Four Largest Brazilian Cities Account for 11.8 Percent of Country’s Total Population

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The four most populous cities in the country have 24.87 million inhabitants. According to population estimate data released yesterday, August 28th, by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), the populations of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasília, and Salvador account for 11.8 percent of the total Brazilian population, which today totals 210.1 million people.

According to IBGE estimates, the municipality of São Paulo remains the most populous in the country, with 12.25 million inhabitants, followed by Rio de Janeiro, with 6.72 million inhabitants, Brasília, with 3 million, and Salvador with 2.9 million inhabitants.

The municipalities with the smallest populations are Serra da Saudade (MG), with 781 inhabitants, Borá (SP), with 837 inhabitants, and Araguainha (MT), with 935 inhabitants.

According to IBGE, 324 municipalities have more than 100,000 inhabitants. Together they account for only 5.8 percent of the country’s 5,570 municipalities, but they represent 57.4 percent of the Brazilian population, or 120.7 million inhabitants. There are 48 municipalities having more than 500,000 inhabitants.

On the other hand, 3,670 municipalities — 68.2 percent of the total — are inhabited by less than 20,000 people. Together they account for 32 million inhabitants, or 15.2 percent of the country’s total population.

Of the 5,570 municipalities in the country, 28.6 percent recorded a decline in population. Approximately half (49.6 percent) of the municipalities grew by zero to one percent, whereas only 4.8 percent (266 municipalities) increased by more than two percent.