Geography Of Brazil

DESTEP
Demographic
With a population of approximately 192 million in 2011 is Brazil the largest country in Latin America and ranked fifth in the world when you look at the population.[1] In Brazil live 22.59 citizens per square kilometer, were 84,20 percent of the population are living in the city.

The official language in Brazil is Portuguese. Brazil is the only country in South America where Portuguese is spoken. In the rest of South and Central America they speak Spanish.

Geographic
Brazil is with a surface of over 8.5 million square kilometer the largest country of Latin America and is after Russia, Canada, China and United States, the fifth largest country in the world. Brazil has a 15.735 kilometer long border and borders with 10 of the 12 countries of the continent. Two countries are excluded, namely Chile and Equador. The landscape of Brazil is very varied but can be divided into five geographical areas: the Guyana plateaus, the tropical coasts, the Sertão, the Brazilian plateau and the Amazon area.

Infrastructure
The infrastructure of Brazil consist mainly a road network, with a limited system of transport by river, airports and railways.
But the Brazilian infrastructure is very poor. Many roads are old, not paved and are not maintained properly. Only six percent of the roads are paved, in comparison with the other BRIC countries is a very low amount (Russia 67%, India 63%, and China 80%)[2]. Figure 1 shows the total investment in the infrastructure of it GDP. As you can see is the infrastructure of Brazil lagged of merging market leader China and China, but also lagged with other Latin American countries like Peru and
Mexico.

[pic]
Figure 1: Investments in infrastructure
Source: http://wallstreetpit.com/28872-brazil-infrastructure-plays-catch-up

Economic
The economy of Brazil is the largest in Latin America and the 8th largest economy in the world when you look at GDP. The total GDP is US$ 2,284 trillion and per capita is that US$ 10.600 ranked on the 100th place in the world. When you divide the GDP in sectors is services responsible for 67,3%, industry for 26,9% and agriculture for 5,8%.[3]

Inflation
Brazil has an average inflation in 2011 of 6,63% and in January 2012 an inflation of 6,2%. In 2009 had Brazil an economical fallback because of the financial crisis. In the figure below you see the development of the last ten years.

[pic]
Figure 2: Inflation rate[4]

Unemployment rate
Brazil has an average unemployment rate of 6,28% and in January 2012 a rate of 5,5%. Figure 3 shows the development of the last ten years.

[pic]
Figure 3: Unemployment rate[5]

Import & export
Brazil exports were worth 16.1 Billion USD in January of 2012. Brazil has an export-oriented economy, exports amount to 14% of its GDP. The main exports are transport equipment, iron ore, soybeans, footwear, coffee, autos, automotive parts, machinery. Brazil accounts for 25% of global exports of raw cane and refined sugar; it is the world leader in soybean exports and is responsible for 80% of the planet’s orange juice. Large iron and manganese reserves are important sources of industrial raw materials and export earnings. Brazil’s largest exports markets are European Union, United Sates, Argentina, China and Venezuela.

[pic]
Figure 4: Overview of the Brazilian exports[6]

[pic]Figure 5: Overview of the Brazilian imports[7]

As you can see in figure 4 and 5 there is a steadily growth for the import and export. Only during the economic crisis in 2008 there was a drop, but begin 2009 the trade recovered.

Some facts of the Brazilian trade (2010)
|Total value of exports: |US$199.7 billion |
|Primary exports - commodities: |Transport equipment, iron ore, soybeans, footwear, coffee, automotive |
|Primary exports partners: |China (12.49 percent of total exports), US (10.5 percent), Argentina (8.4 percent), Netherlands |
| |(5.39 percent), Germany (4.05 percent) |
|Total value of imports: |US$187.7 billion |
|Primary imports - commodities: |Machinery, electrical and transport equipment, chemical products, oil, automotive parts, |
| |electronics |
|Primary imports partners: |US (16.12 percent of total imports), China (12.61 percent), Argentina (8.77 percent), Germany |
| |(7.65 percent), Japan (4.3 percent) |

Sociologic
Brazil is different than the other countries in Latin America. Brazil is the only country where the official language is Portuguese and not Spanish. With the model of Geert Hofstede is it possible to analyze the diverse culture differences in Brazil.

[pic]
Figure 6:5-D model of Geert Hofstede[8]

Power distance (69)
The power distance index is a higher than the average of the Netherlands of 38. This means that hierarchy should be respected and inequalities amongst people are acceptable. It is important in Brazil to show respect to the elderly and the children must take care for their elderly parents. There is one boss in a company who takes the full responsibility.

Individualism (38)
The individualism index is lower than the average of the Netherlands of 80. This number means that in social and business relationships people are very loyal and close with each other. It is normal in Brazil before a meeting talk their about personnel life to know each other better before doing business.

Masculinity (49)
Brazil scores almost in the middle. The woman’s are respected at work but still suffer under the effects of conservative dress codes. The Netherlands has a masculinity of 14.

Uncertainty avoidance (76)
With a score of 76 shows that Brazil strongly need for rules and elaborate legal systems in order to structure life. They try to minimize the uncertainty in life. The Brazilian people want to control everything to elimate uncertainty. The Netherlands has an uncertainty avoidance index of 53.

Long term orientation
The Brazilians people (65) are more focused on the long term orientation than people from
The Netherlands (44). For Brazilians is it important to have long term (business) relations.

Ecologic
About one half of Brazil is covered with forest and has the majority of the world’s largest rain forest, the Amazon. The Amazon is managed by national-, state- or municipal governments. The Amazon is the last 30 years 20% reduced because of migration to the forest and deforestation for agricultural use. Also deforestations due to illegal logging still remain a serious problem.

Natural resources
Brazil is one of the biggest producers of iron ore and has a great variety of natural resources. Brazil has also large quantities of quartz, chromium ore, manganese, industrial diamantes, gems, gold, nickel, tin, bauxite, uranium, platinum and crude.[9]

Political
The federal government of Brazil is the national central government of the Federative Republic of Brazil and is established by the Federal Constitution to share sovereignty over the national territory with the other federating units – the Federal District and the municipalities.
Brazil is from 7 September 1822 independence from Portugal. The president of Brazil is since 1 January 2001 Dilma Rousseff. Brazil is separated in 26 states and has a federal district. The 26 states have their own their government, law and legal power.

-----------------------
[1] http://www.ibge.gov.br/home/presidencia/noticias/noticia_visualiza.php?id_noticia=1961&id_pagina=1&titulo=IBGE-divulga-as-estimativas-populacionais-dos-municipios-em-2011-
[2] http://brazilglobal.net/2011/01/12/infrastructure-challenges/
[3] https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/br.html
[4] http://www.tradingeconomics.com/brazil/inflation-cpi
[5] http://www.tradingeconomics.com/brazil/unemployment-rate
[6] http://www.tradingeconomics.com/brazil/exports
[7] http://www.tradingeconomics.com/brazil/imports
[8] http://geert-hofstede.com/brazil.html
[9] http://www.countriesquest.com/south_america/brazil/land_and_resources/natural_resources.htm