Brazil Geography - 2021

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Location

Eastern South America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean

Geographic coordinates

10 00 S, 55 00 W

Map references

South America

Area

total: 8,515,770 sq km

land: 8,358,140 sq km

water: 157,630 sq km

note: includes Arquipelago de Fernando de Noronha, Atol das Rocas, Ilha da Trindade, Ilhas Martin Vaz, and Penedos de Sao Pedro e Sao Paulo

Area - comparative

slightly smaller than the US

Area comparison map

Land boundaries

total: 16,145 km

border countries (10): Argentina 1263 km, Bolivia 3403 km, Colombia 1790 km, French Guiana 649 km, Guyana 1308 km, Paraguay 1371 km, Peru 2659 km, Suriname 515 km, Uruguay 1050 km, Venezuela 2137 km

Coastline

7,491 km

Maritime claims

territorial sea: 12 nm

contiguous zone: 24 nm

exclusive economic zone: 200 nm

continental shelf: 200 nm or to edge of the continental margin

Climate

mostly tropical, but temperate in south

Terrain

mostly flat to rolling lowlands in north; some plains, hills, mountains, and narrow coastal belt

Elevation

highest point: Pico da Neblina 2,994 m

lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m

mean elevation: 320 m

Natural resources

alumina, bauxite, beryllium, gold, iron ore, manganese, nickel, niobium, phosphates, platinum, tantalum, tin, rare earth elements, uranium, petroleum, hydropower, timber

Land use

agricultural land: 32.9% (2018 est.)

arable land: 8.6% (2018 est.)

permanent crops: 0.8% (2018 est.)

permanent pasture: 23.5% (2018 est.)

forest: 61.9% (2018 est.)

other: 5.2% (2018 est.)

Irrigated land

54,000 sq km (2012)

Total renewable water resources

8.647 trillion cubic meters (2017 est.)

Population distribution

the vast majority of people live along, or relatively near, the Atlantic coast in the east; the population core is in the southeast, anchored by the cities of Sao Paolo, Brasilia, and Rio de Janeiro

Natural hazards

recurring droughts in northeast; floods and occasional frost in south

Environment - international agreements

party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protection, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Seals, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping-London Convention, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 2006, Wetlands, Whaling

signed, but not ratified: Marine Dumping-London Protocol

Geography - note

note 1: largest country in South America and in the Southern Hemisphere; shares common boundaries with every South American country except Chile and Ecuador; most of the Pantanal, the world's largest tropical wetland, extends through the west central part of the country; shares Iguazu Falls, the world's largest waterfalls system, with Argentina

note 2: cassava (manioc) the sixth most important food crop in the world - after maize, rice, wheat, potatoes, and soybeans - seems to have originated in the west-central part of Brazil; pineapples are probably indigenous to the southern Brazil-Paraguay region

NOTE: The information regarding Brazil on this page is re-published from the 2021 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Brazil 2021 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Brazil 2021 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.