Fortaleza, Ceará. is located in the northeastern corner of Brazil, Ceará is the Brazilian State nearest Europe and North America. With more than 3 million people, Fortaleza is the fifth largest metropolitan area in Brazil. For centuries, the economy of Ceará was based on three factors: agriculture of subsistence; cattle raising, in the interior lands of the State; and the production of salt, in the eastern coast of the State. In the 1980s and 1990s, because of the arid climate, beautiful beaches and white sand dunes, Ceará (and Fortaleza in particular) became a center for Brazilian and European tourism.
Fortaleza has over 600 slums. This does not include the rest of the state. Because of the many tourists, Fortaleza has the highest rate of child prostitution. Drug use as well as drug traffiking is also prevalent in the lives of Fortaleza’s children.