Hard Facts about Brazil

I realized that while I talk about my experiences and observations here in Brazil, most of my readers have no background of the numbers and facts of Brazil. This blog is a little different from most. I searched online for some basic, interesting facts and below, I want to talk about some of the facts I found most interesting.

Estimated Population: 206,751,477

Official Language: Portuguese

Literacy (definition: age 15 and over can read and write)total population: 86.4%

Religions: Roman Catholic (nominal) 73.6%, Protestant 15.4%, Spriritualist 1.3%, Bantu/voodoo 0.3%, other 1.8%, unspecified 0.2%, none 7.4% (2000 census)

Life Expectancy: total population: 71.69 years
male: 67.74 years
female: 75.85 years (2005 est.)

Industry: textiles, shoes, chemicals, cement, lumber, iron ore, tin, steel, aircraft, motor vehicles and parts, other machinery and equipment

Agriculture: coffee, soybeans, wheat, rice, corn, sugarcane, cocoa, citrus; beef

Natural Resources: bauxite, gold, iron ore, manganese, nickel, phosphates, platinum, tin, uranium, petroleum, hydropower, timber

Telephones (main lines in use): 38.81 million

Telephones (mobile cellular): 46,373,300

Internet users: 14.3 million

Yes, I live in a city of 20 million people. It can be overwhelming. It's fairly modern. And it seems there is anything and everyting I could want. However, while I live with any needs and many wants fulfilled, many in Sao Paulo (especially on the outskirts) and those outside of Sao Paulo do not have the same luxuries.

I want to point out the population is nearly 207 million. However, only 46 million people have cell phones. That's one out of every 4.5 people in Brazil. Even less have access to internet. Only one out of every 14.5 people has access to the internet! That number blew my mind. To me, it seems that the internet is such a daily part of life that I can't even imagine not being able to access all of the information online.

Therefore, while it seems to me that I have all of the same major luxuries I had in the U.S., I am one of the more privileged people here and have access to many things (such as a cell phone and internet) that many do not have.