From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a list of the largest cities in Brazil. Brazil has a relatively high reported level of urbanization, with 8 out of every 10 Brazilians living in cities. The criteria used by the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) in determining whether households are urban or rural, however, is based on political divisions, not on the built environment.
A town is any seat of a district (the lowest political division); a city is the seat of a municipality. Nowadays, the country has more than 5,564 municipalities.[1] About 81.3% of Brazilians live in an urban area.[2]
State capitals are also each the largest city in its state, the exceptions being Vitória in Espírito Santo, and Florianópolis, the capital of Santa Catarina; there are also non-capital metropolitan areas in São Paulo (Campinas, Santos, Paraíba Valley), Minas Gerais (Vale do Aço), Rio Grande do Sul (Sinos Valley), and Santa Catarina (Joinville & Itajaí Valley). Most of the non-capital large cities in Brazil are in the states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Santa Catarina and Paraná.
Few of the principal Brazilian cities are planned cities; the most famous of these is Brasília, which represents the Modernist school of architecture and urbanism.
[edit] Top 100 most populous cities
This list of the 100 most populous cities is based on the population of the município where the city is located, rather than its metropolitan area.
Unless stated, the estimates for cities 1-40 are from IBGE 2008;[3] those for cities 41 onwards are from IBGE 2006.
- State capitals are in bold
| Rank |
City |
State |
Population |
| 1 |
São Paulo |
São Paulo |
10,990,249 |
| 2 |
Rio de Janeiro |
Rio de Janeiro |
6,161,047 |
| 3 |
Salvador |
Bahia |
2,948,733 |
| 4 |
Brasília |
Distrito Federal |
2,557,158 |
| 5 |
Fortaleza |
Ceará |
2,473,614 |
| 6 |
Belo Horizonte |
Minas Gerais |
2,434,642 |
| 7 |
Curitiba |
Paraná |
1,828,092 |
| 8 |
Manaus |
Amazonas |
1,709,010 |
| 9 |
Recife |
Pernambuco |
1,549,980 |
| 10 |
Porto Alegre |
Rio Grande do Sul |
1,430,220 |
| 11 |
Belém |
Pará |
1,424,124 |
| 12 |
Guarulhos |
São Paulo |
1,279,202 |
| 13 |
Goiânia |
Goiás |
1,265,394 |
| 14 |
Campinas |
São Paulo |
1,056,664 |
| 15 |
São Luís |
Maranhão |
986,826 |
| 16 |
São Gonçalo |
Rio de Janeiro |
982,832 |
| 17 |
Maceió |
Alagoas |
924,143 |
| 18 |
Duque de Caxias |
Rio de Janeiro |
864,392 |
| 19 |
Nova Iguaçu |
Rio de Janeiro |
855,500 |
| 20 |
São Bernardo do Campo |
São Paulo |
801,580 |
| 21 |
Natal |
Rio Grande do Norte |
798,065 |
| 22 |
Teresina |
Piauí |
793,915 |
| 23 |
Campo Grande |
Mato Grosso do Sul |
747,189 |
| 24 |
Osasco |
São Paulo |
713,066 |
| 25 |
João Pessoa |
Paraíba |
693,082 |
| 26 |
Jaboatão dos Guararapes |
Pernambuco |
678,346 |
| 27 |
Santo André |
São Paulo |
671,696 |
| 28 |
Uberlândia |
Minas Gerais |
622,441 |
| 29 |
Contagem |
Minas Gerais |
617,749 |
| 30 |
São José dos Campos |
São Paulo |
609,229 |
| 31 |
Feira de Santana |
Bahia |
584,497 |
| 32 |
Sorocaba |
São Paulo |
576,312 |
| 33 |
Ribeirão Preto |
São Paulo |
558,136 |
| 34 |
Cuiabá |
Mato Grosso |
544,737 |
| 35 |
Aracaju |
Sergipe |
536,785 |
| 36 |
Juiz de Fora |
Minas Gerais |
520,612 |
| 37 |
Londrina |
Paraná |
505,184 |
| 38 |
Belford Roxo |
Rio de Janeiro |
495,694 |
| 39 |
Ananindeua |
Pará |
495,480 |
| 40 |
Aparecida de Goiânia |
Goiás |
494,919 |
| 41 |
Joinville |
Santa Catarina |
492,101 |
| 42 |
Niterói |
Rio de Janeiro |
477,912 |
| 43 |
São João de Meriti |
Rio de Janeiro |
468,309 |
| 44 |
Campos dos Goitacazes |
Rio de Janeiro |
431,839 |
| 45 |
Betim |
Minas Gerais |
429,507 |
| 46 |
Santos |
São Paulo |
417,518 |
| 47 |
São José do Rio Preto |
São Paulo |
414,272 |
| 48 |
Mauá |
São Paulo |
412,753 |
| 49 |
Vila Velha |
Espírito Santo |
407,579 |
| 50 |
Caxias do Sul |
Rio Grande do Sul |
405,858 |
| 51 |
Florianópolis |
Santa Catarina |
402,346 |
| 52 |
Serra |
Espírito Santo |
397,226 |
| 53 |
Olinda |
Pernambuco |
394,850 |
