King: Albert II Prime Minister-designate: Elio di Rupo
President: Dilma Rousseff
Population
10,438,353
199,321,413
Life Expectancy
79.650 years
72.790 years
Capital City
Brussels
Brasilia
Largest city
Brussels (population: 1,019,020)
Sao Paulo (population: 10,021,300)
Human Development Index
0.948
0.807
GDP per capita
$38,200 US
$11,900 US
Literacy Rate
99%
88.6%
Corruption Perception Index
7.3
3.5
Percentage of Women in Parliament
36.2%
9.4%
Wealthiest Citizens
Albert Frere ($2.4bn US)
Eike Batista ($7.5bn US)
Unemployment Rate
7.700%
6.000%
Death Penalty
Abolished
Abolished except for special circumstances
Political System
federal parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy
federal republic
Independence date
4 October 1830 (a provisional government declared independence from the Netherlands); 21 July 1831 (King LEOPOLD I ascended to the throne)
7 September 1822 (from Portugal)
Religions
Roman Catholic 75%, other (includes Protestant) 25%
Roman Catholic (nominal) 73.6%, Protestant 15.4%, Spiritualist 1.3%, Bantu/voodoo 0.3%, other 1.8%, unspecified 0.2%, none 7.4% (2000 census)
Languages
Dutch (official) 60%, French (official) 40%, German (official) less than 1%, legally bilingual (Dutch and French)
Portuguese (official and most widely spoken language); note - less common languages include Spanish (border areas and schools), German, Italian, Japanese, English, and a large number of minor Amerindian languages
Exports
machinery and equipment, chemicals, diamonds, metals and metal products, foodstuffs
transport equipment, iron ore, soybeans, footwear, coffee, autos
External Debt
$1,399,000,000,000 $
$397,500,000,000 US
Exchange Rate
euros (EUR) per US dollar - 0.6802 (2008), 0.7345 (2007), 0.7964 (2006), 0.8041 (2005), 0.8054 (2004)
reals (BRL) per US dollar - 1.8644 (2008 est.), 1.85 (2007 est.), 2.1761 (2006), 2.4344 (2005), 2.9251 (2004)
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
1.300%
1.700%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
2
15
Location
Western Europe, bordering the North Sea, between France and the Netherlands
Eastern South America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean
