Brazil
Name
| Official name | Federative Republic of Brazil — República Federativa do Brasil |
|---|---|
| Former names | Empire of Brazil (1822–1889); Republic of the United States of Brazil (1889–1967) |
| Demonym | Brazilian |
| Meaning of the name | From pau-brasil, the brazilwood tree whose red dye was the colony's first export — brasa, "ember," for the color |
| The name before | Terra de Santa Cruz — the Land of the Holy Cross — in the first years after 1500 |
Quick facts
| Capital | Brasília — the planned capital inaugurated 21 April 1960; about 3 million in the Federal District; Rio de Janeiro the capital 1763–1960 |
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| Largest city | São Paulo — more than 12 million in the city, about 22 million in the metropolis, the largest in the Americas |
| Official language | Portuguese — the largest Portuguese-speaking country, with about 80% of all speakers; Brazilian Sign Language official; some 200 indigenous languages |
| Currency | Real — ISO code BRL, R$; plural reais; 1 real = 100 centavos; introduced 1 July 1994; issued by the Central Bank of Brazil |
| Time zones | Four — from UTC−2 on the Atlantic islands to UTC−5 in the far west; Brasília Time UTC−3; no daylight saving since 2019 |
| Calling code | +55 |
| Internet domain | .br |
| ISO 3166 codes | BR · BRA · 076 |
| Vehicle registration code | BR |
| Driving side | Right |
| Electricity | 127 V and 220 V by region, 60 Hz; plug types C and N |
| Independence | Declared 7 September 1822, by Dom Pedro I at the Ipiranga; the Republic proclaimed 15 November 1889 |
| National days | 7 September, Independence Day; 15 November, Republic Day; 21 April, Tiradentes; 19 November, Flag Day |
| Constitution | 5 October 1988 — the "Citizen Constitution," the country's seventh |
| Population | 203,080,756 at the census of 2022; about 213 million by IBGE's 2025 estimate — the CIA World Factbook estimates higher; the seventh most populous country |
| Area | 8,515,770 km² (3,287,956 sq mi) — land 8,358,140 km², water 157,630 km²; the fifth largest country in the world, about 47% of South America |
Flag & national symbols
| National flag | The empire's green field and yellow rhombus around a blue celestial globe — the sky over Rio de Janeiro at 8:30 on the morning of 15 November 1889, with 27 stars for the states and the Federal District and a band reading Ordem e Progresso; adopted 19 November 1889, drawn to the module by Law 5.700 of 1971, 27 stars since 1992.Flag of Brazil |
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| Coat of arms | A star of five points in the colors of the flag, bearing the celestial globe with the Southern Cross, on a sword, ringed by branches of coffee and tobacco, with the country's name and the date of the Republic on a blue ribbon — adopted 19 November 1889 |
| National anthem | "Hino Nacional Brasileiro" — music by Francisco Manuel da Silva (1831), words by Joaquim Osório Duque-Estrada; official 1922 |
| National motto | "Ordem e Progresso" — order and progress, on the flag |
| National colors | Green and yellow — the Verde e Amarela |
| National bird | The rufous-bellied thrush, the sabiá-laranjeira — designated by decree in 2002 |
| National flower and tree | The golden trumpet tree, the ipê-amarelo (Handroanthus) — designated national tree and flower by law in 1978 |
| National animal | The jaguar — widely cited, not designated |
| National dish | Feijoada — the black-bean and pork stew; widely cited |
| National sport | Football — five World Cups; capoeira and the game of football widely cited as national sports, with no designation |
| Symbol status | The flag, anthem, arms and seal are the symbols of the Republic under Article 13 of the Constitution and Law 5.700; the bird and tree are designated; the animal, dish and sport are widely cited |
Geography
| Location | Eastern South America, on the Atlantic — the largest country in the Southern Hemisphere, bordering every South American country but Chile and Ecuador |
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| Coastline | 7,491 km (4,655 mi) on the Atlantic |
