Brazil’s population is a mixture of Native American, European, and African peoples. These groups have intermingled over the years to create a society with considerable ethnic complexity. The Native American population has been in Brazil the longest, but is now the smallest group. The Portuguese began arriving in 1500, and other European groups came after 1850. The ancestors of African Brazilians arrived as slaves, beginning about the mid-1500s and ending in 1850 when the slave trade was abolished.
Brazil’s population growth was generally high during the 20th century, but it began to slow in the 1980s. Until recently the population was predominantly rural and agricultural. The last half of the 20th century brought rapid urbanization due to population growth and the migration of people from rural areas seeking employment in the expanding industries of the cities.
Official name: Federative Republic of Brazil Capital: BrasÃlia Area: 8,547,404 sq km; 3,300,171 sq mi
People Population: 190,010,650 (2007 estimate)
Largest cities, with population São Paulo: 10,838,581 (2004 estimate) Rio de Janeiro: 6,051,399 (2004 estimate) Salvador: 2,631,831 (2004 estimate) Belo Horizonte: 2,350,564 (2004 estimate) Fortaleza: 2,332,657 (2004 estimate)
Ethnic groups Caucasian: (includes Portuguese, German, Italian, Spanish, and Polish) - 55 percent Mixed Caucasian and African - 38 percent African - 6 percent Other (including Japanese and Arab) - 1 percent
Languages Portuguese (official), Spanish, English, French
Religions: Roman Catholic (nominal): 90 percent Spiritists and African Brazilian religions, such as Candombl, Macumba, and Umbanda: 4 percent Nonreligious: 2 percent Other: 4 percent
Literacy rate Total :87.1 percent (2005 estimate) Female : 87.5 percent (2005 estimate) Male : 86.7 percent (2005 estimate)
Number of years of compulsory schooling : 8 years (2002-2003) Number of students per teacher, primary school: 24 students per teacher (2002-2003)
Government Form of government : Federal republic Head of state President Head of government: President Legislature: Bicameral legislature Chamber of Deputies: 513 deputies Senate: 81 senators
Constitution : 5 October 1988 Highest court: Supreme Federal Tribunal
Economy Gross domestic product (GDP, in U.S.$) : $796.1 billion (2005) GDP per capita (U.S.$) : $4,270.60 (2005)
GDP by economic sector Agriculture, forestry, fishing 8.1 percent (2005) Industry 38.4 percent (2005) Services 53.5 percent (2005)
Total revenue: $190,891 million (1998) Total expenditure : $206,447 million (1998)
Monetary unit 1 real (R$), consisting of 100 centavos
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The Word Was Made Flesh is a monthly missionary review of MISSiOMARIAE.NET. It publishes articles on the missions and related topics such as the Directives of the Magisterium on the missions, Apostolic spirituality, Mariology, homilies and sermons and more...
