Brazil

Official nameFederative Republic of Brazil
Name in local languageRepública Federativa do Brasil (pt)
ContinentAmericas
SubcontinentSouth America
Population (ranking: 7e)207,750,291 inhabitants (2023)
Population growth0.73 % / year
Area8,510,346 km²
Density24.41 inhabitants / km²
GDP (ranking: 10e)1,839.758 billions $USD (2019)
GDP/capita (ranking)8,717 $USD (2019)
GDP growth1.10 % / year (2019)
Life expectancy (ranking)76.97 years (2021)
Birth rate13.79 ‰ (2021)
Fertility rate1.76 children / woman (2021)
Death rate (ranking)6.61 ‰ (2021)
Infant mortality rate (ranking)11.20 ‰ (2021)
Literacy rate93.40 % (2019)
Official languagesPortuguese
CurrencyReal (R$ BRL)
HDI (ranking: 119e)0.754 / 1 (2021)
EPI (ranking)60.70 (2018)
GovernmentFederal presidential constitutional republic
Head of StatePresident Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
National Day7 September (independence of 1822)
ISO CodesBR, BRA
DemonymBrazilian
Tourists (ranking)6,621,000 people (2018)
Brésil – petite

Brazil is a federal state of South America. It is the largest country in the subcontinent, with almost half of its total area, and the fifth largest country in the world. It’s also one of the most populated countries of the world.
It shares borders with virtually all the countries of the subcontinent: Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Venezuela and Colombia to the north, Peru, Bolivia and Paraguay to the west, Argentina and Uruguay to the south. It doesn’t have borders with Chile and Ecuador.
Most of the population is concentrated in the south-east of the country, in the urban areas of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. The latter has merged with neighboring metropolitan areas, forming one of the largest urban areas in the world with more than 36 million inhabitants.
Urban expansion is one of the main problems facing the Brazilian authorities, as it creates worrying poverty for the country’s future.

Rio de Janeiro - panorama
Rio de Janeiro. Photo: Jens Hausherr
Fleuve Amazone, Brésil
Amazon River, Brazil
See all related maps or articles
Urban areas (2018)
Urban areasPopulation
São Paulo36,315,721 inhabitants
Rio de Janeiro12,699,743 inhabitants
Belo Horizonte5,916,189 inhabitants
Brasília4,560,505 inhabitants
Porto Alegre4,317,508 inhabitants
Fortaleza4,074,730 inhabitants
Recife4,054,866 inhabitants
Salvador3,899,533 inhabitants
Curitiba3,615,027 inhabitants
Manaus2,631,239 inhabitants
Goiânia2,518,775 inhabitants
Belém2,491,052 inhabitants
Vitória1,951,673 inhabitants
São Luis1,621,102 inhabitants
Natal1,587,055 inhabitants
Joinville1,400,128 inhabitants
Maceió1,330,291 inhabitants
João Pessoa1,266,463 inhabitants
Teresina1,222,940 inhabitants
Florianópolis1,189,947 inhabitants
Londrina1,101,595 inhabitants
Campo Grande1,069,420 inhabitants
Aracaju1,052,464 inhabitants
Cuiabá864,131 inhabitants
See all urban areas
Administrative divisions
StatesPopulationArea
Acre829,780 inhabitants164,173 km²
Alagoas3,125,254 inhabitants27,831 km²
Amapá774,268 inhabitants142,471 km²
Amazonas3,952,262 inhabitants1,559,168 km²
Bahia14,659,023 inhabitants564,760 km²
Ceará8,936,431 inhabitants148,894 km²
Espírito Santo3,975,100 inhabitants46,074 km²
Federal District2,923,369 inhabitants5,761 km²
Goiás6,950,976 inhabitants340,243 km²
Maranhão6,800,605 inhabitants329,651 km²
Mato Grosso3,784,239 inhabitants903,207 km²
Mato Grosso do Sul2,833,742 inhabitants357,148 km²
Minas Gerais20,732,660 inhabitants586,514 km²
Pará8,442,962 inhabitants1,245,871 km²
Paraíba4,030,961 inhabitants56,467 km²
Paraná11,835,379 inhabitants199,299 km²
Pernambuco9,051,113 inhabitants98,068 km²
Piauí3,270,174 inhabitants251,755 km²
Rio de Janeiro16,615,526 inhabitants43,750 km²
Rio Grande do Norte3,303,953 inhabitants52,810 km²
Rio Grande do Sul11,088,065 inhabitants281,707 km²
Rondônia1,616,379 inhabitants237,765 km²
Roraima634,805 inhabitants223,645 km²
Santa Catarina7,762,154 inhabitants95,731 km²
São Paulo46,024,937 inhabitants248,219 km²
See all administrative divisions
See also