Brazil at a glance
Brazil is the largest and most populous country in
South America, and fifth largest in the world in both
area and population. Spanning a vast area between central
South America and the Atlantic Ocean, it is the easternmost
country of the Americas and it borders Uruguay, Argentina,
Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana,
Suriname and the French department of French Guiana.
In fact, it borders every South American nation except
for Ecuador and Chile. Brazil is home to both extensive
agricultural lands and rain forests. Exploring vast
natural resources and a large labor pool, it is South
America's leading economic power and a regional leader.
Because this country was a former colony of Portugal,
Portuguese is its official language. Brazil has the
world's second largest Christian population (151 million,
behind that of the United States), and also is the world's
largest Roman Catholic-majority nation in terms of both
number of adherents and land mass - a strong cultural
legacy left behind by the Roman Catholic Portuguese
colonists.
Major issues
The economy still has serious challenges to
face and important reforms are still to be implemented.
Serious problems involving poor infrastructure, income
concentration, low quality public services, corruption,
social conflicts and government bureaucracy persist
and threaten to hamper economic growth, compared to
other emerging countries.
The internal public debt has reached the all time record
and public expenses have been increased. Taxes already
represent a considerable part of national income and
are a serious burden to all social classes, diminishing
opportunities for investment.
Current economic growth is below that of comparable
Latin American countries and is ridiculous if compared
to that of China and India. Brazil has dropped 11 positions
on the WEF Growth Competitiveness Index ranking from
2003 to 2005.
| 
Encontro
com Deus is situated in the Cajuru district of
Curitiba |
Curitiba
Curitiba is the capital city of the Brazilian state
of Paraná. In 2005 it had a population of approximately
1,757,904 people. Its metropolitan area comprises 26
municipalities with a total population of 3.2 million
(2005 census).
The city is on a plateau 950 m (3,120 feet) above sea
level. It is 105 km (65 miles) west of the sea port
of Paranaguá.
Information thanks to Wikipedia
|
