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Basics about Brazil:
General:
| Total area: 8,511,965 sq km
Land area: 8,456,510 sq km |
| Border countries: Argentina 1,224 km, Bolivia 3,400 km, Colombia 1,643 km,
French Guiana 673 km, Guyana 1,119 km, Paraguay 1,290 km, Peru 1,560 km,
Suriname 597 km, Uruguay 985 km, Venezuela 2,200 km |
| Total border: 14,691 km
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Land use:
| Arable land: 6% |
| Permanent crops: 2% |
| Other: 92% (1998 est.) |
Environmental problems:
| Deforestation in Amazon Basin |
| Lucrative illegal wildlife trade |
| Air and water pollution in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, and several other
large cities |
| Land degradation and water pollution caused by improper mining activities;
wetland degradation; severe oil spills |
People:
| Population: 176,029,560
Population growth; 0.87% (2002 est.) |
| 0-14 years: 28%(male 25,140,954; female
24,199,276)
15-64 years: 66.4% (male 57,424,151; female
59,409,928)
65 years and over: 5.6% (male 3,992,017; female
5,863,234) (2002 est.) |
| white (includes Portuguese, German, Italian, Spanish, Polish) 55%, mixed
white and black 38%, black 6%, other (includes Japanese, Arab, Amerindian) 1% |
Government:
| Conventional long form: Federative Republic of Brazil
Conventional short form: Brazil
Local short form: Brasil
Local long form: Republica Federativa do Brasil |
| Government type: Federative Republic |
| Capital: Brasilia |
| Constitution: 5 October 1988 |
| Suffrage:
| Voluntary between 16 and 18 years of age and over 70 |
| Compulsory over 18 and under 70 years of age |
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Executive Branch:
| The president is both the chief of state and head of government |
| President and vice president elected on the same ticket by popular vote
for four-year terms |
| Cabinet appointed by the president |
Legislative Branch:
| Bicameral National Congress or Congresso Nacional |
| Federal Senate or Senado Federal
| 81 seats (3 members from each state or federal district) |
| Elected according to the principle of majority to serve 8-year terms;
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| 1/3 elected after a 4-year period, 2/3
elected after the next 4-year period |
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| Chamber of Deputies or Camara dos Deputados
| 513 seats |
| Members are elected by proportional representation to serve 4-year terms |
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Judicial Branch: (need to confirm this)
| Supreme Federal Tribunal
| 11 ministers appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate |
| Higher Tribunal of Justice |
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| Regional Federal Tribunals
| Judges are appointed for life |
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Political Parties:
| Brazilian Democratic Movement Party or PMDB [Michel TEMER, president] |
| Brazilian Labor Party or PTB [Jose Carlos MARTINEZ, president] |
| Brazilian Social Democracy Party or PSDB [Senator Jose ANIBAL, president] |
| Brazilian Socialist Party or PSB [Miguel ARRAES, president] |
| Brazilian Progressive Party or PPB [Paulo Salim MALUF] |
| Communist Party of Brazil or PCdoB [Renato RABELLO, chairman] |
| Democratic Labor Party or PDT [Leonel BRIZOLA, president] |
| Liberal Front Party or PFL [Jorge BORNHAUSEN, president] |
| Liberal Party or PL [Deputy Valdemar COSTA Neto, president] |
| Popular Socialist Party or PPS [Senator Roberto FREIRE, president] |
| Worker's Party or PT [Jose DIRCEU, president] |
Pressure groups - left wing of the Catholic Church, Landless Worker's
Movement, and labor unions allied to leftist Worker's Party are critical of
government's social and economic policies
Source:
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/br.html
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