal)
Constitution: 5 October 1988
Legal system: based on Latin codes; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
National holiday: Independence Day, 7 September (1822)
Executive branch: president, vice president, Cabinet
Legislative branch: bicameral National Congress (Congresso Nacional) consists of an upper chamber or Senate (Senado) and a lower chamber or Chamber of Deputies (Cámara dos Deputados)
Judicial branch: Supreme Federal Tribunal
Leaders: Chief of State and Head of Government President—Fernando Affonso COLLOR de Mello (since 15 March 1990); Vice President Itamar FRANCO (since 15 March 1990)
Political parties and leaders: National Reconstruction Party (PRN), Daniel Tourinho, president; Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), Ulysses Guimarães, president; Liberal Front Party (PFL), Hugo Napoleão, president; Workers' Party (PT), Luis Ignácio (Lula) da Silva, president; Brazilian Labor Party (PTB), Luiz Gonzaga de Paiva Muniz, president; Democratic Labor Party (PDT), Doutel de Andrade, president; Democratic Social Party (PDS), Jarbas Passarinho, president; Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB), Mário Covas, president; Brazilian Communist Party (PCB), Salomão Malina, secretary general; Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB), João Amazonas, president
Suffrage: voluntary at age 16; compulsory between ages 18 and 70; voluntary at age 70
Elections: President—last held 15 November 1989, with runoff on 17 December 1989 (next to be held November 1994); results—Fernando Collor de Mello 53%, Luis Inácio da Silva 47%; first free, direct presidential election since 1960;
Senate—last held 15 November 1986 (next to be held 3 October 1990); results—PMDB 60%, PFL 21%, PDS 8%, PDT 3%, others 8%; seats—(66 total) PMDB 43, PFL 15, PDS 6, PDT 2, others 6; note—as of 1990 Senate has 75 seats;
Chamber of Deputies—last held 15 November 1986 (next to be held 3 October 1990); results—PMDB 53%, PFL 23%, PDS 7%, PDT 5%, other 12%; seats—(495 total) PMDB 258, PFL 114, PDS 33, PDT 24, others 58; note—as of 1990 Chamber of Deputies has 570 seats
Communists: about 30,000
Other political or pressure groups: left wing of the Catholic Church and labor unions allied to leftist Worker's Party are critical of government's social and economic policies
Member of: CCC, FAO, G-77, GATT, Group of Eight, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAC, ICAO, ICO, IDA, IDB—Inter-American Development Bank, IFAD, IFC, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, IPU, IRC, ISO, ITU, IWC—International Wheat Council, OAS, PAHO, SELA, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
Diplomatic representation: Ambassador Marcilio Marques MOREIRA; Chancery at 3006 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington DC 20008; telephone (202) 745-2700; there are Brazilian Consulates General in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, and New York, and Consulates in Dallas, Houston, and San Francisco; US—Ambassador Richard MELTON; Embassy at Avenida das Nocoes, Lote 3, Brasilia, Distrito Federal (mailing address is APO Miami 34030); telephone [55](6) 321-7272; there are US Consulates General in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, and Consulates in Pôrto Alegre and Recife
Flag: 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)
Economy
Overview: The economy, a mixture of
private enterprises of all sizes and extensive
government intervention, experienced
enormous difficulties in the late 1980s,
notably declining real growth, runaway
inflation, foreign debt obligations of more
than $100 billion, and uncertain economic
policy. Government intervention includes
trade and investment restrictions, wage/price
controls, interest and exchange rate
controls, and extensive tariff barriers.
Ownership of major industrial facilities is
divided among private interests, the
government, and multinational companies.
Ownership in agriculture likewise is
varied, with the government intervening in
the politically sensitive issues involving
large landowners and the masses of poor
peasants. In consultation with the IMF,
the Brazilian Government has initiated
several programs over the last few years
to ameliorate the stagnation and foreign
debt problems. None of these has given
more than temporary relief. The strategy
of the new Collor government is to
increase the pace of privatization, encourage
foreign trade and investment, and
establish a more realistic exchange rate.
One long-run strength is the existence of
vast natural resources.
GDP: $377 billion, per capita $2,500; real growth rate 3% (1989 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 1,765% (1989)
Unemployment rate: 2.5% (December 1989)
Budget: revenues $27.8 billion; expenditures $40.1 billion, including capital expenditures of $8.8 billion (1986)
Exports: $34.2 billion (1989 est.); commodities—coffee, metallurgical products, chemical products, foodstuffs, iron ore, automobiles and parts; partners—US 28%, EC 26%, Latin America 11%, Japan 6% (1987)
Imports: $18.0 billion (1989 est.); commodities—crude oil, capital goods, chemical products, foodstuffs, coal; partners—Middle East and Africa 24%, EC 22%, US 21%, Latin America 12%, Japan 6% (1987)
External debt: $109 billion (December 1989)
Industrial production: growth rate 3.2% (1989 est.)
Electricity: 52,865,000 kW capacity; 202,280 million kWh produced, 1,340 kWh per capita (1989)
Industries: textiles and other consumer goods, shoes, chemicals, cement, lumber, iron ore, steel, motor vehicles and auto parts, metalworking, capital goods, tin
Agriculture: accounts for 12% 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
Illicit drugs: illicit producer of cannabis and coca, mostly for domestic consumption; government has an active eradication program to control cannabis and coca cultivation
Aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-88), $2.5 billion; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-87), $9.5 billion; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $284 million; Communist countries (1970-88), $1.3 billion
Currency: novo cruzado (plural—novos cruzados); 1 novo cruzado (NCr$) = 100 centavos
Exchange rates: novos cruzados (NCr$) per US$1—2.83392 (1989), 0.26238 (1988), 0.03923 (1987), 0.01366 (1986), 0.00620 (1985); note—25 tourist/parallel rate (December 1989)
Fiscal year: calendar year
Communications
Railroads: 29,694 km total; 25,268 km
1.000-meter gauge, 4,339 km 1.600-meter
gauge, 74 km mixed 1.600-1.000-meter
gauge, 13 km 0.760-meter gauge; 2,308
km electrified
Highways: 1,448,000 km total; 48,000 km paved, 1,400,000 km gravel or earth
Inland waterways: 50,000 km navigable
Pipelines: crude oil, 2,000 km; refined products, 3,804 km; natural gas, 1,095 km
Ports: Belém, Fortaleza, Ilhéus, Manaus, Paranagua, Porto Alegre, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande, Salvador, Santos
Merchant marine: 271 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 5,855,708 GRT/9,909,097 DWT; includes 2 passenger-cargo, 68 cargo, 1 refrigerated cargo, 12 container, 9 roll-on/roll-off, 56 petroleum, oils, and lubricants (POL) tanker, 15 chemical tanker, 10 liquefied gas, 14 combination ore/oil, 82 bulk, 2 combination bulk
Civil air: 176 major transport aircraft
Airports: 3,774 total, 3,106 usable; 386 with permanent-surface runways; 2 with runways over 3,659 m; 21 with runways 2,240-3,659 m; 503 with runways 1,220-2,439 m
Telecommunications: good system; extensive radio relay facilities; 9.86 million telephones; stations—1,223 AM, no FM, 112 TV, 151 shortwave; 3 coaxial submarine cables 3 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT earth stations with total of 3 antennas; 64 domestic satellite stations
Defense Forces
Branches: Brazilian Army, Navy of
Brazil, Brazilian Air Force
Military manpower: males 15-49, 39,620,936; 26,752,307 fit for military service; 1,617,378 reach military age (18) annually
Defense expenditures: 0.6% of GDP, or $2.3 billion (1989 est.)