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Brazil
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Brazil (IPA: /brəˈzɪl/), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: Brasil or República Federativa do Brasil, listen ), is a country in South America.[1] It is the fifth-largest country by geographical area, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. The official language is Portuguese.[2] Catholicism is the predominant religion.
Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east, Brazil has a coastline of over 7,367 kilometres.[1] Brazil borders every nation on the South American continent except Ecuador and Chile: Venezuela, Suriname, Guyana and the department of French Guiana are to the north, Colombia to the northwest, Bolivia and Peru to the west, Argentina and Paraguay to the southwest, and Uruguay to the south.[1] Numerous archipelagos are part of the Brazilian territory, such as Penedos de São Pedro e São Paulo, Fernando de Noronha, Trindade and Martim Vaz and Atol das Rocas.[1][3]
Brazil is crossed by both the Equator and Tropic of Capricorn, and as such is home to a vast array fauna and flora, natural environments, as well as extensive natural resources. The Brazilian population is concentrated along the coastline and in a few large urban centers in the interior. While Brazil is one of the most populous nations in the world, population density drops dramatically as one moves inland.[4]
Brazil was a colony of Portugal from its discovery by Pedro Álvares Cabral in 1500 until its independence in 1822. Initially independent as the Brazilian Empire, the country has been a republic since 1889, although the bicameral legislature (now called Congress) dates back to 1824, when the first constitution was ratified. Its current Constitution defines Brazil as a Federative Republic.[2] The Federation is formed by the indissoluble association of the States, the Federal District, and the Municipalities.[2] There are currently 26 States and 5,564 Municipalities.[5]
Brazil is the world's 8th largest economy in terms of purchasing power and the 10th largest economy at market exchange rates. The country has a diversified middle-income economy with wide variations in development levels and mature manufacturing, mining and agriculture sectors. Technology and services also play an important role and are growing rapidly. Brazil is a net exporter, having gone through free trade and privatization reforms in the 1990s. In spite of important economical achievements, many social issues still hamper development.
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History
Colonization
Initially Portugal had little interest in Brazil, mainly because of high profits gained through commerce with Indochina. After 1530, the Portuguese Crown devised the Hereditary Captaincies system to effectively occupy its new colony, and later took direct control of the failed captaincies.[6][7] The Portuguese colonists adopted an economy based on the production of agricultural goods that were exported to Europe. Sugar became by far the most important Brazilian colonial product until the early eighteenth century.[8][9] Even though Brazilian sugar was reputed as being of high quality, the industry faced a crisis during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries when the Dutch and the French started producing sugar in the Antilles, located much closer to Europe, causing sugar prices to fall.
During the eighteenth century, private explorers who called themselves the Bandeirantes found gold and diamond deposits in the state of Minas Gerais. The exploration of these mines were mostly used to finance the Portuguese Royal Court's debts. The predatory way in which such deposits were explored by the Portuguese Crown, however, burdened colonial Brazil with excessive taxes. Some popular movements supporting independence came about against the abusive taxes established by the colonial government, such as the Tiradentes incident in 1789, but they were often dismissed with violence by Portugal. Gold production declined towards the end of the eighteenth century, starting a period of relative stagnation of the Brazilian hinterland.[10] Both Amerindian and African slaves' man power were largely used in Brazil's colonial economy.[11]
Empire
In 1808, the Portuguese court, fleeing from Napoleon’s troops which had invaded Portugal, established themselves in the city of Rio de Janeiro. After João VI returned to Portugal in 1821, his heir-apparent Pedro became regent of the Kingdom of Brazil. Following a series of political incidents and disputes, Brazil achieved its independence from Portugal on September 7, 1822. On October 12, 1822, Dom Pedro became the first Emperor of Brazil, being crowned on December 1, 1822.
