Brazil In Motion

Once a year in late January, the President of the United States gives a speech to all of Congress. “The State of the Union” speech is the only time all the members of Congress, the Senate and House, ever sit together. The Vice President is in attendance and so are the nine justices of the Supreme Court, as well as the President's cabinet.

The speech is at night on nearly every channel on TV. To provide some additional drama to the long speech, lasting at least an hour, the President often invites a few heroes to sit in the audience, men and women who deserve recognition, and he makes reference to them. Sometimes they are military heroes, but often they are civilians like the American pilot, Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, who safely landed a jumbo jet on the Hudson River in New York City, saving all the passengers after both engines failed. President Obama's recognition of Sully in The State of the Union address was strong enough to entice Hollywood to make a movie of the event with Tom Hanks playing Sully.

One of the only interesting things that happens during the speech is the custom of Congressman applauding or sometimes giving a standing ovation for the President. Generally, it's only the Congressmen who are members of the President's same political party who applaud. The seating for the event is carefully planned so the Democrats and Republicans sit on opposite sides of the room.

In 2011 and again this year, a new format was adopted by President Obama whereby the Democrats and Republicans were mixed together, and although applause continued throughout the speech, standing up was discouraged. Before 2011, when the two political parties were separated, it was amusing to watch one whole side of the chamber stand up applauding while the other side remained seated with stern looks on their faces. It looked like a failed attempt at the wave in a football or baseball stadium.

I enjoy this political tradition as it's an opportunity for the President to offer his annual assessment of how the country is doing – what has been accomplished thus far, and what he would like to see happen in the coming year. It's a kind of national summary and forecast, a rallying cry for the President to inspire people to recognize our future begins tomorrow. It's as if the President could for this one night let everyone peek behind the curtain that protects the wizard from revealing his magic.

I tried to imagine a speech like this occurring in Brazil. Is there a time when all of Brazil's Congressmen are together? I've observed this only once, when a new President is inaugurated on January 1. If there were a State of the Union speech in Brazil, I think the President should talk about the great strides made by women in the past decades. Brazil elected a woman President before the US could.

Women in Brazil have lowered the birth rate to 16 births per 1,000 people. By comparison, developed countries like the US are nearly equal, 14 per 1,000. Germany and Japan, which have 8 births per 1,000, are now paying women to have more children. All these countries have their birth rates lower than the mortality rates. People are dying faster than they are being replaced so their national populations are shrinking. When immigration is factored into the total, countries like Germany and the US show an overall increase in numbers. However, countries like Japan and Brazil have very few new immigrants; therefore, with new births under the replacement rate, the overall population in Brazil will peak in about 20 years then begin to decline, as it already has in Japan.

If Brazil wants to enter the political and economic arena with the other developed countries, it must first control its population growth, and it is doing well in this regard. A recent article in Veja magazine reported that population growth in São Paulo, the sixth largest metropolis in the world, has finally begun to slow down.

A Brazilian President's annual speech should also mention that 97 percent of Brazilians now have access to drinking water, and the literacy rate in Brazil is at 90 percent. By comparison, the literacy rate in India is 68 percent, another developing country included in the BRICS configuration, an acronym for what one scholar labeled “second world” countries because their rising status places them above the third world.

One of the measures of long-term economic growth and stability in a country is the balance of trade. This is an analysis of the value of products being imported into a country versus the value of exports. The ideal is to have an equal balance of imports and exports, which is the current situation in Brazil. However, in countries like India and the US, there is an imbalance of trade, imported goods may reach levels double the value of exported goods.

Another tool for accessing a country's progress is how much of the population has access to computers and the Internet. With the Internet providing not only unlimited information but also shopping and social networking, technology access is a cornerstone of future progress. Internet access in Brazil is currently rated at 40 people per 100 inhabitants. In the US, it's 80 people per 100, but in India it's only 7 per 100.

Perhaps the most valuable assessment of a country's advancement is the physical health of its population. The average life expectancy in Brazil is 73 years while in the US it's 78. Thus, there isn't much difference these days between the world's leaders and Brazil in the key elements of living standards and predictions for future health such as life expectancy, drinking water, and literacy. Brazil lags behind the US in Internet access, but it is ahead in the balance of trade.

Interestingly, there are some areas where Brazil far surpasses the US. In the realm of world peace, Brazil has denounced any ambitions to buy or build nuclear weapons. Brazil also discourages women from joining the military. Women cannot be denied entry into the military in Brazil if they volunteer, but they are not required to report for duty at age 18 like Brazilian men. In the US, women have pushed for equal opportunity in all sectors of society, including the military. However, disturbing statistics have surfaced regarding women in the US military. It was reported that 20,000 women were sexually assaulted in the military by fellow soldiers in 2010 alone. Perhaps it's time for the US to take a step back and recognize what Brazil has never forgotten – men and women are different.

Brazil should be proud of what it has accomplished in the last few decades and optimistic for what lies ahead. Brazil is the country of the future.

Source of Statistics is a website operated by IBGE -- Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística.