Brazil
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Photo:
Julio Etchart/Oxfam GB
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Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world - more than
35 times bigger than the UK. Brazil's people come from all over
the world. Many are descendants of Portuguese colonisers who first
arrived in Brazil in 1500. Others are descended from slaves who
were brought from Africa to work on sugar and coffee plantations
during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The smallest
ethnic group is the indigenous Indians, the original inhabitants
of Brazil, who were almost wiped out by the Portuguese, particularly
by the diseases that they brought with them.
Brazil's landscape consists of low plateaux, surrounded by plains.
The Amazon rainforest, most of which lies in Brazil, is the largest
in the world, covering 3.3 million square kilometres. It is home
to two million species of animals and birds (over half of the
world's species), and unique indigenous communities. If the destruction
of the forest is not halted, it will all have disappeared by 2020.
In addition to timber, Brazil is rich in other natural resources
such as gold, minerals, oil, and natural gas. These have allowed
Brazil to industrialise, but development has brought problems.
The government borrowed money from the richer countries of the
North to build factories and dams. Today the country has a huge
debt and struggles to repay the money it has borrowed.
In Brazil, there are also huge gaps between the rich and poor.
Land distribution is grossly unfair, with one per cent of landowners
owning almost half the land. This inequality has fuelled bitter
conflict and added to the burden of the poor.
Poverty forces many families to move to cities in search of work
and better standards of living. They usually move to shanty towns,
or favelas, where services such as sanitation, and opportunities
for health care and education are poor. Migration has led to the
rapid growth of cities. The population of greater São Paulo
is 20 million and Brazil has at least 12 cities of over one million
people.
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Capital
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Brasília
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Population
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161.7 million
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Area
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8,547,403 sq km
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Language
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Portuguese (official)
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GNP per capita
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$4,400
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Life expectancy
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67 years
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People per doctor
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847
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Literacy
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83% male, 83% female
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Percentage of population with access to safe water
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76%
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Urban population
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79%
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Statistics taken from
the Human Development Report 2000, published by the United Nations
Development Programme, and the World Guide 1999/2000, published
by New Internationalist Publications.
For more information
about Brazil, see the Brazil
feature on Cool Planet for Children.
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