In 1824, Pedro closed the Constituent Assembly, stating that the body was "endangering liberty". Pedro then produced a constitution modeled on that of Portugal (1822) and France (1814). It specified indirect elections and created the legislative, executive and judiciary branches of government; however, it also added a fourth branch, the "moderating power", to be held by the Emperor. Pedro's government was considered economically and administratively inefficient. Political pressures eventually made the Emperor step down on April 7, 1831. He returned to Portugal leaving behind his five-year-old son Pedro II. Until Pedro II reached maturity, Brazil was governed by regents from 1831 to 1840. The regency period was turbulent and marked by numerous local revolts including the Male Revolt, the largest urban slave rebellion in the Americas, which took place in Bahia in 1835.[12]
On July 23, 1840, Pedro II was crowned Emperor. His government was highlighted by a substantial rise in coffee exports, the War of the Triple Alliance, and the end of slave trade from Africa in 1850, although slavery in Brazilian territory would only be abolished in 1888. When slavery was finally abolished, a large influx of European immigrants took place.[13][14][15] By the 1870s, the Emperor's grasp on domestic politics had started to deteriorate in face of crises with the Roman Catholic Church, the Army and the slaveholders. The Republican movement slowly gained strength. In the end, the empire fell because the dominant classes no longer needed it to protect their interests.[16] Indeed, imperial centralization ran counter to their desire for local autonomy. By 1889 Pedro II had stepped down and the Republican system had been adopted to Brazil.
Republic
Pedro II was deposed on November 15, 1889 by a Republican military coup led by general Deodoro da Fonseca,[17] who became the country’s first de facto president through military ascension. The country’s name became the Republic of the United States of Brazil (which in 1967 was changed to Federative Republic of Brazil). From 1889 to 1930, the dominant states of São Paulo and Minas Gerais alternated control of the presidency.[18][19]
A military junta took control in 1930. Getúlio Vargas took office soon after, and would remain as dictatorial ruler (with a brief democratic period in between), until 1945. He was re-elected in 1951 and stayed in office until his suicide in 1954. After 1930, the successive governments continued industrial and agriculture growth and development of the vast interior of Brazil.[19][20] Juscelino Kubitschek's office years (1956-1961) were marked by the political campaign motto of plunging "50 anos em 5" (English: fifty years of development in five).[21]
The military forces took office in Brazil in a coup d'état in 1964, and remained in power until March 1985, when it fell from grace because of political struggles between the regime and the Brazilian elites. Just as the Brazilian regime changes of 1889, 1930, and 1945 unleashed competing political forces and caused divisions within the military, so too did the 1964 regime change.[22] Tancredo Neves was elected president in an indirect election in 1985, as Brazil returned to civil government regime. He died before taking office, and the vice-president, José Sarney, was sworn in as president in his place.
Democracy was re-established in 1988 when the current Federal Constitution was enacted.[23] Fernando Collor de Mello was the first president truly elected by popular vote after the military regime.[24] Collor took office in March 1990. In September 1992, the National Congress voted for Collor's impeachment after a sequence of scandals were uncovered by the media.[24][25] The vice-president, Itamar Franco, assumed the presidency. Assisted by the Minister of Finance at that time, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Itamar Franco's administration implemented the Plano Real economic package,[24] which included a new currency temporarily pegged to the U.S. dollar, the real. In the elections held on October 3, 1994, Fernando Henrique Cardoso ran for president and won, being reelected in 1998. Brazil's current president is Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, elected in 2002 and reelected in 2006.
Government and politics
- See also: Politics of Brazil
The Brazilian Federation is based on the indissoluble association of three autonomous political entities: the States, the Municipalities and the Federal District.[2] A fourth entity originated in the aforementioned association: the Union.[2] There is no hierarchy among the political entities. The Federation is set on six fundamental principles:[2] sovereignty, citizenship, dignity of the people, social value of labor, freedom of enterprise, and political pluralism. The classic tripartite division of power, encompassing the Executive, Legislative and Judiciary branches under the checks and balances system, is formally established by the Constitution.[2] The Executive and Legislative are organized independently in all four political entities, while the Judiciary is organized only in the Federal and State levels.
