Brazil

Geography

Brazil is located in the eastern part of South America and occupies most of the subcontinent. It borders Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana to the north, Colombia to the west, Peru to the southwest and Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay to the south. In the east, Brazil stretches along the Atlantic coast.

The area of Brazil is around 8.52 million square kilometers, making it the fifth largest country in the world and the third largest country in the Americas after Canada and the USA. This land area is only slightly larger than the Australia. Around 215.31 million people live in Brazil. The population density varies greatly, with an average of 25.3 inhabitants per square kilometer. Most people live along the coasts and around 87.6% of the population is urban.

On average, Brazil lies at an altitude of 320 meters above sea level. The highest mountain peak is the Pico da Neblina with an altitude of 2,994 meters. The country has around 60 islands in the Atlantic. Brazil's landscape is also particularly diverse, ranging from the Amazon rainforest in the north to the central highlands and coastal regions in the south. The Amazon basin is the largest river system in the world.

Climate in Brazil

The climate in Brazil is predominantly tropical, which means that temperatures remain largely the same throughout the year. With daily highs of 29 to 32 degrees, there are no distinct changes between summer and winter. The hottest and least rainy months are from July to September. At the same time, humidity is somewhat lower. Only the southern parts of the country are in the subtropical climate zone, where winters (in the southern hemisphere from May to August) are significantly colder and rainier.

• Detailed climate data for Brazil and 27 individual regions

Languages

Mother tongue	Distribution
Portuguese	93.2 %
German	0.5 %
Italian	0.3 %
Japanese	0.2 %
Quechua	0.1 %
other	5.7 %

Religions

Religion	Distribution
Adventists	6.5%
Assemblies of God	2.0%
Congregationalists	1.2%
Universal Kingdom of God	1.0%
Mormons	0.7%
Catholics	64.6%
other Protestants	11.5%
other Christs	0.3%
nondenominational	8.0%
other	4.2%

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Economy

GDP:	1,920.10 bn $
Exportations:	380.62 bn $
Importations:	376.08 bn $
› Tourism receipts:	3.01 bn $
› Debt rate:	85.33 %
› Unemployment rate:	7.95 %
› Inflation rate:	9.28 %
› Corruption index:	36 (bad)
› Energy consumption:	541.0 bn kWh

According to the definition from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Brazil is a developing country because of its lower economic performance. Despite this classification, the country is currently also one of the emerging markets, i.e. countries with increasing industrialization.

With an average annual income of 8,140 USD Brazil is one of the upper middle-income countries.

Land use

2% Urban areas:	134,981 km²
34% Agricultural areas:	2,879,182 km²
59% Forest:	5,060,071 km²
2% Water areas:	157,630 km²
5% Others:	441,536 km²

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Transport

Roadways:	2,000,000 km
Railways:	29,850 km
Waterways:	153,348 km
Reg. vehicles:	96,000,000
› Airports: