By: Colleen Davidson
PART I: History and Geography
Geography
| FAST FACTS:
(CIA Factbook) General Ethnic Groups: Portuguese, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, Arab, African, and indigenous people. National Religion: Roman Catholic. Language: Portuguese. Education: Literacy--81% of adult population. Health: Infant mortality rate--27.5/1,000. Life expectancy--71.3 yrs Climate: Mostly tropical, but temparate in the South Geographic Coordinates: 10 00 S, 55 00 W Elevation Extremes: lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m highest point: Pico da Neblina 3,014 m Percent Continent Area: 47% Continent area Maritime Claims: Exclusive economic zone 322 kilometers (200 nautical miles) |
The terrain
is not condusive for much agricultural endeavors with the dense forests
and
flat to rolling lowlands that characterize the northern regions
including
Amazon Basin; to the semiarid along northeast coast; mountains, hills,
and
rolling plains in the southwest, including Mato Grosso; around the
narrow
coastal belt. (CIA Factbook). The climate of the region is
mostly tropical or semitropical with a
temperate
zone that can be found in the south.  www.navis.gr/photos/image/brazil.jpg |
| FAST
FACTS: (CIA World Factbook) Founder: Pedro Alvares Cabral, Portuguese 1st President: Manuel da Fonseca Independence: September 7, 1822 From Portugal National Holiday: Independence Day, 7 September Constitution: Promulgated October 5, 1988 Political Parties: 19: Top 4: Workers' Party (PT), Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), Brazilian Social Democratic Party (PSDB), Government Type: Brazil Capital: Brasilia Suffrage: voluntary between 16 and 18 years of age and over 70; compulsory over 18 and under 70 years of age; note - military conscripts do not vote  Explanation of Flag Officially adopted on
November 19, 1889 Brazil's current flag was inspired by the flag of the
former Brazilian
Empire as seen below. On the imperial flag, the green
represented the Bragança Royal Family of Pedro I, the first Emperor of
Brazil, and the yellow represents the Hapsburg Imperial Family of Leopoldina, Pedro's wife. The
center of the old imperial flag bore the Imperial Coat of Arms.
On the modern republican flag, the coat of arms has
been replaced by the blue circle, which depicts the sky over Rio de
Janerio on the morning of the day the Republic of Brazil
was declared.
Imperial
Flag 
Executive Branch: President Luiz Inacio Lula da
Silva, Steel worker from one of the
poorest regions of Brazil Vice
President Jose
Alencar.
President serves as both chief of state as well as head of the
government
Elections: President and Vice
President will run on and be elected on the same ticket by popular vote
for four-year terms. The
election is held on the 6th of
October. Legislative Branch: bicameral National Congress consists of the Federal Senate (81 seats; three members from each state and federal district elected according to the principle of majority to serve eight-year terms; one-third elected after a four-year period, two-thirds elected after the next four-year period) and the Chamber of Deputies (513 seats; members are elected by proportional representation to serve four-year terms) Judicial Branch: Supreme Federal Tribunal (11 ministers are appointed for life by the president and confirmed by the Senate) , although, appointed "for life," judges, like all federal employees, have a mandatory retirement age of 70 |
Pedro Alvares
Cabral
Dom Joao VI
Manuel da Fonseca Unfortunately, da Fonseca was a
far greater military leader than a politcal one and under his rule a
president was set of unbalance and confusion. From 1889 to
1930, the
government functioned as a constitutional democracy, although this
period was
one of economic and politcal instability characterized by currupt
government officials. The export orientation of the
economy shaped Brazil's society.
Even the name "Brazil," suggests images of
commerce and the pursuit of wealth. Brazil's economy was carried
heavily on the backs of exploitation of cheap
labor, first as slaves, then as wage-earners. Although they were a free
republic the nation functioned mainly as a colony until the
1930's. The Brazilian people were once
agian disatisfied with their political situation which lead the way for
the overthrow that
was to come.