All members of the executive and legislative branches are elected by direct suffrage.[26][27][28] Judges and other judicial authorities are appointed after passing entry exams.[26] Voting is compulsory for those aged 18 or older.[2] Four political parties stand out among several small ones: Workers' Party (PT), Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB), Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), and Democrats (formerly Liberal Front Party - PFL). Practically all governmental and administrative functions are exercised by authorities and agencies affiliated with the Executive. The form of government is Republican and democratic,[2] and the system of government is Presidential.[2] The President is Head of State and Head of Government of the Union and is elected for a four-year term,[2] with the possibility of re-election for a second successive term. Currently the President of Brazil is Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. He was elected on October 27, 2002,[29] and re-elected on October 29, 2006.[30] The President appoints the Ministers of State, who assist in governing.[2] Legislative houses in each political entity are the main source of laws in Brazil. The National Congress is the Federation’s bicameral legislature, consisting of the Chamber of Deputies and the Federal Senate. Judiciary authorities exercise jurisdictional duties almost exclusively.
Law
Brazilian Law is based on Roman-Germanic traditions.[31] Thus, civil law concepts prevail over common law practices. Most of Brazilian law is codified, although non-codified statutes also represent a substantial part of the system, playing a complementary role. Court decisions set out interpretation guidelines; however, they are not binding towards other specific cases except in a few situations. Doctrinal works and comments of legal academic pundits have strong influence in law creation and in legal cases.
The Federal Constitution, promulgated on October 5, 1988, is the fundamental law of Brazil and it rules the system. All other legislation and court decisions must conform to its rules.[32] As of April 2007, it has been through 53 Amendments. States also adopt their own Constitutions, but they must also not contradict the Federal Constitution.[33] Municipalities and the Federal District do not have their own Constitutions; instead, they adopt "organic laws" (leis orgânicas).[2][34] Legislative entities are the main source of statutes, although in certain matters judiciary and executive bodies may also enact legal norms.[2]
Jurisdiction is administered by the judiciary entities, although in rare cases, the Federal Constitution allows the Federal Senate to pass on legal judgments.[2] There are also specialized military, labor, and electoral courts.[2] The highest court is the Supreme Federal Tribunal. This system has met criticism over the last decades in relation to the slow pace at which final decisions are issued. Lawsuits on appeal may take several years to resolve, and in some cases more than a decade to see definitive rulings.[35]
Foreign relations and the military
Brazil is a political and economic leader in Latin America.[36][37] However, social and economic problems prevent it from becoming an effective global power.[38] Between World War II and 1990, both democratic and military governments sought to expand Brazil's influence in the world by pursuing a state-led industrial policy and an independent foreign policy. More recently, the country has aimed to strengthen ties with other South American countries, engage in multilateral diplomacy through the United Nations and the Organization of American States.[39] Brazil's current foreign policy is based on the country's position as a regional power in Latin America, a leader among developing countries, and an emerging world power.[40] Brazilian foreign policy has generally reflected multilateralism, peaceful dispute settlement, and nonintervention in the affairs of other countries.[41] The Brazilian Constitution also determines the country shall seek the economic, political, social and cultural integration of the nations of Latin America.[2][42][43][44]
The Armed forces of Brazil comprise the Brazilian Army, the Brazilian Navy, and the Brazilian Air Force.[2] The Military Police (States' Military Police) is described as an ancillary force of the Army by constitution, but under the control of each state's governor.[2] The Brazilian armed forces are the largest in Latin America. The Brazilian Air Force is the aerial warfare branch of the Brazilian armed forces, being the largest air force in Latin America, with about 700 manned aircraft in service.[45] The Brazilian Navy is responsible for naval operations and for guarding Brazilian territorial waters. It is the oldest of the Brazilian Armed forces and the only navy in Latin America that operates an aircraft carrier, the NAeL São Paulo (formerly FS Foch of the French Navy).[46] Finally, the Brazilian Army is responsible for land-based military operations, with a strength of approximately 190,000 soldiers.
Administrative divisions
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Politically, Brazil is a Federation of twenty-six states (estados) and one federal district (Distrito Federal).
The national territory was divided in 1969 by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), for demographic and statistical purposes, into five main regions: North, Northeast, Central-West, Southeast and South.
The North region covers 45.27% of the surface of Brazil, and has the lowest number of inhabitants. With the exception of Manaus, which hosts a tax-free industrial zone, and Belém, the biggest metropolitan area of the region, it is fairly unindustrialized and undeveloped. It accommodates most of the rainforest vegetation of the world and many indigenous tribes.