| 54 |
Diadema |
São Paulo |
394,266 |
| 55 |
Carapicuíba |
São Paulo |
388,532 |
| 56 |
Campina Grande |
Paraíba |
381,422 |
| 57 |
Porto Velho |
Rondônia |
379,186 |
| 58 |
Mogi das Cruzes |
São Paulo |
371,372 |
| 59 |
Piracicaba |
São Paulo |
365,440 |
| 60 |
Cariacica |
Espírito Santo |
362,277 |
| 61 |
Macapá |
Amapá |
359,020 |
| 62 |
Montes Claros |
Minas Gerais |
358,271 |
| 63 |
Bauru |
São Paulo |
355,675 |
| 63 |
Itaquaquecetuba |
São Paulo |
351,493 |
| 65 |
Jundiaí |
São Paulo |
347,738 |
| 66 |
Pelotas |
Rio Grande do Sul |
343,167 |
| 67 |
Ribeirão das Neves |
Minas Gerais |
340,033 |
| 68 |
Maringá |
Paraná |
331,412 |
| 69 |
Anápolis |
Goiás |
331,329 |
| 70 |
Canoas |
Rio Grande do Sul |
329,903 |
| 71 |
São Vicente |
São Paulo |
328,522 |
| 72 |
Franca |
São Paulo |
327,176 |
| 73 |
Caucaia |
Ceará |
326,811 |
| 74 |
Foz do Iguaçu |
Paraná |
319,189 |
| 75 |
Vitória |
Espírito Santo |
317,817 |
| 76 |
Paulista |
Pernambuco |
314,302 |
| 77 |
Vitória da Conquista |
Bahia |
313,898 |
| 78 |
Petrópolis |
Rio de Janeiro |
312,766 |
| 79 |
Ponta Grossa |
Paraná |
311,106 |
| 80 |
Guarujá |
São Paulo |
304,274 |
| 81 |
Rio Branco |
Acre |
301,398 |
| 82 |
Blumenau |
Santa Catarina |
296,151 |
| 83 |
Caruaru |
Pernambuco |
294,558 |
| 84 |
Uberaba |
Minas Gerais |
292,377 |
| 85 |
Cascavel |
Paraná |
291,747 |
| 86 |
Petrolina |
Pernambuco |
285,339 |
| 87 |
Suzano |
São Paulo |
279,394 |
| 88 |
Limeira |
São Paulo |
278,776 |
| 89 |
Santarém |
Pará |
275,571 |
| 90 |
Barueri |
São Paulo |
274,201 |
| 91 |
São José dos Pinhais |
Paraná |
272,530 |
| 92 |
Taubaté |
São Paulo |
270,918 |
| 93 |
Santa Maria |
Rio Grande do Sul |
266,822 |
| 94 |
Gravataí |
Rio Grande do Sul |
266,230 |
| 95 |
Governador Valadares |
Minas Gerais |
261,981 |
| 96 |
Boa Vista |
Roraima |
260,930 |
| 97 |
Volta Redonda |
Rio de Janeiro |
259,811 |
| 98 |
Viamão |
Rio Grande do Sul |
257,844 |
| 99 |
Novo Hamburgo |
Rio Grande do Sul |
255,945 |
| 100 |
Juazeiro do Norte |
Ceará |
246,515 |
[edit] Largest metropolitan areas
Currently, as of 2004[update], IBGE officially recognizes 15 major RMs (Região Metropolitana; Metropolitan Region in English), where approximately 32% of the Brazilian population (55 million people out of 180 million) live. These RMs are responsible for approximately half of the Brazilian GDP and more than 70% of the Brazilian annual industrial production.
- IBGE estimatives of 2006 [3]
| Rank |
Metropolitan Area |
State |
Population |
| 1 |
São Paulo |
São Paulo |
19,616,060 |
| 2 |
Rio de Janeiro |
Rio de Janeiro |
11,812,482 |
| 3 |
Belo Horizonte |
Minas Gerais |
5,397,438 |
| 4 |
Porto Alegre |
Rio Grande do Sul |
3,959,807 |
| 5 |
Recife |
Pernambuco |
3,730,114 |
| 6 |
Salvador |
Bahia |
3,677,060 |
| 7 |
Fortaleza |
Ceará |
3,517,275 |
| 8 |
Brasília |
Distrito Federal, Minas Gerais and Goiás |
3,451,549 |
| 9 |
Curitiba |
Paraná |
3,172,357 |
| 10 |
Campinas |
São Paulo |
2,633,523 |
| 11 |
Belém |
Pará |
2,078,405 |
| 12 |
Goiânia |
Goiás |
2,007,868 |
| 13 |
Manaus |
Amazonas |
2,006,870 |
| 14 |
Vitória |
Espírito Santo |
1,624,837 |
| 15 |
Santos |
São Paulo |
1,606,863 |
| 16 |
Natal |
Rio Grande do Norte |
1,255,409 |
| 17 |
São Luís |
Maranhão |
1,211,270 |
| 18 |
Maceió |
Alagoas |
1,111,678 |
| 19 |
Teresina |
Piauí and Maranhão |
1,092,721 |
| 20 |
João Pessoa |
Paraíba |
1,077,944 |
| 21 |
Joinville |
Santa Catarina |
1,024,212 1 |
| 22 |
Florianópolis |
Santa Catarina |
841,552 2 |
| 23 |
Cuiabá |
Mato Grosso |
815,392 |
| 24 |
Petrolina and Juazeiro |
Pernambuco and Bahia |
812,515 |
| 25 |
Aracaju |
Sergipe |
759,998 |
| 26 |
Londrina |
Paraná |
759,533 |
| 27 |
Maringá |
Paraná |
570,094 |
| 28 |
Itajaí |
Santa Catarina |
465,225 2 |
| 29 |
Blumenau |
Santa Catarina |
449,726 1 |
| 30 |
Vale do Aço |
Minas Gerais |
449,340 |
| 31 |
Macapá |
Amapá |
454,753 |
| 32 |
Criciúma |
Santa Catarina |
354,066 1 |
| 33 |
Tubarão |
Santa Catarina |
128,545 2 |
1 Data of 2005.
2 Data of 2006.
[edit] References
[edit] See also