Brazil
Brazil in numbers
• 191 million inhabitants
• 5th largest country in the world in terms of population
• 52,4% of economically active population
• High human development index: 0,813
• World's 8th largest economy with US$ 1.6 trillion Gross Domestic Product
• Territorial area of 8.514.876.599 km2
• Coastline extension: 7.491 km
• Terrestrial border: 15.621 km (10 countries)
• Predominantly tropical climate
• 26 states, a federal district, and 5.564 cities
• 1.735 million km of roads
• 29.637 km of railroads
• 37 ports
• 67 airports
• Major producer of hydroelectricity in Latin America
• Around 70 million people connected to the Internet
• 5th country with higher amount of Internet connections
• 41.7 million telephone lines*
• 189.4 mobile phones, corresponding to 97.96% of the whole population
• 5th major market of cellular phones
• 492 TV station generators
• 10.044 TV rebroadcast stations
• 4.481 radio stations
• 26th worldwide importer
• 24th worldwide exporter
• Major producer and exporter of sugar, coffee,orange juice and soy bean
• Major exporter and 2nd major producer of ethanol
• 2nd major producer and exporter of ore mine
• Manufactured 3.024 million automobiles and light commercial vehicles*
• Produced 26.506 million tons of steel*
• Developed 244 aircrafts*
• Produced 13.496 million tons of cellulose *
• 9.368 million tons of paper*
• Produced 113.180 million m3 of petroleum *
• 2.54 million barrels of petroleum and natural gas generated per day
• Produced 150 million tons of grains per year
• Produced 47.042 60 kg bags of coffee between 2009 and 2010
• 605 million tons of sugar cane production between 2009 and 2010
• 833 million tons of port movement in 2010
• 1 billion tons movement forecasted in the ports for 2011
• 6.108 thousand TEU (20 foot container or equivalent) containers handled*
• 471 million tons of railroad load transported in 2010
• 1.684 million tons of aerial load transported in 2010
• 3rd major cosmetics market
• 2nd major organic agricultural production area in the world
The Brazilian State
With a territory of 8.5 million square kilometers, Brazil has 26 states and the Federal District - the Federation Units (UF). They are distributed in five regions: North, Northeast, Center-West, Southeast, and South. The North region comprises around 45% of the Brazilian territory, but with only 7% of the whole Brazilian population. It is formed by the states of Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Pará, Rondônia, Roraima and Tocantins. In the Northeast region it is located the states of Maranhão, Piauí, Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Alagoas, Sergipe and Bahia, occupying 18% of the total area in the country. Goiás, Mato Grosso, and Mato Grosso do Sul are part of the Center-West region, occupying 18% of the national territory. It is in this region that the country’s capital city, Brasília, is located, in the Federal District. It is in that region that lives around 6% of the Brazilian population. Formed by the states of Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, the Southeast region occupies 10% of the Brazilian territory, sheltering the majority of the country’s population, almost 65 million people.
The South region has the lowest rate in Brazil with around 7% of the Brazilian territory. It shelters the states of Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul, where it lives 22 million people.
Population Growth
According to data from IBGE – Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, from 2000 to 2007, the Brazilian population has grown 8.48%, at an annual rate of 1.21%. In 2000, Brazil had 169,799,170 inhabitants, while in 2007 it was recorded 183,987,291 inhabitants. Once again, the higher taxes were observed in the Center-West and North regions, detaching the state of Amapá (3.17%). On the other hand, the lower yearly growth percentage was verified in the South region (0.95%) – Rio Grande do Sul had the lowest index among all the states (0.57%).
During 2010, IGGE is performing the 12th Demographic Census, which will constitute the greatest wide and depth portrait of the Brazilian population, comprising its socio economic features, and at the same time, the base where it shall rest every public and private planning for the next decade. The 2010 Census will be a whole body portrait of the country, with the profile of its population and the features of its home, that means, it will be shown how they are, where they are, and how the Brazilian people live.
Running along a wide country like Brazil that has continental dimensions, with around 8 million square kilometers of a quite heterogeneous and hard to access territory is a duty involving big figures.
Dimensions of the 2010 Census
• Universe surveyed: the whole National Territory
• Number of cities: 5,565 cities
• Number of homes: approximately 58 million homes
• Number of census sectors: 314,018 census sectors
• Contracted and trained personnel: around 240 thousand persons
(collection, supervision, support and management)
• Budget forecasted: US$ 840 million
• Technology: hundreds of computers in national network, broadband communication network, and 220 thousand palmtops equipped with GPS receivers
• Executive units: 27 state units, around 7 thousand computerized collection posts and 1,200 Subarea Coordination
Preliminary data reveal changes in the Brazilian age pyramid
At the end of September, with 80% of the Brazilian population already surveyed (3rd balance), preliminary data of the 2010 Census indicated that the Brazilian age pyramid have changed in the last decade. In 2000, four year old children represented 9.64% of the Brazilian population, and today they are 7.17%. 5 to 9 year old children were 9.74%, and such percentage fell down to 7.79%. Up to 24 year old Brazilian persons summed up 49.68% ten years ago, and today, they constitute 41.95%.
On the other hand, by the conclusion of the 2000 Census, it was found around 24.5 thousand older than 100 years Brazilian people, and today, with the work still in progress, it was already recorded more than 17 thousand people with such an age. The fell in the fecundity rate and child mortality allied to a higher life expectation among the population explains such changing in the demographic pattern.
(Photo in file: 2010 Census – Source: http://www.ibge.com.br/censo2010/fotos.php)
Miscegenation
In Brazil, inter-rational relationships began with the arrival of the European colonizers and their later integration with Indians and African slaves.
Indians already inhabited the Brazilian territory before the colonization, and they are responsible by a major part of the miscegenation among the national population. Their descent dates back from the first ethical groups that came from Asia and spread themselves along the American continent with few genetic differences, but a major variety of languages and different habits.
African slaves brought to Brazil came from different nations and ethnic groups. Regions like Angola, Mozambique and Nigeria supplied the major part of slaves to American countries colonized by Portuguese. Miscegenation of the African people with Portuguese and Indians formed the ethnic root of the Brazilian people. Between the 19th and 20th centuries, Brazil received millions of European immigrants, mainly Italian, Portuguese and Spanish, followed by German and Japanese. As a consequence of the variety and combination of races within the Brazilian territory, studies point out that the majority of the Brazilian population is genetically mixed-race, and even part of the population deemed white carries African and Amerindian genetic lineages besides the European.