New World Order - Brazil

Population: 190 million

Area:  8.5 million km²

GDP: $2.5 trillion

GDP (per capita): $13,000

Economic Growth: 2.7%

Democracy? Yes

Brazil is the largest country by both population and size in South America and already the 6^th largest economy in the world by GDP. Amongst the countries I am reviewing, Brazil has the highest GDP per capita and the economy is continuing to grow, although at only 2.7% per annum, is much slower than many Brazilians would have hoped.

Brazil is awash with resources, there are very large proven deposits of iron and manganese which are currently being exploited and very important in Brazils growing industry. Deposits of nickel, tin, chromite, uranium, bauxite, beryllium, copper, lead, tungsten, zinc, gold and numerous other minerals are also currently being exploited. These mineral deposits are very important for Brazilian exports.

One of Brazil’s major problems is its infrastructure; Brazil has around 1.7 million km of roads, but of this 94.5% are unpaved, leaving only 96,000 km of road paved. For comparison, the UK (which Brazil is 34 times the size of) has 398,000 km of paved roads, or four times the length of Brazil’s. This will constrain growth as large lorries and trucks, which are important for economic growth, need good (paved) roads to drive on. At certain times roads in Brazil can become jammed for days, this is a problem that needs tackling soon if Brazil is to move up in the world. The country also has a very low car ownership rate of only 140 per 1,000 people. The rail transport is significantly better, but far from perfect, Brazil has no high speed rail link currently, although there is one under construction between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

Brazil is probably most famous for its forest, the Amazon rainforest. This poses a massive conflict of interest, as I mentioned earlier Brazil has a massive amount of resources. The issue is many of them are underneath the rainforest, cutting down the Amazon is massively unpopular in the West and Western leaders are pressurising Brazil into not destroying the Amazon. This does have benefits for Brazil anyway, not destroying the Amazon helps to prevent floods and soil erosion. It is also well known that rainforests contain a massive diversity, so far less than 1% of the Amazon has been analysed, yet it accounts for a majority of modern medicines. The Amazon has great potential in the area of medicine and the profits from a strong pharmaceutical industry will benefit the Brazilian economy.

Yet like India and China, Brazil has a large amount of poor people, there are huge slum areas, especially around the largest city. If Brazil needs to help these people if the country wishes to become more influential.

Octavio Frias Bridge, São Paulo, a stunning tribute to modern Brazil