It could be that fifty years from now people will be saying how blessed it was to be Brazilian in 2014. I don't think they'll be saying that in 2014, however. This is the starting point for a Pestle summary of Brazil. It is drawn on information from Wikipedia, the CIA World Factbook and Nationmaster, and will be developed in detail later.
Brazil is roughly the same size as the United States, and has 62% the population of the U.S.--191 million, 5th largest in the world, and growing at 1.1% per year. Its GDP is $1.66 trillion, 10th in the world. It is blessed in that it does not need to be in the top 10 in military spending, spending a very European 2.6% of GDP on the military. It is energy independent, has a very respectable inflation rate of 6%, and its public debt is an equally respectable 40% of GDP. Rich in natural resources, Brazil is placed to be the major competitor to the United States for owner of the 21st Century. Its people are young, with a median age of 28, with average education of 14 years, and a literacy rate of 88%. So, look out world?
There are a few bumps in the road ahead for Brazil. They are cursed with oil, doubly cursed in that they have had to deal with corruption for quite a while (67% of managers say corruption in Brazil is a major business constraint). Lula da Silva has done a magnificent job since 2003, but he has not been able to clean out the stables completely, and having a history of corruption and a windfall discovery of oil has been a curse for countries ranging from Russia to Nigeria. They are also stuck with the Amazon, in the sense that the rest of the world will demand they take good care of it, but probably won't pay Brazil to do so. Perhaps most importantly, Brazil is in a part of the world that is almost guaranteed to be troubled, fractious and even combative over the next few decades, and this will bother Brazil more than it would after a few more decades of development.
With Embraer and a few others, Brazil is beginning to develop indigenous technology suppliers, though they need a lot more. They need to work on their higher education, but are coping for the moment by sending the children of the elite abroad for education. They have class and racial issues, but seem to be coping with them far better than many other countries.
The oft-repeated joke about Brazil is that it is the country of the future--and always will be. I think this is the last period that that joke will be relevant.
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