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Basic Facts |
Country name |
conventional long form: Federative Republic of Brazil
conventional short form: Brazil local long form: Republica Federativa do Brasil local short form: Brasil |
Gevernment type | federative republic |
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 |
Flag description | 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 the Federal 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) |
Currency | real (BRL) |
Internet country code | .br |
Ports and terminals | Gebig, Itaqui, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande, San Sebasttiao, Santos, Sepetiba Terminal, Tubarao, Vitoria |
Agriculture products | coffee, soybeans, wheat, rice, corn, sugarcane, cocoa, citrus; beef |
Industries | textiles, shoes, chemicals, cement, lumber, iron ore, tin, steel, aircraft, motor vehicles and parts, other machinery and equipment |
Geography |
Location | Eastern South America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean |
Coordinates | 10 00 S, 55 00 W |
Continent | South America |
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 |
Boundaries |
total: 16,885 km
border countries: Argentina 1,261 km, Bolivia 3,423 km, Colombia 1,644 km, French Guiana 730.4 km, Guyana 1,606 km, Paraguay 1,365 km, Peru 2,995 km, Suriname 593 km, Uruguay 1,068 km, Venezuela 2,200 km |
Coastline | 7,491 km |
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 | bauxite, gold, iron ore, manganese, nickel, phosphates, platinum, tin, uranium, petroleum, hydropower, timber |
Natural hazards | recurring droughts in northeast; floods and occasional frost in south |
People |
Population | 188,078,227
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 and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2006 est.) |
Ethnic groups | 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) |
Religions | 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) |
Languages | Portuguese (official), Spanish, English, French |