Getulio Vargas  The 1950's ushered in a new
economic focus with the use of the internal combustion engine and the fast growing
petroleum industry so presidents, Café Filho, Carlos Luz,
Nereu Ramos,
Juscelino
Kubitschek, and Janio Quadros all put a great deal of attention into
the transportation industry. By the the 1970s, Brazil had the world's
third largest commercial air fleet behind only the United States and
the
Soviet Union. The 1980's saw a
different economic interest for the nation and using its newly
developed mechanization
of agriculture
it became the world's
2nd highest producer of food. |
Part
II: Internal Inequality
| FAST
FACTS: (CIA Factbook) Age Structure: 0-14 yrs: 26.1% 15-64 yrs: 67.9% 65+ yrs: 6% Median Age: total: 27.81 years male: 27.06 years Ethnic groups: White: 53.7% Mulatto: 38.5% Black: 6.2% Other (includes Japanese, Arab, Amerindian): 0.9% Unspecified: 0.7% Relgions: Roman Catholic: 73.6% Protestant: 15.4% Spriritualist: 1.3% Bantu/voodoo: 0.3% other 1.8% Unspecified: 0.2% None: 7.4% Labor Force: 89 million people Labor Force by Occupation: Agriculture: 20% Industry: 14% Services: 66% Unemployment Rate: 11.5% Population Below Poverty Line: 22% Agriculture Products: coffee, soybeans, wheat, rice, corn, sugarcane, cocoa, citrus; beef  Coffee is Brazil's cheif
agricultural export
Industrial Products: textiles, shoes, chemicals, cement, lumber, iron ore, tin, steel, aircraft, motor vehicles and parts, other machinery and equipment GDP: Purchasing Power Parity: $1.492 trillion  Brazilian Currency
GDP: Real Growth Rate: 5.1% GDP: Per Capita Purchasing Power Parity: $8,100 GDP: Composition by Sector: Agriculture: 10.1% Industry: 38.6% Services: 51.3% Household Income or Percentage by Consumption Share: Lowest 10%: 0.7% Highest 10%: 48% Indigenous Population: 230 tribes that speak more than ninety languages and 300 dialects  The Amerindians stake most of
their land claims along the Amazon River and despite popular belief are
not a nomadic people. They prefer setting up matriacrhal
communities.
|
Brazil
is an enormous nation with a variety of different cultures living
simultanously in the same region. Brazil has recently been facing
an extreme enviromental and life condition issue dealing with the
over-crowding of the cities. The urbanization rate has increased
from 47.0 percent in
1960 to 78.2 percent in 1991. Because of the over-crowding,
discrepancies, such as inadequate sanitation, and clean drinking water
exist
between poor and better-off city dwellers. 16% of the city
dwellers lack a proper disposal system because they do not have the
funds to pay for such necesities. Most of the people are
employeed by the factories or steel mills in the larger cities and
recieve $4.75 per days work. Although schooling is
compulsory and free until the age of 14 an estimated 5 million children
and 25 percent of poorest children do not attend school.
It is thought that these students drop out in order to earn an income
for their families or live too far from a school building.
 São Paulo: Brazil's 2nd
largest
city Rio de Janeiro: Brazil's largest and most well known city The life of a city dweller is often superior to that of an agrarian worker because in rural areas, only 61% of dwellings have water and sewerage access, and only 55% have electricity. Since the 1930's the govenment has focused very little attention on its agricultural society and the farmer's quality of life has suffered because of it. The nation switched to a more industrial based economy and left the agricultural economy behind, even though the second highest sector of employment is in the agricultral field (20%), their needs were often ignored in favor of improving the function of the cities. This is the greatest distinguishing factor in class system of Brazil, the difference between poor and wealthy. 22% of Brazil's population lives below the poverty line, 41% of that bottom half live outside of the city. There is also a huge gap between the lowest 10% income percentage and highest 10% income percentage share (lowest 10%: 0.7% highest: 48%) In recent years the poor of the nation are turning to the flourishing illicit drug trade that can bring them from desolately poor to quite wealthy. The trade of cannibus, which can br grown extremely easily along the Amazon River basin has been an alternative to the agrarian workers who felt left behind by their government and country. Cocaine is also becoming a prevailant crop for Brazilians to produce for the every growing European and US markets. "I make three times the money I did before I started selling cannibus to the Columbian drug trade" said Carlon Dez a resident of outside Manuas, (TIME August 2005) People are turing to the easy money of the drug trade to bring themselves up a class. The president is making strides to try and recognize the need for more attention on the agricultural sector of Brazil. He hopes that if he does that than the gap between the rich and the poor will diminish along side the decline of the drug culture the country has recently developed. There are little to no race issues in the nation other than its previous conflicts with the indigenious population which are now being paid more attention to. The Amerindians are the indigenous people of Brazil and have been coexisting with the European influenced society since the 1500's. The early rounds of the relationship were mared with enslavement and slaughter. It is estimated that the original Amerindian population of Brazil ranged from 2 to 5 million at the time of first contact with Europeans in the early sixteenth century (US Library of Congress). This number dwindled to a pathetic 150,000 by the early twentieth century due to violence and disease on behalf of the European population. In 1910 the the Indian Protection Service was established by Marechal Cândido Rondon, who ardently worked for Amerindian rights to land and freedoms. 
