Brazil

By: Kelsey OCallaghan, Brittany Edghill, Jessica Gold, Karman Lamb, Camille Tucker

Background Info Info Background

Brazil is the largest country in South America. Brazil is divided into 5 regions: the north region, the south region , the northeast region, the central west region & the southwest region.

The capital of Brazil is Brasilia.

Brazil is a multicultural and multiethnic society that includes: Native American, African, Italian, German and Portuguese immigrants.

North Region :
The north region covers approximately 45.27% of the land area of Brazil, and has the lowest number of inhabitants.

Northeast Region :
The northeast region has about 30% of Brazils population The central west region is covered by the worlds largest marshlands area. Much of the region is also covered by Cerrado (the largest savanna in the world.)

Central west Region :

Southeast Region :
The southeast region is the richest and most densely populated. It has more inhabitants than any other South American country.

South Region :
The south region is the wealthiest by GDP per capita. It also has the highest standard of living in the country. But it is also the coldest region of Brazil.

Map Map of of Brazil Brazil

 As of mid-2007, the total population of Brazil was 189,300,000 people. It's rate of natural increase is around 1.4% and there is an estimated population change between 2007-2050 of 37%. The projected population for 2050 is 259,800,000 people.

 There is about 21 births and 6 deaths per 1,000 population. There is 27 infant deaths per 1,000 live births. Twenty-eight percent of the population is less than 15 years old and six percent of the population is over 65 years old. The average life expectancy of males is 72 and the average life expectancy of a woman is 76.

Population Populationby byBrazilian BrazilianStates States

Immigration in Brazil
Immigration has been a very important factor in the formation, structure and history of the population in Brazil. Brazil which has now become known as a melting pot is the home to various nationalities & races, such as: Portuguese/European Black/African Japanese Arabs Native Americans

The Portuguese, which make up the largest group, colonized Brazil during the 16th century. Next, were Africans that were brought to Brazil as slaves and finally, various other Middle Eastern and Asian immigrant groups settled in Brazil during the mid-19th century. Likewise, overtime intermarriage between the Portuguese and indigenous people/slaves created the second largest group known as Mulattos (mixed). The net migration rate is -0.03 migrant(s)/per 1000.

The The government government

 The government of Brazil is a federal republic with 26 states and a federal district. The constitution of 1988 grants power to the federal government which consists of three branches of government, similar to the three branches of the United States, an executive branch, judicial, and legislative. The president is elected every four years and can serve two terms. There are three senators for each state which equals to a total of 81 senators. The major political parties of brazil include the Workers party,the current president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is a member of the Workers party, Liberal Front Party, Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, Brazilian Social Democratic Party, Progressive Party, Brazilian Labor Party, Liberal Party , Brazilian Socialist Party ,Popular Socialist Party Democratic Labor Party and the Communist Party of Brazil. Elections in Brazil are by majoritarian votes, each citizen equals one vote and the candidate with the most votes wins.

Corruption within the government

President Lulus party, the Workers party have admitted to using illegal money to fund election campaigns. There was also evidence that money had been used to bribe legislators. There were also cases where the members of the Worker's Party were collecting money and receiving presents from private companies. From the actions of the party people believe Lulu is corrupt because he knew about the scheme and did nothing to stop it. They believe he should be impeached. Others believed he knew nothing about the scheme which makes him incapable of governing Brazil.

The The Economy Economy

 Brazil's gross per capita income is 10,500 making it the most powerful country in South America in economic terms. In the past agriculture was a large part of the economy. But as the government encouraged foreign investment in automobile manufacturing, engineering, and the production of electrical goods, the importance of agriculture and mining reduced.

As a result today some of the Brazil's largest firms include mining, steel, oil, and chemical industries. Despite Brazil's current economic status it has had some problems in the past including debt, oil crises of 1973 and 1979, and inflation. The government was able to fix most of these problems by opening up a number of state-owned companies to private investors in areas such as steel, petroleum, electricity, and telecommunications.

 Today Brazil's trade partners number in the hundreds, with 80% of exports mostly of manufactured or semi manufactured goods. Another large part of the economy is the production of ethanol, 73 % of its reserves come from deep water oil research. Brazil was one of the first capitalist countries to bring together the ten largest car assembly companies inside its national territory.

Export Revenue from the years 2003 to 2008

The Role role of Of women Women

 Gender used to be an important factor in Brazilian society. Brazil used to be a male dominated country. By 1933 women were allowed to go to school and work. But men were still the head of the household. The constitution of 1988 recognized women as completely equal to men in all legal matters.

 Between the 1970's and 1980's the number of women in the work force had increased. By 1990 the women's economic participation had increased to 30 percent. There has been an increase in female headed households, even number of men and women in schools and professions such as, law, and medicine are becoming more balanced between men and women.

Education

 The educational system in the country of Brazil, has been slowly improving on the international scale each year. The system that includes both public and private institutions; ranges from preschool, primary school, high school, university and postgraduate school. However, even with a wide range of institutions to choose from, many children are not able to attend them and receive the best education they can. This is based upon the social and economic differences found among urban and rural children.

 Almost all children enrolled into public schools are poor while the middle class struggle to send their kids to private English and French schools. And although primary education is mandatory from ages 7 to 14 in Brazil, and work under the age of 16 is forbidden, there still is a relatively high child labor problem. This is because; poor parents need their children to work to make money and help support the family. Luckily, the growing importance of education in Brazil hasnt destroyed the possibility of children completing regular schooling.

