General Information

Government and Economy

Brazil's government is a federal republic. The current president, Fernando Enrique Cardoso, was elected October 10, 1998. The level of economic development falls the further north you go into the country, and the economy of Brazil has not had a history of being stable. Their enormous land and natural resources, which benefit few, have lead to a roller coaster cycle of economic development.  This affects all areas of life among Brazilians. The economy has had a huge impact on education in Brazil. The university teachers felt that they are not paid enough, and in 2000, they went on strike. These strikes happen about every two years, and usually fall around election time.

Brazil's primary and secondary education are free to the public. It is required of children ages 7-14. The literacy rate of Brazil is 83%, but there is no good measure on what is meant by literate. Literacy could be anywhere from reading simple sentences to reading college textbooks, but is more likely to be the ability to read at about a ten-year-old level.

The Gross National Product (GNP) of Brazil is about $6000 (US dollars). The Brazilian currency, the real, is currently (April 21, 2001) worth 0.44883 US dollars.  Only 44% of Brazil women are employed, as opposed to 85% of men and women make only 72% of what a man would make doing the same job.  Brazil is still considered a developing nation.

source: International Labour Organization

Population Density

With such a huge landmass, one might expect to find an even distribution of people. However, though the country is 3.3 million square miles, the population per square mile is still 53 people.  An even more shocking fact is that 78% of the population is urban, so the cities are severely crowded while the country is very sparsely populated. 

One thing to take into consideration, however, is the Amazon River and the rain forest.  The rain forest takes a large portion of the country and few people live there.  While there is a lot of deforestation taking place, the population is not rushing to the new land.  The Amazon River floods regularly, so an area that might be good land to live on during the non-flood season might be underwater during the flood season. The Amazon flooding gives rise to many problems. Only 53% of Brazilians have access to safe drinking water, but that's still the second highest percentage in Latin America (after Venezuela). The water in the Amazon River Basin is polluted every time it floods, making drinking water extremely poor in that area.