Country
Costa Rica Brazil
Leader
Population
4,636,348 199,321,413
Life Expectancy
77.890 years 72.790 years
Capital City
San Jose Brasilia
Largest city
San Jose (population: 335,007) Sao Paulo (population: 10,021,300)
Human Development Index
0.847 0.807 GDP per capita $12,100 US $11,900 US
Literacy Rate
94.9% 88.6%
Corruption Perception Index
5.1 3.5
Percentage of Women in Parliament
36.8% 9.4% Wealthiest Citizens NA Eike Batista ($7.5bn US) Unemployment Rate 6.500% 6.000%
Death Penalty
Abolished Abolished except for special circumstances
Political System
democratic republic federal republic
Independence date
15 September 1821 (from Spain) 7 September 1822 (from Portugal) Religions Roman Catholic 76.3%, Evangelical 13.7%, Jehovah's Witnesses 1.3%, other Protestant 0.7%, other 4.8%, none 3.2% 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 Spanish (official), English 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 bananas, pineapples, coffee, melons, ornamental plants, sugar; seafood; electronic components, medical equipment transport equipment, iron ore, soybeans, footwear, coffee, autos External Debt $10,050,000,000 $ $397,500,000,000 US Exchange Rate Costa Rican colones (CRC) per US dollar - 529.62 (2008 est.), 519.53 (2007), 511.3 (2006), 477.79 (2005), 437.91 (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 0.600% 1.700% Beijing Olympics Medal Count 0 15 Location Central America, bordering both the Caribbean Sea and the North Pacific Ocean, between Nicaragua and Panama Eastern South America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean Area 51,100 km sq 8,514,877 km sq Coastline 1,290 km 7,491 km Climate tropical and subtropical; dry season (December to April); rainy season (May to November); cooler in highlands mostly tropical, but temperate in south
