Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America and in Latin America. Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area and the seventh most populous. Its capital is Brasília, and its most populous city is São Paulo. The federation is composed of the union of the 26 states and the Federal District. It is the only country in the Americas to have Portuguese as an official language. It is one of the most multicultural and ethnically diverse nations, due to over a century of mass immigration from around the world, and the most populous Roman Catholic-majority country.
The economy of Brazil is historically the largest in Latin America and the Southern Hemisphere in nominal terms. The Brazilian economy is the third largest in the Americas. The economy is a middle income developing mixed economy. In 2022, according to International Monetary Fund (IMF), Brazil has the 10th largest gross domestic product (GDP) in the world and has the 8th largest purchasing power parity in the world.
Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, and the second most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a beta global city, Rio de Janeiro is the sixth most populous city in the Americas. Part of the city has been designated as a World Heritage Site, named "Rio de Janeiro: Carioca Landscapes between the Mountain and the Sea", on 1 July 2012 as a Cultural Landscape.
Rio de Janeiro is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil. It has the second largest economy of Brazil, with the largest being that of the state of São Paulo. The state, which has 8.2% of the Brazilian population, is responsible for 9.2% of the Brazilian GDP.
São Paulo is one of the 26 states of the Federative Republic of Brazil and is named after Saint Paul of Tarsus. A major industrial complex, the state has 21.9% of the Brazilian population and is responsible for 33.9% of Brazil's GDP. São Paulo also has the second-highest Human Development Index (HDI) and GDP per capita, the fourth-lowest infant mortality rate, the third-highest life expectancy, and the third-lowest rate of illiteracy among the federative units of Brazil. São Paulo alone is wealthier than Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Bolivia combined. São Paulo is also the world's twenty-eighth-most populous sub-national entity and the most populous sub-national entity in the Americas.
Varginha is a municipality in southwest Minas Gerais state, Brazil. Varginha stands out as one of the major centers of commerce and coffee production in Brazil and the world. The city is a center for export of coffee draining most of the production of the south of Minas Gerais, making the grain trade with several countries. The city is equidistant from the three largest metropolitan areas in Brazil. The city is close to Rodovia Fernão Dias. The city is served by Maj. Brig. Trompowsky Airport.
The economy of South America comprises approximately 434 million people living in twelve nations and three territories. It encompasses 6 percent of the world's population.
Brazil is geopolitically divided into five regions, by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, which are formed by the federative units of Brazil. Although officially recognized, the division is merely academic, considering geographic, social and economic factors, among others, and has no political effects other than orientating Federal-level government programs. Under the state level, they are further divided into intermediate regions and even further into immediate regions.
The Southeast Region of Brazil is composed of the states of Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. It is the richest region of the country, responsible for approximately 60% of the Brazilian GDP, as São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Minas Gerais are the three richest states of Brazil, the top three Brazilian states in terms of GDP. The Southeast of Brazil also has the highest GDP per capita among all Brazilian regions.
Science and technology in Brazil has entered the international arena in recent decades. The central agency for science and technology in Brazil is the Ministry of Science and Technology, which includes the CNPq and Finep. This ministry also has a direct supervision over the National Institute for Space Research, the National Institute of Amazonian Research, and the National Institute of Technology (Brazil). The ministry is also responsible for the Secretariat for Computer and Automation Policy, which is the successor of the SEI. The Ministry of Science and Technology, which the Sarney government created in March 1985, was headed initially by a person associated with the nationalist ideologies of the past. Although the new minister was able to raise the budget for the science and technology sector, he remained isolated within the government and had no influence on policy making for the economy.
Brazilian industry has its earliest origin in workshops dating from the beginning of the 19th century. Most of the country's industrial establishments appeared in the Brazilian southeast, and, according to the Commerce, Agriculture, Factories and Navigation Joint, 77 establishments registered between 1808 and 1840 were classified as "factories" or "manufacturers". However, most, about 56 establishments, would be considered workshops by today's standards, directed toward the production of soap and tallow candles, snuff, spinning and weaving, foods, melting of iron and metals, wool and silk, amongst others. They used both slaves and free laborers.
Tourism is a growing sector and key to the economy of several regions of Brazil. The country had 6.589 million visitors in 2018, ranking in terms of the international tourist arrivals as the second main destination in South America after Argentina and third in Latin America after Mexico and Argentina. Revenues from international tourists reached US$5.8 billion in 2015, continuing a recovery trend from the 2008–2009 economic crisis.
Greater Rio de Janeiro, officially the Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Region is a large metropolitan area located in Rio de Janeiro state in Brazil, the second largest in Brazil and third largest in South America. It consists of 22 municipalities, including the state capital, Rio de Janeiro.
The Brazilian Miracle was a period of exceptional economic growth in Brazil during the rule of the Brazilian military dictatorship, achieved via a heterodox and developmentalist model. During this time the average annual GDP growth was close to 10%. The greatest economic growth was reached during the tenure of President Emílio Garrastazu Médici from 1969 to 1973.
São Paulo is the one of the largest cities in the world economically, and is expected to be the 6th largest in 2025. According to data of Fecomercio/SP, its gross domestic product (GDP) in 2017 was R$699.28 billion.
LGBT tourism in Brazil is a form of niche tourism marketed to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people who come to Brazil. The city of Rio de Janeiro was elected the best LGBT destination of the world, according to the U.S. Logo channel, owned by Viacom's MTV Networks. Rio de Janeiro also was elected the most sexy city of the world to LGBT people, according to the U.S. Logo channel and TripOutGayTravel. In 2014, Brazil and the United States were the two countries more wanted by international LGBT tourists, according to the World Travel Market.
Latin America as a region has multiple nation-states, with varying levels of economic complexity. The Latin American economy is an export-based economy consisting of individual countries in the geographical regions of North America, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. The socioeconomic patterns of what is now called Latin America were set in the colonial era when the region was controlled by the Spanish and Portuguese empires. Up until independence in the early nineteenth century, colonial Latin American regional economies thrived and worked things out. Many parts of the region had favorable factor endowments of deposits of precious metals, mainly silver, or tropical climatic conditions and locations near coasts that allowed for the development of cane sugar plantations. In the nineteenth century following independence, many economies of Latin America declined. In the late nineteenth century, much of Latin America was integrated into the world economy as an exporter of commodities. Foreign capital investment, construction of infrastructure, such as railroads, growth in the labor sector with immigration from abroad, strengthening of institutions, and expansion of education aided industrial growth and economic expansion. A number of regions have thriving economies, but "poverty and inequality have been deeply rooted in Latin American societies since the early colonial era."
The economy of the state of São Paulo is developed and holds the highest GDP among Brazilian states, producing, in 2020, around 2.326 trillion Reais, and the second largest GDP per capita. Being the richest state and population of Brazil, is its main financial center and one of the main centers in the world. The third largest economy and the third largest consumer market in Latin America, occupies the 21st position in the ranking of the largest economies on the planet, ahead of countries such as Argentina, Belgium, Chile and Singapore. Thanks to its enormous economic strength, São Paulo is known as "the locomotive of Brazil".
