Radio broadcast stations:
AM 1,365, FM 296, shortwave 161 (of which 91 are collocated with AM
stations) (1999)
Radios:
71 million (1997)
Television broadcast stations:
138 (1997)
Televisions:
36.5 million (1997)
Internet country code:
.br
Internet hosts:
3,163,349 (2003)
Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
50 (2000)
Internet users:
14.3 million (2002)
Transportation Brazil
Railways:
total: 29,412 km (1,567 km electrified)
broad gauge: 4,907 km 1.600-m gauge (908 km electrified)
standard gauge: 194 km 1.440-m gauge
narrow gauge: 23,915 km 1.000-m gauge (581 km electrified)
dual gauge: 396 km 1.000-m and 1.600-m gauges (three rails) (78 km
electrified) (2004)
Highways: total: 1,724,929 km paved: 94,871 km unpaved: 1,630,058 km (2000)
Waterways:
50,000 km (most in areas remote from industry and population) (2004)
Pipelines:
condensate/gas 244 km; gas 10,739 km; liquid petroleum gas 341 km;
oil 5,212 km; refined products 4,755 km (2004)
Ports and harbors:
Gebig, Itaqui, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande, San Sebasttiao, Santos,
Sepetiba Terminal, Tubarao, Vitoria
Merchant marine:
total: 150 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 2,961,431 GRT/4,725,267 DWT
by type: bulk carrier 28, cargo 25, chemical tanker 7, combination
ore/oil 2, container 7, liquefied gas 12, passenger/cargo 12,
petroleum tanker 48, roll on/roll off 9
foreign-owned: 17 (Chile 2, Germany 7, Norway 1, Spain 7)
registered in other countries: 8 (2005)
Airports:
4,136 (2004 est.)
Airports - with paved runways: total: 698 over 3,047 m: 7 2,438 to 3,047 m: 23 1,524 to 2,437 m: 158 914 to 1,523 m: 461 under 914 m: 49 (2004 est.)
Airports - with unpaved runways: total: 3,438 over 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 78 914 to 1,523 m: 1,579 under 914 m: 1,780 (2004 est.)
Heliports: 417 (2004 est.)
Military Brazil
Military branches:
Brazilian Army, Brazilian Navy (includes Naval Air and Marines),
Brazilian Air Force (FAB)
Military service age and obligation:
19 years of age for compulsory military service, conscript service
obligation - 12 months; 17 years of age for voluntary service (2001)
Manpower available for military service:
males age 19–49: 45,586,036 (2005 est.)
Manpower fit for military service:
males age 19–49: 33,119,098 (2005 est.)
Manpower reaching military service age annually:
males: 1,785,930 (2005 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$11 billion (2004)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
1.8% (2004)
Transnational Issues Brazil
Disputes - international:
unruly region at convergence of Argentina-Brazil-Paraguay borders
is locus of money laundering, smuggling, arms and illegal narcotics
trafficking, and fundraising for extremist organizations;
uncontested dispute with Uruguay over certain islands in the
Quarai/Cuareim and Invernada boundary streams and the resulting
tripoint with Argentina; in 2004 Brazil submitted its claims to
UNCLOS to extend its maritime continental margin
Illicit drugs:
illicit producer of cannabis; minor coca cultivation in the Amazon
region, used for domestic consumption; government has a large-scale
eradication program to control cannabis; important transshipment
country for Bolivian, Colombian, and Peruvian cocaine headed for
Europe and the US; also used by traffickers as a way station for
narcotics air transshipments between Peru and Colombia; upsurge in
drug-related violence and weapons smuggling; important market for
Colombian, Bolivian, and Peruvian cocaine; illicit narcotics
proceeds earned in Brazil are often laundered through the financial
system; significant illicit financial activity in the Tri-Border Area
This page was last updated on 20 October, 2005
======================================================================
@British Indian Ocean Territory
Introduction British Indian Ocean Territory
Background:
Established as a territory of the UK in 1965, a number of the
British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) islands were transferred to
the Seychelles when it attained independence in 1976. Subsequently,
BIOT has consisted only of the six main island groups comprising the
Chagos Archipelago. The largest and most southerly of the islands,
Diego Garcia, contains a joint UK-US naval support facility. All of
the remaining islands are uninhabited. Former agricultural workers,
earlier residents in the islands, were relocated primarily to
Mauritius but also to the Seychelles, between 1967 and 1973. In
2000, a British High Court ruling invalidated the local immigration
order that had excluded them from the archipelago, but upheld the
special military status of Diego Garcia.
Geography British Indian Ocean Territory
Location:
archipelago in the Indian Ocean, south of India, about one-half the
way from Africa to Indonesia
Geographic coordinates:
6 00 S, 71 30 E
Map references:
Political Map of the World
Area:
total: 60 sq km
land: 60 sq km
water: 0 sq km
note: includes the entire Chagos Archipelago
Area - comparative: