The Federative Republic of Brazil, the fifth largest country inthe world, lies in central and north-eastern South America. It hasa very long coastline on the Atlantic Ocean.

With an area of more than 8.547 million square kilometers and Brasilia as its capital, Brazil shares a border with almost every country in South America -- only Chile and Ecuador are untouched --and covers almost half the continent.

Of the population of 176.876 million, about 90 percent are adherents of the Roman Catholic Church. The official language is Portuguese.

Brazil is a federal republic. Under the 1998 constitution, legislative power is exercised by the bicameral National Congress,comprising the Federal Senate and Chamber of Deputies.

Executive power is exercised by the President, elected by direct ballot for four years. The president is the constitutional head of state and commander-in-chief of the army. He also appoints and leads the cabinet.

Brazil is a member of the Rio Group, the South American Common Market (Mercosur), and the Group of 77.

Brazil's gross domestic product (GDP) was 1,321 billion reals (about 450 billion US dollars) in 2002, of which services accounted for 56 percent, industry, 34 percent, and agriculture, 8 percent.

Its principal trading partner are the United States, Argentina,Germany, Japan, and China.