Suriname vs. Brazil
Geography
| Suriname | Brazil | |
|---|---|---|
| Location | Northern South America, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between French Guiana and Guyana | Eastern South America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean |
| Geographic coordinates | 4 00 N, 56 00 W | 10 00 S, 55 00 W |
| Map references | South America | South America |
| Area | total: 163,820 sq km land: 156,000 sq km water: 7,820 sq km | total: 8,515,770 sq km land: 8,358,140 sq km water: 157,630 sq km note: includes Arquipelago de Fernando de Noronha, Atol das Rocas, Ilha da Trindade, Ilhas Martin Vaz, and Penedos de Sao Pedro e Sao Paulo |
| Area - comparative | slightly larger than Georgia | slightly smaller than the US |
| Land boundaries | total: 1,907 km border countries (3): Brazil 515 km, French Guiana 556 km, Guyana 836 km | total: 16,145 km border countries (10): Argentina 1263 km, Bolivia 3403 km, Colombia 1790 km, French Guiana 649 km, Guyana 1308 km, Paraguay 1371 km, Peru 2659 km, Suriname 515 km, Uruguay 1050 km, Venezuela 2137 km |
| Coastline | 386 km | 7,491 km |
| Maritime claims | territorial sea: 12 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm | territorial sea: 12 nm contiguous zone: 24 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm continental shelf: 200 nm or to edge of the continental margin |
| Climate | tropical; moderated by trade winds | mostly tropical, but temperate in south |
| Terrain | mostly rolling hills; narrow coastal plain with swamps | mostly flat to rolling lowlands in north; some plains, hills, mountains, and narrow coastal belt |
| Elevation extremes | highest point: Juliana Top 1,230 m lowest point: unnamed location in the coastal plain -2 m mean elevation: 246 m | highest point: Pico da Neblina 2,994 m lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m mean elevation: 320 m |
| Natural resources | timber, hydropower, fish, kaolin, shrimp, bauxite, gold, and small amounts of nickel, copper, platinum, iron ore | alumina, bauxite, beryllium, gold, iron ore, manganese, nickel, niobium, phosphates, platinum, tantalum, tin, rare earth elements, uranium, petroleum, hydropower, timber |
| Land use | agricultural land: 0.5% (2018 est.) arable land: 0.4% (2018 est.) permanent crops: 0% (2018 est.) permanent pasture: 0.1% (2018 est.) forest: 94.6% (2018 est.) other: 4.9% (2018 est.) | agricultural land: 32.9% (2018 est.) arable land: 8.6% (2018 est.) permanent crops: 0.8% (2018 est.) permanent pasture: 23.5% (2018 est.) forest: 61.9% (2018 est.) other: 5.2% (2018 est.) |
| Irrigated land | 570 sq km (2012) | 54,000 sq km (2012) |
| Natural hazards | flooding | recurring droughts in northeast; floods and occasional frost in south |
| Environment - current issues | deforestation as timber is cut for export; pollution of inland waterways by small-scale mining activities | deforestation in Amazon Basin destroys the habitat and endangers a multitude of plant and animal species indigenous to the area; illegal wildlife trade; illegal poaching; air and water pollution in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, and several other large cities; land degradation and water pollution caused by improper mining activities; wetland degradation; severe oil spills |
| Environment - international agreements | party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping-London Convention, Marine Dumping-London Protocol, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 2006, Wetlands, Whaling signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements | party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protection, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Seals, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping-London Convention, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 2006, Wetlands, Whaling signed, but not ratified: Marine Dumping-London Protocol |
| Geography - note | smallest independent country on South American continent; mostly tropical rain forest; great diversity of flora and fauna that, for the most part, is increasingly threatened by new development; relatively small population, mostly along the coast | note 1: largest country in South America and in the Southern Hemisphere; shares common boundaries with every South American country except Chile and Ecuador; most of the Pantanal, the world's largest tropical wetland, extends through the west central part of the country; shares Iguazu Falls, the world's largest waterfalls system, with Argentina note 2: cassava (manioc) the sixth most important food crop in the world - after maize, rice, wheat, potatoes, and soybeans - seems to have originated in the west-central part of Brazil; pineapples are probably indigenous to the southern Brazil-Paraguay region |
| Total renewable water resources | 99 billion cubic meters (2017 est.) | 8.647 trillion cubic meters (2017 est.) |
| Population distribution | population concentrated along the nothern coastal strip; the remainder of the country is sparsely populated | the vast majority of people live along, or relatively near, the Atlantic coast in the east; the population core is in the southeast, anchored by the cities of Sao Paolo, Brasilia, and Rio de Janeiro |
Source: CIA Factbook