 |
Part III: Social Changes
|
This section acts as a report card
for Brazil in terms of its successes or failures for its citizen's life
conditions. The first means to measure is Brazil's Educational System, the
second will be a
measure of Gender Equity, the third is a measurement of Health and Welfare, the fourth measures Population Problems, the fifth measure is of Environmental Changes, the sixth will be Measures
of Access to Modern Communication,
and the final measure will be Measures
of Urbanization.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Educational
Measurement According to the International Standard Classification of Education "Primary education provides children with basic reading, writing, and mathematics skills along with an elementary understanding of such subjects as history, geography, natural science, social science, art, and music." By federal mandate primary education is compulsory for all Brazilian children under the age of 14, unfortunately as afore mentioned, this law is not strickly regulated. In 1980 only 82% of the children under 14 years of age attended primary school. There have been great advancements within the last 20 years. The table below shows Brazil's primary school inrollment in 2000, 2001, and 2002 (more current data is unvailable pending the analysis of a recent census).
The secondary level (also displayed on the chart) is not as positive but still has promise. This level shows the most significant drop off happens when the child reaches the secondary level which is defined once again by the International Standard Classification of Education as "completes the provision of basic education that began at the primary level, and aims at laying the foundations for lifelong learning and human development, by offering more subject- or skill-oriented instruction using more specialized teachers." Only 69% of the young adult population remained in school in 2000, but by 2002 that statistic jumped up to 75% of the young adult population attended secondary education. Once again Brazil is ahead of its continental counter-parts, Colombia finishes 2002 with a secondary attendence percentage of only 55%, Venezuela with 59%. This is where the United States surpasses Brazil with a percentage of 88% of the population attending secondary education. Brazil still has a goal to work towards. They appear to have found a way to educate the majority of their population at the primary level, now they need to focus on secondary education.  In 2003 the adult literacy rate for females in Brazil was 89% a surprising 1 percentage point higher than the males of the country who had a literacy rate of 88% in 2003. This shows that females are recieving as much if not more education than the males in the nation which is a promising fact. 88-89% comparitively is disapointing especially since the enrollment percentages are so much higher than other South American nations, but both Colombia and Venezuela have higher literacry rates (95% F 94% M, and 93% F+M repectively). So Brazil's education system could use improvements, although children are generally attending school what are they learning? This could also be attributed for because the educational system has only improved within recent years and the literacy rates only measure adults who were a product of the previous insufficent educational system. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Measure
of Gender Equity
LATIN UPPER
BRAZIL AMERICA INCOME
As the above chart shows Brazilian women have a fairly equal place in the society. Their enrollment rates are slightly less than their male counterparts but not significantly. They actually have a higher literacy rates than the males of the nation. They also are allowed to contribute to the work force and appear to be right on par with their continent as well as upper income citizens. The total fertility rate in Brazil is only 2.2 because they recieve information about contriceptives and are also given a higher status in society than some of the other nations which suffer from higher birth rates. It has been shown that when women have a more elevated role in society the birth rates will drop. This happend in Brazil.  The above graph shows how drastically Brazil's total fertility rate has declined over the past 42 years quite rapidly which can be a signal of improved female status. The more women as exposed to an are given the opportunity to engage in the less likely they are to have a lot of children. The drop from slightly over 6 children per women down to slightly over 2 children shows that females are paying more attention to environmental concerns as well as financial concerns. They have been educated about the dangers of over population. In fact 76% of the married women of the nation are using some form of contriceptive to prevent over population and unwanted pregnancies (statistic from WomenofOurWorld). Despite the education and use of contriceptives, abortion is still prohibited in the country. This may stem from the country's strong alliegence to the Roman Catholic Church which strongly apposes all forms of abortion and birth control. Still the women of Brazil do not have the legal right to chose how to deal with their own bodies which is slightly belittling and unequal. A place were Brazil could use some work in terms of gender equity is in political representation. Although the women os Brazil have been able to vote for over 70 years they have not been extremely active in the governing process. And despite the fact that the number of women holding a high governmental position has increased from 7 to 9 from 1995-2004, that is still less than 10 women's voices being heard. By 2004 Brazil has the fewest women in the government in their region. Argentina has 34 women while Guyana has 20 making Brazil's 9 look pathetic. Brazil is the only nation on the continent not to have at least 10 women participating in government action. This is disapointing since it has been a leader in other gender equity issues. This is something the Brazilian government as well as the people should look into rectifying.