| Land borders | 16,145 km (10,032 mi) with ten countries and territories — the third longest of any country |
| Border with Bolivia | 3,403 km (2,115 mi) — the longest |
| Border with Peru | 2,659 km (1,652 mi) |
| Border with Venezuela | 2,137 km (1,328 mi) |
| Border with Colombia | 1,790 km (1,112 mi) |
| Other borders | Paraguay 1,371 km; Guyana 1,308 km; Argentina 1,263 km; Uruguay 1,050 km; French Guiana 649 km; Suriname 515 km |
| Highest point | Pico da Neblina, 2,995 m (9,826 ft), on the Venezuelan border |
| Lowest point | The Atlantic Ocean, 0 m |
| Mean elevation | About 320 m (1,050 ft) |
| The Amazon | The largest river in the world by volume — about 6,400–6,990 km long by competing measures, draining a basin of some 7 million km²; the Amazon rainforest covers about 60% of Brazil |
| Other rivers | The Paraná and the Paraguay to the south, the São Francisco through the northeast, the Tocantins–Araguaia, the Negro, the Madeira |
| The Pantanal | The largest tropical wetland in the world, about 150,000 km² across Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul, Bolivia and Paraguay |
| Iguaçu Falls | Shared with Argentina — the largest waterfall system in the world, 275 falls along 2.7 km |
| Largest lake | The Lagoa dos Patos in Rio Grande do Sul, about 9,850 km² (3,800 sq mi) — a coastal lagoon |
| Terrain | The Amazon lowlands in the north; the central plateau — the Planalto — and the highlands of the southeast; the coastal ranges of the Serra do Mar |
| Climate | Equatorial in the Amazon, tropical over most of the country, semiarid in the northeastern sertão, temperate in the south |
| Natural hazards | Floods and landslides in the rains — Petrópolis 2022, Rio Grande do Sul 2024; drought and fire in the Amazon and Pantanal; no hurricanes or earthquakes of note |
| Natural resources | Iron ore, bauxite, niobium (the world's largest reserves), gold, manganese, nickel, tin, rare earths, uranium, petroleum offshore, hydropower, timber |
| Land use | Agricultural land about 33%; forest about 62% |
| UNESCO World Heritage | 25 — among them Ouro Preto (1980), Olinda, the Jesuit missions, Salvador, Congonhas, the Iguaçu National Park (1986), Brasília (1987), the Serra da Capivara, São Luís, Diamantina, the Atlantic Forest reserves, the Central Amazon, the Pantanal, the Cerrado parks, Fernando de Noronha, Goiás, São Cristóvão, Rio de Janeiro's landscapes (2012), the Pampulha (2016), Valongo Wharf (2017), Paraty and Ilha Grande (2019), Sítio Burle Marx (2021), the Lençóis Maranhenses (2024) and the Cavernas do Peruaçu (2025) |
| Administrative divisions | 26 states and the Federal District; 5,570 municipalities; five regions — North, Northeast, Center-West, Southeast and South |
People
| Population | 203,080,756 (census of 2022); about 213 million (IBGE, 2025 est.) |
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| Population density | About 25 per km² (65 per sq mi) — most of it within 300 km of the coast |
| Population growth | About 0.5% a year and slowing |
| Median age | About 35 years |
| Life expectancy | About 76 years |
| Fertility rate | About 1.6 births per woman — below replacement since the 2000s |
| Urban population | About 88% |
| Adult literacy | About 94% |
| Color or race | Mixed (pardo) 45.3%, white 43.5%, Black 10.2%, indigenous 0.8%, Asian 0.4% (census of 2022) — pardo the largest group for the first time |
| Languages | Portuguese by 98%; German, Italian and Japanese in immigrant communities; some 200 indigenous languages, Nheengatu and Tikuna among the largest |
| Religion | Roman Catholic about 57%, Evangelical about 27%, no religion about 9%, spiritist about 2%, Afro-Brazilian religions about 1% (census of 2022) |
| Largest cities | São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasília, Fortaleza, Salvador, Belo Horizonte, Manaus, Curitiba, Recife, Goiânia |
| Human Development Index | 0.786 (2023 data, 2025 report) — high |
| Diaspora | About 4.5 million Brazilians abroad — in the United States, Portugal, Paraguay, the United Kingdom and Japan |
Government
| Form of government | Federal presidential republic under the Constitution of 1988 — 26 states, the Federal District and the municipalities as federal entities |