 The literacy rate of current day Brazil is about 87 percent for everyone over the age of fifteen. However, this rate fluctuates depending on the region and family income. Illiteracy is highest in the rural areas of the North and Northeast, where education is not at its greatest importance. But this is not to say that Brazil hasnt been taking great strides toward higher education.

 The current Minister for Education, Mr. Paulo Renato, has put significant resources into developing the countrys higher education system. Institutions such as, The University of Rio De Janeiro, Brazils first university, has reached recognizable excellence in teaching and research. And as of 2003, there were over 125 private and public universities available to students to further their education.

Environmental Environmental Problems problems

 Brazil faces several environmental problems. Some of the more pressing environmental issues of Brazil are deforestation, pollution, climate change, and waste management. Right now only 35% of the population of Brazil has access to sewage service. 38% of isolated populations like indigenous people, rural communities, and people living in small towns have sewage service.

 Destruction of the Amazon rainforest for farming and grazing land has recently increased due to the high demand for beef and soybeans. Many countries across the globe recently increased the growing of corn for the creation of ethanol. This led to a decrease in the amount of soybeans being produced. Farmers in Brazil saw this opening and destroyed rainforest to gain land to grow more soybeans. The demand for beef has also increased and more land is needed for the cattle to graze on.

 Another problem is pollution and climate change which go hand in hand. Brazil has been industrializing and the number of factories and cars has increased. This has led to an increase in air pollution especially greenhouse gases. An increase in greenhouse gases leads to global warming. The destruction of the rainforest only helps because less trees means less carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) taken out of the air.

10 year year Plan plan 10

10 year plan: Population

For the population aspect of our ten year plan, we will try to improve use of contraceptive methods. Sixteen percent of women in Brazil are giving birth by age 18. Although there is a substantial amount of women using contraceptives (76% among married women), Brazil will not be able to support any more people without using most of its resources.

10 year plan: Education

My plan to improve education in Brazil would begin with putting more resources into the areas with relatively low literacy rates. Areas in the North and Northeast with rural communities usually tend to have a lower literacy rate due to less importance on education. Parents in those communities need their children to work, to pay for bills and other expenses. Thus, they drop out of school at an early age to begin working, which contributes to the high infant labor rate in Brazil. I would put more public primary and secondary schools in rural areas so they are more accessible to students. All of these schools would be at the same standard of teaching and I would try to implement the most modern and efficient curriculum at all schools. The reason for this is; schools found in the urban areas usually have children with wealthy or more financially stable parents. The government then puts more interest into those particular schools to oblige the parents who ultimately have more wealth.

10 year plan: Education

Likewise, I would try to convince parents that public schools are as good as, or even better than many private schools. This is because, many middle class parents with more than one child may have a hard time sending all of their kids to a costly private school and this could lead to the neglect of one or more children in the family. Finally, I would create more universities and post graduate schools in Brazil for students to further their education. Many elite students travel abroad to attend university due to the countries average, costly and overcrowded schools yet, this should not be the case. I would create universities that would be able to compete with some of the most prestigious schools in Latin America and have reasonable tuition pricing.

10 year plan: Environment

To help the environment, Brazil needs increase the use of renewable energy and biofuels, reduce deforestation, increase public awareness, and sustain industrial development. Renewable energy is energy generated from natural resources. Some examples of natural resources that can be used are sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat. A biofuel is a solid, liquid, or gas fuel derived from relatively recently dead biological material. The difference between biofuels and fossil fuels is that while fossil fuels are made from long dead bio matter taken from the earth biofuel is made from recently dead materials. Biofuels can be made from any biological carbon source but we mostly use photosynthetic plants. The carbon removed from the air by the plants is returned to the atmosphere when we use the plant for fuel. This is extremely different from fossil fuels which release carbon into the atmosphere that was previously stored in the ground. Using renewable energy and biofuels would be important because they both reduce dependency on oil and increase a countries energy security.

10 year plan: Environment

As previously discussed deforestation is a serious problem in Brazil. To help reduce deforestation Brazil could create certain laws that help protect the Amazon. For example you could make the rainforest a national park or something like that to make it illegal to cut down the rainforest. If it's not possible to totally outlaw the clearing of the rainforest then you could make it expensive. This way only few people will be able to do it and the country gets money. If you limit the amount of forest that can be cleared in a certain amount of time you can also slow down its destruction. Laws that make sure steps to replenish the rainforest are taken might also help. Public awareness is extremely important because we need not only support but funds. We need not only citizens of Brazil but also the world to know that Brazil has problems that they can help solve. Getting help from other countries for sewage systems without attaining debt might be difficult if not impossible but many people outside of Brazil are concerned about the rainforest and would probably be more than willing to assist. Also if we make people in the country more aware then they might do more to help also.

10 year plan: Environment

A serious problem in Brazil is a lack of economic opportunities. Brazil's economy is extremely dependent on agriculture with things like cocoa and beans being in their list of top exports. If we find a way to industrialize without negatively affecting the environment then new jobs will be created and there will be less pressure on the people to cut down rainforests for farming and grazing. Also more people will become employed and there will be less poverty. Basically the goals of the environmental part of our ten year plan is to improve our waste management, find new cleaner sources of energy and fuel, and to reduce deforestation. If we do this Brazil should be a healthier place.

The end.