Careers, Jobs and Education Resources for: Brazil

Economic Overview

Characterized by large and well-developed agricultural, mining, manufacturing, and service sectors, brazil's economy outweighs that of all other south american countries and is expanding its presence in world markets. having weathered 2001-03 financial turmoil, capital inflows are regaining strength and the currency has resumed appreciating. the appreciation has slowed export volume growth, but since 2004, brazil's growth has yielded increases in employment and real wages. the resilience in the economy stems from commodity-driven current account surpluses, and sound macroeconomic policies that have bolstered international reserves to historically high levels, reduced public debt, and allowed a significant decline in real interest rates. a floating exchange rate, an inflation-targeting regime, and a tight fiscal policy are the three pillars of the economic program. from 2003 to 2007, brazil ran record trade surpluses and recorded its first current account surpluses since 1992. productivity gains coupled with high commodity prices contributed to the surge in exports. brazil improved its debt profile in 2006 by shifting its debt burden toward real denominated and domestically held instruments. lula da silva restated his commitment to fiscal responsibility by maintaining the country's primary surplus during the 2006 election. following his second inauguration, lula da silva announced a package of further economic reforms to reduce taxes and increase investment in infrastructure. the government's goal of achieving strong growth while reducing the debt burden is likely to create inflationary pressures.

Environmental Issues

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

Government Type

Federal republic

Population

196,342,592 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.)

Location

Eastern south america, bordering the atlantic ocean

Area

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

Slightly smaller than the us

Country Aliases

Conventional long form: federative republic of brazil conventional short form: brazil local long form: republica federativa do brasil local short form: brasil

Capital

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

Military Service

21-45 years of age for compulsory military service; conscript service obligation - 9 to 12 months; 17-45 years of age for voluntary service; an increasing percentage of the ranks are "long-service" volunteer professionals; women were allowed to serve in the armed forces beginning in early 1980s when the brazilian army became the first army in south america to accept women into career ranks; women serve in navy and air force only in women's reserve corps (2001)

International Disputes

Unruly region at convergence of argentina-brazil-paraguay borders is locus of money laundering, smuggling, arms and illegal narcotics trafficking, and fundraising for extremist organizations; uncontested boundary dispute with uruguay over isla brasilera at the confluence of the quarai/cuareim and invernada rivers, that form a tripoint with argentina; the itaip dam reservoir covers over a once contested section of brazil-paraguay boundary west of guaira falls on the rio parana; an accord placed the long-disputed isla surez/ilha de guajar-mirim, a fluvial island on the ro mamor, under bolivian administration in 1958, but sovereignty remains in dispute