The Northeast region is inhabited by about 30% of Brazil's population.[47] It is culturally diverse, with roots set in the Portuguese colonial period, and in Amerindian and Afro-Brazilian elements. It is also the poorest region of Brazil,[48] and suffers from long periods of dry climate.[49] The largest cities are Salvador, Recife and Fortaleza.
The Central-West region has low demographic density when compared to the other regions,[50] mostly because a part of its territory is covered by the world's largest marshlands area, the Pantanal[51] as well as a small part of the Amazon Rainforest in the northwest. However, much of the region is also covered by Cerrado, the largest savanna in the world. The central-west region contributes significantly towards agriculture.[52] The largest cities of this region are: Brasília (the capital), Goiânia, Campo Grande, Cuiabá.
The Southeast region is the richest and most densely populated.[50] It has more inhabitants than any other South American country, and hosts one of the largest megalopolises of the world, where of the main cities are the country's two largest; São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The region is very diverse, including the major business center of São Paulo, the historical cities of Minas Gerais and its capital Belo Horizonte, the third-largest metropolitan area in Brazil, the beaches of Rio de Janeiro, and the coast of Espírito Santo.
The South region is the wealthiest by GDP per capita,[48] and has the highest standard of living in the country.[53] It is also the coldest region of Brazil,[54] with occasional occurrences of frost and snow in some of the higher altitude areas.[55] It has been settled by European immigrants, mainly of Italian, German, Portuguese, Slavic and Japanese ancestry, being clearly influenced by these cultures. The largest cities in this region are: Curitiba, Porto Alegre, Florianópolis, Londrina, Caxias do Sul and Joinville.
Geography
Brazilian topography is diverse, including hills, mountains, plains, highlands, scrublands, savannas, rainforests, and a long coastline. The extensive low-lying Amazon Rainforest covers most of Brazil’s terrain in the North, whereas small hills and low mountains occupy the South. Along the Atlantic coast there are several mountain ranges, with a highest altitude of roughly 2,900 meters (9,500 feet (2,900 m)). The highest peak is the 3,014 metres (9,890 ft) Pico da Neblina (Misty Peak) in Guiana's highlands.[56][57] Major rivers include the Amazon, the largest river in terms of volume of water, and the second-longest in the world; the Paraná and its major tributary, the Iguaçu River, where the Iguaçu Falls are located; the Negro, São Francisco, Xingu, Madeira and the Tapajós rivers. Several small islands and atolls in the Atlantic Ocean are part of Brazil: Abrolhos, Atol das Rocas, Penedos de São Pedro e São Paulo, and Trindade and Martim Vaz.
Climate
Brazil's climate has little seasonal variation since most of the country is located within the tropics. However, although 90% of the country is located within the tropical zone, year-long climate varies considerably from the mostly tropical North (the equator traverses the mouth of the Amazon) to temperate zones below the Tropic of Capricorn (23°27' S latitude), which crosses the country at the latitude of the city of São Paulo. Brazil has five climatic regions: equatorial, tropical, semiarid, highland tropical, and subtropical.
Temperatures along the equator are high, with averages above 25 °C (77 °F), and occasionally reaching the summer extremes of up to 40 °C (104 °F) in the temperate zones.[58] Southern Brazil has a subtropical temperate weather, normally experiencing frost in the winter (June-August), and occasional snow in the mountainous areas, such as Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina. Temperatures in the cities of São Paulo,[59] Belo Horizonte,[60] and Brasília[61] are moderate, usually ranging between 10 °C (50 °F) and 30 °C (86 °F), because of their altitude of approximately 1,000 m (3,280 ft 10 in). Rio de Janeiro,[62][63] Recife[64] and Salvador,[65] located in the coast, have warm climates, with average temperatures ranging from 23 °C (73 °F) to 27 °C (81 °F). The southern cities of Porto Alegre and Curitiba have a subtropical climate similar to that in parts of the United States and Europe,[66][67] and temperatures can fall under 0 °C (32 °F) in the winter.
