19 years of age for compulsory military service, conscript service
obligation - 12 months; 17 years of age for voluntary service (2001)

Manpower available for military service:
males age 19-49: 45,586,036 (2005 est.)

Manpower fit for military service:
males age 19-49: 33,119,098 (2005 est.)

Manpower reaching military service age annually:
males: 1,785,930 (2005 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$11 billion (2004)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
1.8% (2004)

Transnational Issues Brazil

Disputes - international:
unruly region at convergence of Argentina-Brazil-Paraguay borders
is locus of money laundering, smuggling, arms and illegal narcotics
trafficking, and fundraising for extremist organizations;
uncontested dispute with Uruguay over certain islands in the
Quarai/Cuareim and Invernada boundary streams and the resulting
tripoint with Argentina; in 2004 Brazil submitted its claims to
UNCLOS to extend its maritime continental margin

Illicit drugs:
illicit producer of cannabis; minor coca cultivation in the Amazon
region, used for domestic consumption; government has a large-scale
eradication program to control cannabis; important transshipment
country for Bolivian, Colombian, and Peruvian cocaine headed for
Europe and the US; also used by traffickers as a way station for
narcotics air transshipments between Peru and Colombia; upsurge in
drug-related violence and weapons smuggling; important market for
Colombian, Bolivian, and Peruvian cocaine; illicit narcotics
proceeds earned in Brazil are often laundered through the financial
system; significant illicit financial activity in the Tri-Border Area

This page was last updated on 20 October, 2005

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@British Indian Ocean Territory

Introduction British Indian Ocean Territory

Background:
Established as a territory of the UK in 1965, a number of the
British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) islands were transferred to
the Seychelles when it attained independence in 1976. Subsequently,
BIOT has consisted only of the six main island groups comprising the
Chagos Archipelago. The largest and most southerly of the islands,
Diego Garcia, contains a joint UK-US naval support facility. All of
the remaining islands are uninhabited. Former agricultural workers,
earlier residents in the islands