Country overview: Brazil is on the east-central coast of the continent and it is the largest country in South America and the fourth-largest in the world in coterminous area, ranking after Russia, Canada, and China . It covers an area of 3.288 million square miles. The population is about 198.7 million. Population growth in Brazil is slowing as the country urbanizes and increases its wealth. It is now the sixth largest economy in the world. Brazil’s growth rate is between 2005 and 2010, as reported by the United Nations, was 1.26%. This makes Brazil the 107th fastest growing country in the world, which means it is now growing only slightly faster than the world average.
Government overview: Brazil is a presidential and federative republic. It is composed of twenty-six states and the Federal District (Brasília).The system is built on a directly elected president with a national constituency and a Congress. Under a system of checks and balances similar to the United States system, the three branches of government operate with mutual respect. The 1988 constitution grants job stability to all federal employees with more than five years of service, including those who had been hired without public examination. Mandatory retirement for all public servants, except for those elected to political
office, is at age seventy. In January 1995, the government employed 650,000 civilian and 310,000 military personnel, totaling 960,000. A total of 723,000
were retired. State enterprises counted another 700,000 active employees. The main political parties are the Brazilian Democratic Movement party, the Liberal
Front party (now known as the Democrats party), the Democratic Labor party, the Brazilian Social Democracy party, and the Workers party.
Government overview: Brazil is a presidential and federative republic. It is composed of twenty-six states and the Federal District (Brasília).The system is built on a directly elected president with a national constituency and a Congress. Under a system of checks and balances similar to the United States system, the three branches of government operate with mutual respect. The 1988 constitution grants job stability to all federal employees with more than five years of service, including those who had been hired without public examination. Mandatory retirement for all public servants, except for those elected to political
office, is at age seventy. In January 1995, the government employed 650,000 civilian and 310,000 military personnel, totaling 960,000. A total of 723,000
were retired. State enterprises counted another 700,000 active employees. The main political parties are the Brazilian Democratic Movement party, the Liberal
Front party (now known as the Democrats party), the Democratic Labor party, the Brazilian Social Democracy party, and the Workers party.