Environment-current issues: deforestation in Amazon Basin destroys the habitat and endangers the existence of a multitude of plant and animal species indigenous to the area; air and water pollution in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, and several other large cities; land degradation and water pollution caused by improper mining activities
Environment-international agreements: party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Geography-note: largest country in South America; shares common boundaries with every South American country except Chile and Ecuador
@Brazil:People
Population: 169,806,557 (July 1998 est.) note: Brazil took a census in August 1996 which showed a total of 157,079,573; this figure is about 5% lower than projections by the US Census Bureau, which is close to the implied underenumeration of 4.6% for 1991; since the full results of the census have not been released for analysis, the numbers shown for Brazil do not take into consideration the results of this 1996 census
Age structure: 0-14 years: 30% (male 26,090,859; female 25,132,122) 15-64 years: 65% (male 54,199,642; female 55,769,122) 65 years and over: 5% (male 3,499,272; female 5,115,540) (July 1998 est.)
Population growth rate: 1.24% (1998 est.)
Birth rate: 20.92 births/1,000 population (1998 est.)
Death rate: 8.53 deaths/1,000 population (1998 est.)
Net migration rate: -0.03 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1998 est.)