Number of the week

What the Amazon represents to the Brazilian economy

Brazil’s largest region is economically its smallest. While deforestation attracts global attention, the region’s major economic activities are agriculture, forestry and mining

amazon manaus — Manaus, the biggest city in the Amazon basin. Photo: Altrendo Images/Shutterstock

Jul 10, 2021 7:01 2 min read (Updated: Jul 11, 2021 10:51)

Welcome to “Number of the Week,” where we choose a single figure that helps us understand Brazil. This week, we go through the numbers explaining how important the North region is to the Brazilian economy.

8.7%: of Brazilian GDP

More than ever, the eyes of the world are on the Brazilian Amazon. Due to President Jair Bolsonaro’s laissez-faire stance, deforestation rates have reached new heights in past months. Ricardo Salles, the Environment Minister who recently quit, is facing accusations of helping an illegal timber exporting ring. His replacement, Joaquim Leite, may be a less toxic figure, but...