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A study by shows that most Brazilians possess a combination of American Indian , European and African
(mainly Bantu and Yoruba) ancestry, with minorities of Asian (mainly Japanese), Lebanese, and Arab Syrian descendants. São
Paulo, is home to the largest Japanese diaspora in the world. Southern Brazil has a large majority of people of European descent
and in Southeast and Central West Brazil the number of whites is somewhat equal to the number of African Brazilian and multiracial
Brazilians. Northeastern Brazil has a majority of people of African descent, while in Northern Brazil the Amerindian ancestry
is predominant. According to Brazil's 1988 Constitution, racism is an unbailable crime and must be met with imprisonment.
Despite being a large country with extensive resources and a huge economy, Brazil currently has more than 22 million people
living in state of extreme poverty. Including those living in state of relative poverty, this number can rise to more than
53 million people (around 30% of the country's population) living with an income insufficient for their basic needs. This
is a critical issue, and is in part attributed to the country's economic inequality, considered one of the world's highest,
second only to some of the world's poorest countries. Poverty in Brazil can be easily identified by the favelas, a great
number of slums in the country's metropolitan areas and in upcountry remote regions with low rates of economic and social
development. The Northeast region has chronic problems due to the semi-arid climate in the inner regions, as its periodic
droughts affect millions of people. The most recent attempt to mitigate these problems is being tried by current President
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who has proposed a hunger-eradication program and raised the budget for wealth distribution
programs that were previously established, but there is much discussion over those approaches.
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