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| President | Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), since 1 January 2023 — his third term, after 2003–2010; head of state and government |
| Vice President | Geraldo Alckmin (PSB) |
| The 2026 election | Due on 4 October 2026, with a runoff on 25 October if no candidate wins a majority — the presidency, all 513 deputies, 54 of the 81 senators, the 27 governors and the state assemblies; about 159 million registered voters, on electronic machines with results in hours |
| The candidates | Lula, 80, seeking a fourth term; Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL), endorsed by his father; Ronaldo Caiado (PSD), Romeu Zema (NOVO) and Renan Santos among the others — as reported at the start of the campaign |
| The former president | Jair Bolsonaro (2019–2023) was convicted by the Supreme Court in September 2025 of plotting a coup after his 2022 defeat and is serving his sentence; the electoral court barred him from office until 2060 |
| Congress | The National Congress — the Chamber of Deputies (513) and the Federal Senate (81, three per state and the District) |
| Legal system | Civil law; the Supreme Federal Court (STF) of eleven justices; the Superior Electoral Court |
| States | 26, plus the Federal District — from Acre and Alagoas to Tocantins; each with an elected governor and assembly |
| United Nations | A founding member, 1945; the first speaker at every General Assembly by tradition |
| Memberships | Mercosur (a founder, 1991); BRICS; the G20 — chaired in 2024; the OAS; the Community of Portuguese Language Countries; host of COP30 at Belém, November 2025 |
| The Constitution's symbols | Article 13 names the flag, anthem, arms and seal |
Economy
| GDP (nominal) | About US$2.3 trillion (2025, IMF) — the largest in Latin America and among the ten largest in the world |
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| GDP per capita | About US$10,800 (2025) |
| GDP per capita (PPP) | About US$22,000 (2025) |
| GDP growth | About 3% in 2024; about 2% in 2025 |
| Economy by sector | Services about 60%, industry about 20%, agriculture about 6% |
| Currency | Real (BRL) |
| Agriculture | The world's largest exporter of soybeans, coffee, sugar, orange juice and beef, and among the largest of corn, chicken and cotton |
| Mining and oil | Iron ore from Minas Gerais and Pará — Vale among the largest producers; Petrobras and the pre-salt fields off Rio and Santos, about 4 million barrels a day |
| Industry | Embraer, the third largest aircraft maker; motor vehicles, steel, chemicals, food processing |
| Trade partners | China by far the largest, then the United States, Argentina, the Netherlands and Germany |
| Public debt | About 80% of GDP; a deficit above 7% of GDP in 2025 including interest |
| Income classification | Upper-middle income (World Bank) |
Transport & infrastructure
| Main airports | Guarulhos at São Paulo — the busiest in South America — Congonhas, Brasília, Galeão at Rio, Confins at Belo Horizonte |
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| Airlines | LATAM Brasil, Gol and Azul; Embraer builds the regional jets |
| Main ports | Santos — the busiest in Latin America; Paranaguá, Rio Grande, Itaguaí, Rio de Janeiro; Manaus on the Amazon |
| Railways | About 30,000 km (18,600 mi), almost all freight — iron ore and grain |
| Roads | About 1.7 million km (1.06 million mi), most unpaved; the BR-116 from Fortaleza to the Uruguayan border, 4,500 km |
| Metro | São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasília, Belo Horizonte, Recife, Porto Alegre, Salvador and Fortaleza |
| Waterways | About 50,000 km (31,000 mi) navigable — the Amazon system above all |
History in dates
| 1500 | Pedro Álvares Cabral lands at Porto Seguro, 22 April |
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| 1549 | Salvador founded as the colonial capital |
| 1763 | The capital moves to Rio de Janeiro |
| 1808 | The Portuguese court arrives in Rio, fleeing Napoleon |
| 1822 | Independence, 7 September; Dom Pedro I crowned emperor, 1 December |