Precipitation levels vary widely. They are higher in the humid Amazon Basin, and lower in the somewhat arid landscapes of the northeast. Most of Brazil has moderate rainfall of 1,000 to 1,500 millimeters a year, with most of the rain falling in the summer (between December and April), south of the Equator. The Amazon region is notoriously humid, with rainfall generally of more than 2,000 millimeters per year, getting as high as 3,000 millimeters in parts of the western Amazon and near Belém. Despite high annual precipitation, the Amazon rain forest has a three-to-five-month dry season, the timing of which varies according to location north or south of the equator.
Environment
Brazil's large area comprises different ecosystems, which together sustain some of the world's greatest biodiversity. Because of the country's intense economic and demographic growth, Brazil's ability to protect its environmental habitats has increasingly come under threat. Extensive logging in the nation's forests, particularly the Amazon, both official and unofficial, destroys areas the size of a small country each year, and potentially a diverse variety of plants and animals.[68] Between 2002 and 2006, an area of the Amazon Rainforest equivalent in size to the State of South Carolina was completely deforested for the purposes of raising cattle and woodlogging.[69] By 2020, at least 50% of the species resident in Brazil may become extinct.[69]
There is a general consensus that Brazil has the highest number of both terrestrial vertebrates and invertebrates of any single country in the world.[70] Also, Brazil has the highest primate diversity,[70] the highest number of mammals,[70] the second highest number of amphibians and butterflies,[70] the third highest number of birds,[70] and fifth highest number of reptiles.[70] There is a high number of endangered species,[71] many of them living in threatened habitats such as the Atlantic Forest.
Economy
Brazil's GDP (PPP and Nominal) is the highest of Latin America with large and developed agricultural, mining, manufacturing,[72] and service sectors, as well as a large labour pool. The country has been expanding its presence in international financial and commodities markets, and is regarded as one of the group of four emerging economies called BRIC. Major export products include aircraft, coffee, automobiles, soybean, iron ore, orange juice, steel, ethanol, textiles, footwear, corned beef and electrical equipment.[73] According to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, Brazil has the ninth largest economy in the world by purchasing power parity (PPP)[74][75] and tenth largest at market exchange rates.[76][77] Brazil has a diversified middle income economy with wide variations in development levels. Most large industry is agglomerated in the Southern and South East states. The Northeast is the poorest region of Brazil, but it has attracted new investments in infrastructure for the tourism sector and intensive agricultural schemes.[78][79][80][81]
Brazil had pegged its currency, the real, to the U.S. dollar in 1994. However, after the East Asian financial crisis, the Russian default in 1998[82] and the series of adverse financial events that followed it, the Brazilian central bank has temporarily changed its monetary policy to a managed-float scheme while undergoing a currency crisis, until definitively changing the exchange regime to free-float in January 1999.[83] Brazil received an IMF rescue package in mid-2002 in the amount of USD 30.4 billion,[84][85] a record sum at that time. The IMF loan was paid off early by Brazil's central bank in 2005 (the due date was scheduled for 2006).[86]
Brazil has a diverse and sophisticated service industry as well. During the early 1990s, the banking sector amounted to as much as 16% of GDP, and has attracted foreign financial institutions and firms by issuing and trading Brazilian Depositary Receipts (BDRs).[87] One of the issues the Brazilian central bank is currently dealing with is the excess of speculative short-term capital inflows to the country in the past few months, which might explain in part the recent downfall of the U.S. dollar against the real in the period.[88] Nonetheless, foreign direct investment (FDI), related to long-term, less speculative investment in production, is estimated to be USD 193.8bn for 2007.[89] Inflation monitoring and control currently plays a major role in Brazil's Central Bank activity in setting out short-term interest rates as a monetary policy measure.[90] The IPCA index, measured and calculated by the IBGE on a monthly basis, is the most commonly used index for inflation, although other indices such as the IPC-Fipe and IGP-M (FGV) are also widely used.
