BRAZIL
FIFA 2014 World Cup Ranking: 3rd
Star Player: The 22-year-old Barcelona player, Neymar da Silva Santos, is projected to be not only the star player of the Brazilian national team, but of the entire World Cup. This soccer prodigy, walking in the footsteps of Brazilian legend Pele, scored 100 goals by his 20th birthday, and won four consecutive player of the year awards by his 21st. He is known for his speed, dribbling, high technical skill, and Mohawk-style haircut and is definitely one to watch.
COUNTRY STATS
Gross Domestic Product (GDP): $2.253 trillion
GDP per capita (PPP): $8,800
Government Structure: Federal Republic
Maternal mortality rate: 56 deaths per 100,000 live births, (world rank: 103)
Percentage of girls in school: 95% (primary school)
Percentage of women in parliament: 9%
Corruption index: 42
Religious demographics: Roman Catholic: 64.6%, Protestant: 22.2%
Education: 97% attendance rate for school age children, ages 6-14
Average school years completed: 7.3
Hours/day in class: 4
Educational quality suffers from crowded classroom, untrained teachers, and non-attendance by absence due to malnutrition and child labor.
Health: Access to clean drinking water: 92%
Use of Improved Sanitation Facilities: 81%
HIV prevalence rate: 0.3%
Despite positive statistics, medical care is dependent on the individual state and not the national government. Therefore the quality of health care is unequal throughout the country and many people live far away from quality medical services. For example: 41 percent of all infants under the age of 1, and 90 percent of newborns with congenital heart disease, live in remote areas. Additionally, mortality rates among children of poor families are twice as high as the death rate among children of wealthy families.
Development: As South America’s most economically influential country and rising global economic power, Brazil has made incredible progress in the last decade by reducing extreme poverty and is on track to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. In the national program Bolsa Familia, cash subsidies are given to families who keep their children in school and in the last 10 years this program has lifted 36 million Brazilians out of poverty. Another program Fome Zero (Zero Hunger) guarantees that every Brazilian has access to sufficient food and has continued to tackle the issue of hunger that threatens over 44 million people in the country. Additionally, infant mortality has been reduced by 27 deaths per 1,000 live births, Brazilians with access to an improved water source has increased 5% since 2003, and the population of people living in favelas has decreased 10% in the last 30 years.
Despite Brazil’s progress and economic development, it only ranks 63rd on the Human Development Index. 40 million Brazilians still live under the poverty line. This is due to the staggering inequality within the country. The richest 10% of people in Brazil have access to over 40% of the country’s income. On the other hand, the poorest 10% receive about 1% of the national income. This inequality is reinforced through educational, health, and economic opportunities. In Brazil, inequality is the biggest barrier to overall development.
Some see the World Cup as an economic opportunity, others see it as a social disaster and a perpetuation of inequality issues already existing in Brazil. 170,000 families have been forcibly relocated to make room for tourism and the vast majority of the population cannot afford expensive tickets to attend the event
In the upcoming year, Brazil will continue to work towards equitable economic development, education and healthcare quality, and environmental sustainability.