Emerging Medical Marketplace Overview Latin America: Brazil

The Federative Republic of Brazil is geographically the fifth-largest nation in the world, following Russia, Canada, China, and the United States. Brazil covers an area of 3,300,171 square miles (8,547,404 square kilometers), or about half of the South American continent. Brazil is so large that it not only possesses 4,600 miles (7,400 kilometers) of coastline along the Atlantic Ocean, but it also borders on every nation in South America with the exception of Chile and Ecuador. Specifically, it borders Uruguay to the south; Argentina, Paraguay, and Bolivia to the southwest; Peru to the west; Colombia to the northwest; and Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana to the north. Stretching for approximately 2,700 miles from north to south and 2,500 miles from east to west at its widest points, the country contains no desert, high mountains, or Arctic environments that limit the extent of human occupancy. Most inhabitants of Brazil live along its eastern seaboard in the states of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro in the Southeast region.