Although women like
 Emília Fernandes have
made great strides to advance women in politics. She started the Division for the Advancement
of Women which is an organization that works for women's rights.
This organization was instrumental in promoting the current
president Luiz Inácio Lula da
Silva, who has a general concern for more impoverished groups since he
was a steel worker from one of the nation's poorest regions.
Women like Emilia are working hard to have the desires of Brazilian
women heard, but she also calls out to more women to join with her in
the government. Brazil would be better off for it.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Health
and WelfareCountry or area/ IMR IMR IMR expectancy expectancy expectancy |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Population Problems Table 001. Total Midyear Population
---------------- -------------------- Country or area Brazil Brazil's population is growing quickly. The world is experiencing a Year Population population boom and Brazil is not exempt from that. As the table to ---------------- -------------------- the left displays, Brazil's population has grown 61.48% over the past Brazil 25 years. With that many people it is not surprising that the environment will start to feel the ramifications of the Overcrowding in Sao Paulo and Rio, with populations of 18 million and 7 million respectively, has polluted water sources, denuded mountainsides and spawned outbreaks of disease and unmanageable criminal violence. 1960 71,694,810 1965 83,092,908 1970 95,684,297 1975 108,823,732  1980 122,958,132 1985 137,302,933 1990 151,083,809 But the use of contriceptives is slowing the rate of birth down to 1995 163,542,501 almost below replacement level (2.2) so that should improve Brazil's 2000 175,552,771 population situation. In fact the percent of increase between the years 2005 186,112,794 is already starting to lessen. From 1975 to 1980 the precent increase ---------------- -------------------- was 11.5% and from 2000 to 2005 the rate of increase was down to 5.67% Source: U.S. Census Bureau, International |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Environmental Changes Only 6.9% of Brazil's rainforests are protected. This is a major problem for the nation as well as the world. This effects more than just Brazil, as the rainforest in Brazil are responsible for 87% of our oxygen and approximately 89% of the world's pharmaceuticals. 48% of the nation finds itself in a forest ecosystem yet little is being down to protect these forests. In fact Rio de Janero used to be covered in 97% forest now only less than 20% remains. Large cities such as Rio and Sao Paulo are experiencing more air polution than ever before because the purification system they are used to (the dense rainforest) is being lessend. Loggers are cutting down these forests for paper products mainly, but the world leaders from the United States, Europe and Asia are all pleading with the Brazilian government to protect more forests. The counter with the fact that the United States and Europe used to be covered with forests and they depleted all their resources so why should Brazil listen to them when the log trade is bringing in a huge revenue into the economy. But the rainforest is truly "fading fast" under the pressure of loggers. 
 Although the deforestation rates are down from previous years (1995 being the most damaging) environmentalists are worried by the 21.44% increase in deforestation that happend between 1997 and 1998, did that signal a new trend in ignoring environmental needs? It is thought that the fewer trees in the region have started a new trend in enviromental degredation; Desertification. This means that the soils and vegetation are severely degraded possibly because of no tree coverage, the land is subjected to harsher sun exposure than it is accustom to. In the early 1990s, it became evident that the "semiarid caatinga ecosystem of the Northeast was losing its natural vegetation through clearing and that the zone was therefore running the risk of becoming even more arid, as was occurring also in some other regions" (US Library of Congress) this trend only furthers the need for environmental restrictions of cutting down the rainforest. Despite favorable laws, promising institutional arrangements, and external funding, the government has not, on the whole, been effective in controlling damage to the environment. This can be accounted for because of the fiscal crisis the nation experienced and the money that was coming in from the lumber trade. Hopefully the government will soon see the importance of the environment to Brazil as well as the world, although this is a concern that every nation's leader has to take a more ardent look at. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Access
to Modern Communication Brazilians have excellent access to modern communication. THe CIA Factbook reports that there are 46,737,300 cellular phones in use within the country. That mean that 74.88% of the population has access to a cellular phone. Although on the continent Brazil falls at about the middle in terms of access to modern communication. Argentina's statistic for fixed phone and mobile phone subscriptions per 1,000 people is 396 while Brazil's is slightly smaller with 319. They are also exposed to 138 different television stations which are opporated by private companies not government officials. The internet service is described as storng and good and there are about 14.3 million internet users which is less than cell phone users but still a large number of people exposed to that type of communication. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Measure
of Urbanization Firstly it is important to note that the world's urbanization rate has increased dramatically since the 1950's Less Developed Nation's Urbanization Rates
This increase is expected to continue until the 2030's. Currently 77% of Latin American people live in urban areas which is projected to increase to 84.6% by 2030. In 2003 Sao Paulo was the world's 4th most populous city with 17.9 million people inhabiting it. Rio de Janiero also makes the list of the top 20 coming in at #14 with 11.2 million residents. Brazil is an extremely populated nation as is shown by its appearance on the list twice, but it is also significant to realize that its cities are so large that they are as high up as #4 and #14. "Numerous efforts have been made at the policy level to stimulate settlement in the interior, including colonization in the Amazon, and to limit the growth of the largest cities while strengthening middle-sized cities. Despite these efforts, however, most public policies have continued to favor population concentration in the Southeast and in large cities by promoting industry at the cost of agriculture and by providing services and benefits primarily to urban residents" (US Library of Congress). As previously stated in this description of Brazil, the government spends most of its time dealing with the people in the cities so those residents outside of the city suffer. This makes more and more people want to migrate to the cities to get better jobs as well as living conditions. Unfortunately this oftens ends up being counter-productive because the over-crowding becomes a strain on the resources of the city so life conditions often suffer.  A recent census revealed promising news though. It appears that that rate at which people are moving to the cities has decreased 20% since the last census was taken in 2000. People are opting to move to smaller cities closer to their communities rather than making the more difficult moves to the larger over-crowded cities. Once again President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is said to be responsible for this trend because of his insistence on informing people about the over population problem in the larger cities. People are now also opting to level Brazil all together and are migrating to the United States, Canada, Portugal, as well as Japan. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Part IV: Economic Changes
 The first graph I
created using the
International Futures program shows the Gross Domestic Product per
capita for
the World, South America, and finally
The
graph reflects that in the year 2000, the World has an 18.23% higher
GDP per
capita than
In
2050, In the year 2000,
South America and
In
general, these three regions are very similar, they vary slightly in
ICTech
statistics with By the year 2025, Brazil and South America will once again have similar statistics varying by 2 or fewer percentage points, namely in the energy and manufactures categories, South America will post a 1.4% higher percentage in energy than Brazil and a 1.5% lower percent in manufactures. Brazil and South America will lower their dependence on agriculture (Brazil by 6.9%) by the year 2025, but the World will decline as well (World drops 5.2%) showing an overall drop in agriculture as a production sector.
Manufactures
remain the most important for all three charts, but they also have all
increased in importance. There is only a
.6% difference between
The
International Futures program predicts that by the year 2050 all three
regions are very comparable. They all have
fewer than ten percent for agriculture (
Manufactures
remains the highest percentage for all three regions.
In fact,
Services
also sees an across the board increase reflecting a
fairly similar statistic (World-34.7%, South America- 32.4%, and
Brazil-
33.4%).
Overall,
In comparison to the rest of
South America
Brazil is doing well, but the entire region is looking to improve in
the near
future “supported by
strengthening of global economy, particularly in trade volumes,
commodity
prices, and capital flows, and the per capita GDP over long term
(2005-2015)
projected to average 2.6 percent a year” (World Bank).
Still |
Part V: Prospects for the Future
Brazil's future looks remarkably
promising. In fact in the International Futures Program senario
projecting the world's transition in power.  This
exercise
focused namely on 
From
2008-2035 the
nation experiences a 5.73% decrease in conventional military power
which will
automatically affect The
GDP is also on
the rise during this time of decline so it is my assumption that the
decline is
mainly because of the decline in conventional military power.
|
