Doing Business in Brazil > Brazilian Panorama

Market forecasts for 2015 shows that India will surpass Brazil in US$ Nominal GDP, making the country reaches the 8th position in global economy; especially due the current situation in the country after the loss of the Investment Grade. However, both the EIU and the IMF expect that at long-term Brazil recovers from this decrease in their economy and reaches the 5th overall global position as main economy in 2050. 

Brazil Political

With the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Brazil has a 7,491 kilometer coastline. The country borders all the South American countries except for Ecuador and Chile.

Brazil is currently divided politically and administratively into 27 federative units, with 26 states and one federal district. The federative units are autonomous sub-national entities (independently governing, legislating and taxing) with their own governments and constitutions that together make up the Federative Republic of Brazil. The executive power is exercised by a governor elected every four years. The judiciary power is exercised by trial and appellate courts that deal with general legal matters.

The Federal District has characteristics common to the states and municipalities. Unlike the states, it cannot be divided into municipalities. On the other hand, it can collect taxes as if it were a state as well as a municipality.

The municipalities are territorial units with legal personality and with a certain administrative autonomy. They are the smallest autonomous units in the federation. Each municipality has its own fundamental law that defines its political organization, but is limited by the Federal Constitution. There are 5,565 municipalities throughout the national territory. Some have populations larger than those of several countries in the world (the city of São Paulo has close to 11 million inhabitants). Others have less than 1,000 inhabitants.

Demographics

• The population of Brazil is 203,783,588 inhabitants (IBGE)
• Growth of 15% compared to 2000
• The Southeast Region grew the most (37.9%)
• There has been a considerable urbanization of the country (an increase of 23 million people living in cities)
• The population is 51% female and 49% male
• The average number of residents per household fell from 3.8 in 2000 to 3.3 in 2010
• 47.7% of the population is White

Demographic Bonus