Energy policy
Brazil is the 10th largest energy consumer in the world and the largest in Latin America. At the same time it is also a large oil and gas producer in the region and the world's largest ethanol producer. Because of its ethanol fuel production Brazil has been sometimes described as a bio-energy superpower.[91] Brazil's ethanol fuel is produced from sugar cane, the world's largest crop in both production and export tonnage.
With the 1973 oil crisis the Brazilian government initiated in 1975 the Pró-Álcool program. The Pró-Álcool or Programa Nacional do Álcool (National Alcohol Program) was a nation-wide program financed by the government to replace automobile fuels derived from fossil fuels in favor of ethanol. The program successfully reduced the number of cars running on gasoline in Brazil by 10 million, thereby reducing the country's dependence on oil imports. Brazil's production and consumption of biodiesel relative to its energy matrix is expected to reach to 2% of diesel fuel in 2008 and 5% in 2013.[92] Brazil is the third largest hydroelectricity producer in the world after China and Canada. In 2004 hydropower accounted 83% of Brazil power production.[92] The gross theoretical capability exceeds 3,000 TWh per annum, of which 800 TWh per annum is economically exploitable.[93] Also in 2004, Brazil produced 321TWh of hydropower, which was the third largest hydropower production in the world.[94] The installed capacity is 69 GW.[94] Brazil co-owns Itaipu hydroelectric power plant on the Paraná River which is the world largest hydroelectric power plant by energy generation with the installed generation capacity of 14 GW by 20 generating units of 700 MW each.[95]
Science and technology
Technological research in Brazil is largely carried out in public universities and research institutes. Despite governmental regulations and incentives, investment in research and development has been growing in private universities and companies as well since the 1990s. Nonetheless, more than 73% of funding for basic research still comes from governmental sources.[96] Some of Brazil's most notables technological hubs are the Oswaldo Cruz Institute, the Butantan Institute, the Air Force's Aerospace Technical Center, the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation and the INPE. The National Institute for Space Research (INPE) is a search unit of the Brazilian Ministry of Science and Technology (MCT), whose main goals lie in fostering scientific research and technological applications and in qualifying personnel in the fields of Space and Atmospheric Sciences, Applications, Space Engineering and Space Technology. While INPE is the civilian research center for aerospace activities, the Brazilian General Command for Aerospace Technology is the research military arm.
Brazilian information technology is comparable in quality and positioning to those of India and China, though because of Brazil's larger internal market, software exports are limited.[97] Catering for the internal market, Brazilian IT is particularly efficient in providing solutions to financial services, defense, CRM, eGovernment, and healthcare. The Brazilian government as an institution has plans to switch its operating systems, replacing the current proprietary software scheme for the free software scheme.[98]
Demographics
Brazil's population comprises many races and ethnic groups. The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) classifies the Brazilian population in five categories: black, white, pardo (brown), yellow (Asian) or Indigenous, based on skin color or race. The last PNAD (National Research for Sample of Domiciles) census revealed the following numbers: 93,096 million White people (49.7%), 79,782 million Pardo people (42.6%), 12,908 million Black people (6.9%), 919 thousand Asian people (0.5%) and 519 thousand Amerindian people (0.4%).[99] The ethnic composition of Brazilians is not uniform across the country. Because of its large influx of European immigrants in the 19th century, the Southern Region has a White majority, consisting of 79.6% of its population.[100] The Northeastern Region, as a result of the large numbers of African slaves working in the sugar cane engenhos, has a majority of brown and black peoples, respectively 62.5% and 7.8%.[101] Northern Brazil, largely covered by the Amazon Rainforest, is 69.2% brown, because of its strong Amerindian component.[102] Southeastern Brazil and Central-Western Brazil have a more balanced ratio among different ethnic groups.
The largest ethnic group in Brazil is Portuguese (10.46%), followed by Italian (10.41%), Black or African (7.15%), Amerindian (6.64%), Spanish (4.40%), German (3.54%) and Japanese (1.34%). 38.66% of respondents identified their ethnicity as only Brazilian and 86.09% identified themselves as being also ethnically Brazilians.[103]
The largest metropolitan areas in Brazil are São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte, respectively with 19.7, 11.4, and 5.4 million inhabitants.[104] Almost all capitals are the largest city in their corresponding state, except for Vitória, the capital of Espírito Santo, and Florianópolis, the capital of Santa Catarina. There are also non-capital metropolitan areas in the states of São Paulo (Campinas, Santos and the Paraíba Valley), Minas Gerais (Steel Valley), Rio Grande do Sul (Sinos Valley), and Santa Catarina (Itajaí Valley).
