BRAZIL: THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW

Brazil, which holds presidential elections tomorrow (October 7), is a monster in size and economy, but the nation has been struck by a string of corruption scandals that have rocked its political core. Here are a few key facts you might not know about Argentina’s giant neighbour:

– Brazil is Latin America’s biggest country, spanning 8.5 million square kilometres (3.2 million square miles) to cover nearly half the continent. It includes about 60 percent of the Amazon rainforest, the largest in the world and essential in the exchange of CO2 for oxygen. – The only Portuguese-speaking country in Latin America, 47 percent of its population of 208 million is of mixed race, according to Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. Forty-th re eperc en tarew hite andnearlyn in epercentblack.

– The con ti nent’ sbiggest eco nomy,Brazilreli eso na bundant natural re so urcesand ad y na mic industrial sector, includ inga utomobi le construction, civil a vi a ti on,hous eh oldgoods and textiles. It is among the world’s leading producers and exporters of coffee, sugar, orange juice, beef, poultry, ethanol fuel, soybeans and iron.

– Brazil suffered a recession in 2015 and 2016, when its economy contracted 3.5 percent, recovering to one percent growth in 2017.

– Despite some success in reducing poverty, wealth inequality remains high and the country has several thousand impoverished favela (shantytown) areas. A quarter of the population of Rio de Janeiro lives in favelas.

– It is also one of the most violent countries in the world with 30.8 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in 2017, according to the Brazilian NGO Forum of Public Security.