Brazil

is the country's predominant faith. Brazil has the world's largest Catholic population.; 22.2% ; 2.0% Kardecist spiritism; 3.2% other religions, undeclared or undetermined; while 8.0% have no religion.[5]

However, in the last ten years Protestantism, particularly in forms of Pentecostalism and Evangelicalism, has spread in Brazil, while the proportion of Catholics has dropped significantly., , and have the greatest proportion of residents in Brazil. , , and were the most Roman Catholic in the country., not including the , is the most irreligious and least Roman Catholic Brazilian periphery, while and Greater are on the opposite sides of the lists, respectively.[403]

Urbanization

According to IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) urban areas already concentrate 84.35% of the population, while the Southeast region remains the most populated one, with over 80 million inhabitants.[404]
The largest urban agglomerations in Brazil are , , and – all in the Southeastern Region – with 21.1, 12.3, and 5.1 million inhabitants respectively., the capital of , and , the capital of Santa Catarina.[408]

Language

The official language of Brazil is Portuguese), which almost all of the population speaks and is virtually the only language used in newspapers, radio, television, and for business and administrative purposes. Brazil is the only Portuguese-speaking nation in the Americas, making the language an important part of Brazilian national identity and giving it a national culture distinct from those of its Spanish-speaking neighbors.[412]

has had its own development, mostly similar to 16th-century Central and Southern dialects of European Portuguese, coming from , and in minor degree Portuguese ), with a few influences from the and , especially and restricted to the vocabulary only.] the language is somewhat different, mostly in phonology, from the language of Portugal and other (the dialects of the other countries, partly because of the more recent end of in these regions, have a closer connection to contemporary ). These differences are comparable to those between and .[414]

In 1990, the (CPLP), which included representatives from all countries with Portuguese as the official language, reached an to unify the two standards then in use by Brazil on one side and the remaining lusophone countries on the other. This spelling reform went into effect in Brazil on 1 January 2009. In Portugal, the reform was signed into law by the President on 21 July 2008 allowing for a six-year adaptation period, during which both orthographies will co-exist. The remaining CPLP countries are free to establish their own transition timetables.[415]

The legally recognized in 2002, in 2005), more commonly known by its Portuguese LIBRAS, in education and government services. The language must be taught as a part of the and curricula. LIBRAS teachers, instructors and translators are recognized professionals. Schools and health services must provide access ("") to .[418]

Minority languages are spoken throughout the nation. One hundred and eighty are spoken in remote areas and a significant number of other languages are spoken by immigrants and their descendants., (a currently endangered South American – or an 'anti-creole', according to some linguists – with mostly Indigenous Brazilian languages lexicon and Portuguese-based grammar that, together with its southern relative , once was a major in Brazil,)[], and Tucano languages had been granted co-official status with Portuguese.[420]

There are significant communities of German (mostly the , a High German language dialect) and Italian (mostly the , a dialect) origins in the Southern and Southeastern regions, whose ancestors' native languages were carried along to Brazil, and which, still alive there, are influenced by the Portuguese language. Talian is officially a historic patrimony of , Italian is also recognized as ethnic language in the Santa Teresa and in the Espirito Santo state, where is taught as obligatory second language at school.[2]

Learning at least one second language (generally English or Spanish) is mandatory for all the 12 grades of the mandatory ( and , there called ensino fundamental and ensino médio respectively). Brazil is the first country in South America to offer to secondary students.[425]

The core culture of Brazil is derived from , because of its strong colonial ties with the Portuguese Empire., and . The culture was, however, also strongly influenced by , and non-Portuguese European cultures and traditions.[427]
Some aspects of Brazilian culture were influenced by the contributions of , and other European as well as , and immigrants who arrived in large numbers in the South and Southeast of Brazil during the 19th and 20th centuries.; and the Africans influenced language, cuisine, , dance and religion.[429]

has developed since the 16th century into different styles that range from (the dominant style in Brazil until the early 19th century) to , , , , and . dates back to the birth of the medium in the late 19th century and has gained a new level of international acclaim since the 1960s.[432]

Architecture