»  Travel to Brazil

 About Brazil

1) Brazil is very, very, big: 8.5 million square kilometers. The fifth largest country in the world. To fly from Porto Alegre in the South to Boa Vista in the northern Amazon, you will take 9 hours (New York to Paris is only 8 hours).

2) The population of Brazil is over 190 million. It is a lot in number of people (5th largest), but not a lot in terms of population density (at 21 people per square km, Brazil only ranks number 187).

3) Brasilia has been the capital since 1960 (before that Rio de Janeiro and before that Salvador de Bahia).

4) Language: Brazilian Portuguese

5) Type of Government: Federal Republic with democratically elected President and Congress every 4 years (next election in 2010).

6) Current President : Luis Inácio Lula da Silva

7) Brazil is divided in one federal district (Brasilia) and 26 states. Governors and state assembly’s elections are held in the same year as presidential elections (next election 2010).

8) There are 5.561 municipalities (IBGE, 2000) in Brazil, including 31 cities with over 500.000 inhabitants. Mayors and municipal assemblies are also elected every 4 year (next election for municipalities in 2012).

9) Brazil is one of the ten largest economies in the world with a GDP of US$ 1.3 trillion (2007 current). In 2007, GDP per capita (purchasing power parity - PPP) was US$ 9.706.

10) Brazilian exports in 2008 were about US$ 200 billion. Brazil exports a wide range of products from sophisticated technology (airplanes) to agriculture (coffee, soy, fruits, sugar and meat).