| 1888 | Slavery abolished by the Lei Áurea, 13 May — the last in the Americas |
| 1889 | The Republic proclaimed, 15 November; the flag, 19 November |
| 1930 | Getúlio Vargas takes power |
| 1960 | Brasília inaugurated, 21 April |
| 1964–1985 | The military dictatorship |
| 1988 | The Constitution, 5 October |
| 1994 | The real, 1 July |
| 2002 | Lula elected, 27 October |
| 2016 | The Rio Olympics; Dilma Rousseff impeached, 31 August |
| 2022 | Lula defeats Bolsonaro, 30 October |
| 2023 | The attack on the Three Powers, 8 January |
| 2025 | Jair Bolsonaro convicted of plotting a coup, September; COP30 at Belém, November |
| 2026 | The general election due, 4 October |
Records & firsts
| The largest river | The Amazon, by volume — a fifth of the fresh water reaching the oceans |
|---|---|
| The largest rainforest | The Amazon — about 60% of it in Brazil |
| The largest tropical wetland | The Pantanal |
| The largest waterfall system | Iguaçu, shared with Argentina |
| Five World Cups | 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002 — more than any other nation |
| The largest Portuguese-speaking country | Four in five Portuguese speakers |
| The largest city in the Americas | São Paulo |
| The largest carnival | Rio de Janeiro — millions in the streets |
| A planned capital | Brasília, built in 41 months and a World Heritage site |
| The last to abolish slavery in the Americas | 1888 |
| Niobium | About 90% of the world's supply |
| Christ the Redeemer | The 30-meter statue of 1931 on Corcovado — one of the New Seven Wonders |
Frequently asked questions
What is the official name of Brazil?
The Federative Republic of Brazil — República Federativa do Brasil — since the Constitution of 1967; the United States of Brazil from 1889 to 1967, the Empire of Brazil from 1822 to 1889. The name is that of the brazilwood tree, pau-brasil, whose red dye was the first export of the Portuguese colony.
What is the capital of Brazil?
Brasília, the planned capital inaugurated on 21 April 1960 on the central plateau — designed by Lúcio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer, a World Heritage site since 1987, with about 3 million people in the Federal District. Rio de Janeiro was the capital from 1763 to 1960, Salvador before that; São Paulo, with more than 12 million in the city and 22 million in its metropolis, is the largest city in the Americas.
How big is Brazil, and how many people live there?
About 8,515,770 km² (3,287,956 sq mi) — the fifth largest country in the world, a little smaller than the United States without Alaska, taking up almost half of South America and bordering every country on the continent except Chile and Ecuador. The census of 2022 counted 203.1 million people; IBGE estimates about 213 million for 2025 — the seventh most populous country.
What are the highest and lowest points of Brazil?
Pico da Neblina, 2,995 m (9,826 ft), on the Venezuelan border in the far north — a peak so often in cloud that it was not identified as the highest until the 1950s — and the Atlantic Ocean. Brazil is a country of plateaus rather than mountains: the mean elevation is about 320 m, and most of it drains to the Amazon, the largest river on Earth by volume.
What currency does Brazil use?
The real (ISO code BRL, R$; plural reais), introduced on 1 July 1994 to end hyperinflation, divided into 100 centavos. Brazil spans four time zones; the capital keeps Brasília Time, UTC−3, all year.
Who governs Brazil?
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the Workers' Party, in office since 1 January 2023 for his third term, with Geraldo Alckmin as vice president — and a general election is due on 4 October 2026, with a runoff on 25 October if no candidate takes a majority. Lula, at 80, seeks a fourth term; his principal opponent is Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, whose father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, was convicted in September 2025 of plotting a coup and is barred from office. Some 159 million Brazilians are registered to vote.
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