Portuguese is the only official language of Brazil.[105] It is spoken by nearly the entire population and is virtually the only language used in schools, newspapers, radio, TV and for all business and administrative purposes. Moreover, Brazil is the only Portuguese-speaking nation in the Americas, making the language an important part of Brazilian national identity. 180 Amerindian languages are spoken in remote areas.[106] There are important communities of speakers of German (mostly the Hunsrückisch, part of the High German languages) and Italian (mostly the Talian dialect, of Venetian origin) in the south of the country, both largely influenced by the Portuguese language.[107][108]
Education and health
The Federal Constitution and the 1996 General Law of Education in Brazil (LDB) determine the Federal Government, States, Federal District, and Municipalities will manage and organize their respective education systems. Each of these public educational systems is responsible for its own maintenance, which manages funds as well as mechanisms and sources for financial resources. The new Constitution reserves 25% of state and municipal taxes and 18% of federal taxes for education.[109] Private school programs are available to complement the public school system. In 2003, the literacy rate was at 88 percent of the population, and the youth literacy rate (ages 15–19) was 93.2 percent.[109] However, according to UNESCO Brazil's education still shows very low levels of efficiency by 15-year-old students, particularly in the public school network.[110] Higher education starts with undergraduate or sequential courses, which may offer different specialization choices such as academic or vocational paths. Depending on the choice, students may improve their educational background with Stricto Sensu or Lato Sensu postgraduate courses.[111]
The public health system is managed and provided by all levels of government, whilst private healthcare fulfills a complementary role.[2] Several problems hamper the Brazilian system. In 2006, the most notable health issues were infant mortality, child mortality, maternal mortality, mortality by non-transmissible illness and mortality caused by external causes (transportation, violence and suicide).[112]
Social issues
Brazil has been unable to reflect its recent economic achievements into social development. Poverty, urban violence, growing social security debts, inefficient public services, and the low value of the minimum wage are some of the main social issues that currently challenge the Brazilian government. The rate of poverty is in part attributed to the country's economic inequality. Brazil ranks among the world's highest nations in the Gini coefficient index of inequality assessment. According to Fundação Getúlio Vargas, in 2006 the rate of people living below the poverty line based on labour income was of 19.31% of the population[113] — a 33% reduction considering the previous three years.[114]
Poverty in Brazil is most visually represented by the various favelas, slums in the country's metropolitan areas and remote upcountry regions that suffer with economic underdevelopment and below-par standards of living. There are also great differences in wealth and welfare between regions. While the Northeast region has the worst economic indicators nationwide, many cities in the South and Southeast enjoy First World socioeconomic standards,[115] with roughly 23.8 homicides per 100,000 residents.[116] The level of violence in some large urban centers is comparable to that of a war zone.[117][118] Analysts generally suggest the alarming social inequality as the major reason behind this problem. Muggings, robberies, kidnappings[119] and gang violence[120] are common in the largest cities. Police brutality and corruption are widespread.[121][122] Innefficient public services,[123][124][125] especially those related to security, education and health, severely affect quality of life. Minimum wages fail in fulfilling the constitutional requirements set in article 7, IV, regarding living standards. Brazil currently ranks 70th in the Human Development Index list, with a high HDI (0,800). The social security system is considered unreliable and has been historically submerged in large debts and graft, which have been steadily increasing along the 1990s.[126]
Culture
A wide variety of elements influenced Brazilian culture. Its major early influence derived from Portuguese culture, because of strong colonial ties with the Portuguese empire. Among other inheritances, the Portuguese introduced the Portuguese language, the Roman-Germanic legal system, and the colonial architectural styles. Other aspects of Brazilian culture are contributions of European and Asian immigrants, Native South American people (such as the Tupi), and African slaves. Thus, Brazil is a