The big increases in the world price of oil during the 1970s meant that Brazil had bigger bills to settle with the oil-exporting countries. It was also less than the average for all South America. This was one of the lowest growth rates in the world, although slightly better than South America as a whole. It is estimated that this growth rate will continue untill the end of the century. It does not tell us much about the wealth of individuals.
Brazil is a country with great differences in wealth between people.
This is shown in table . This uneven distribution is partly due to the big contrasts in wealth between the undeveloped northern parts of the country, the often drought-affected north east and the much more prosperous modern cities of the south east. In these countries, farming is very efficient but because industry and services are also very well developed it is not as important to the economy as it is in Brazil. As Brazil's industries expand, farming will become comparatively less important, even though output from farms will probably grow too, as will the value of farming output. In the past, Brazil has had periods of prosperity based on the export of different products.