The Goiânia metropolitan area ( pt, Região Metropolitana de Goiânia), popularly known as Greater Goiânia ( pt, Grande Goiânia), is a conurbation of cities around

Goiânia Goiânia (; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Goiás. With a population of 1,536,097, it is the second-largest city in the Central-West Region and the 10th-largest in the country. Its metropolitan area has a population ...

, capital of the

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Goiás Goiás () is a Brazilian state located in the Center-West region. Goiás borders the Federal District and the states of (from north clockwise) Tocantins, Bahia, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso do Sul and Mato Grosso. The state capital is Goi ...

History

The metropolitan area was established on December 30, 1999 by the Complementary State Law number 27, and is the largest of Central-Western Brazil. It was the first metropolitan area of that region, since the Cuiabá metropolitan area was only established almost ten years later, on May 28, 2009. It is formed by the following municipalities: *

Abadia de Goiás Abadia de Goiás is a municipality in central Goiás state, Brazil, located on the western edge of the Goiânia metropolitan area. Geographical Data The distance to Goiânia is 27 km. and highway connections are made by BR-060. Neighboring m ...

Aparecida de Goiânia Aparecida de Goiânia () is a city and municipality in central Goiás, Brazil. It is the second largest city in the state (with a population of 590,146 inhabitants, according to the 2020 estimate) and the third largest industrial center, with a G ...

* Aragoiânia *

Bela Vista de Goiás Bela Vista de Goiás is a city located in central Goiás state in Brazil. Location It is 45 kilometers from the state capital of Goiânia The municipality has boundaries with Hidrolândia, Caldazinha, Aparecida de Goiânia, Senador Canedo, and ...

Goianápolis Goianápolis is a municipality in central Goiás state, Brazil. It had a population of 11,224 (IBGE 2020 estimate) in a total area of 162.38 km2 (2007). The town is famous for its tomato production and as the birthplace of Leandro and Leon ...

Goianira Goianira is a municipality in central Goiás state, Brazil, located 32 kilometers northwest of the state capital, Goiânia. The population was 45,296 (2020) with a total area of 200.4 km² (10/10/2002). Goianira is becoming a major producer ...

Guapó Guapó () is a municipality in central Goiás state, Brazil. The population was 14,207 (2020) and the total area of the municipality was 517.0 km² (10/10/2002). Guapó is part of the Goiânia Microregion. Neighboring municipalities are: * ...

* Hidrolândia * Nerópolis *

Santo Antônio de Goiás Santo Antônio de Goiás is a municipality in central Goiás state, Brazil, located just north of the state capital, Goiânia. *Distance from Goiânia: 42 km. with connections by way of GO-462. Location Neighboring municipalities are: *north ...

Senador Canedo Senador Canedo is a municipality in central Goiás state, Brazil. It is the center of the petrochemical industry for the state. Location Senador Canedo is crossed by two state highways, GOs 020 and 010. It is located 16 kilometers southeast of ...

* Trindade

Demography

Encompassing thirteen municipalities, Greater Goiânia has an area of 5,787 km2 (or 2,234 square miles). It is by far the most expressive region of the state of Goiás, containing around 35% of its total population, a third of its voters, about 80% of its college students, and 36,5% of its GDP. According to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, over two million people live on this metropolitan area, making it the 11th most populous in Brazil and the 210th in the world.

Economic inequality

According to the 2008–2009 State of the World's Cities report by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), Goiânia has the largest

economic inequality There are wide varieties of economic inequality, most notably income inequality measured using the distribution of income (the amount of money people are paid) and wealth inequality measured using the distribution of wealth (the amount of ...

index among the nineteen Latin American cities analyzed."Para ONU, Goiânia é a mais desigual da América Latina"
. Rádio Paranaíba. October 24, 2008. Its Gini index is 65, while the goal for UN-Habitat is 40. If Goiânia was a country, it would be the second most unequal in the world, second only to

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

. Goiânia follows a state trend, since Goiás reached its highest economic inequality index for the past decade in 2005. Both the state and its capital, however, do not follow the national trend, once Brazil has reached an all-time low inequality index in the past five years. According to Cecília Martinez, director of UN-Habitat's regional office for Latin America and the Caribbean, this happens because "public policies prioritize the richest areas in the city". According to her, there is a lack of "orderly planning" and "clear policies" to foster the development of poorer areas. For the 2010–2011 report, Goiânia remained as the most economically unequal city of Latin America, with a Gini index above 60. Berlinck, Deborah
"Quatro capitais brasileiras estão entre as mais desiguais do mundo, diz ONU"
''

O Globo ''O Globo'' (, ''The Globe'') is a Brazilian newspaper based in Rio de Janeiro. ''O Globo'' is the most prominent print publication in the Grupo Globo media conglomerate. Founded by journalist Irineu Marinho, owner of '' A Noite'', it was ori ...

''. March 19, 2010."Quatro cidades brasileiras estão entre as mais desiguais do mundo"
''

Correio Braziliense The ''Correio Braziliense'' (meaning ''Brazilian Mail'' in English) is a daily newspaper in Brazil. The paper was first published on 21 April 1960. Its founder is Assis Chateaubriand. The paper has its headquarters in Brasília. The name came f ...

''. March 19, 2010. Among all cities in the world analyzed by the UN-Habitat, Goiânia is behind only Buffalo City,

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...

, and

Ekurhuleni The City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality is a metropolitan municipality that forms the local government of the East Rand region of Gauteng. The municipality itself is a large suburban region east of Johannesburg. The name ''Ekurhuleni'' m ...

, all three of them located in South Africa.

Human development

According to 2000 data by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, the Greater Goiânia has a

Human Development Index The Human Development Index (HDI) is a statistic composite index of life expectancy, education (mean years of schooling completed and expected years of schooling upon entering the education system), and per capita income indicators, wh ...

of 0.812, making it the 14th metropolitan area of Brazil in human development. With the dissolution of six metropolitan areas in 2007, however, it rose to the 9th position. The HDI of Greater Goiãnia is a little bit higher than the Brazilian average of 0.800.

Religion

The Greater Goiânia area has the least Roman Catholic population in all the state of Goiás. Over 60% of its population consists of self-declared Catholics, while this rate varies from 65% to 85% in other areas of the state. On the other hand, Goiânia metropolitan area is the fastest growing region for Protestantism in the state. According to the report Economy of Religions by Fundação Getúlio Vargas, Goiânia is the Brazilian capital with the largest number of Protestants. Among

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

s and non-Pentecostals, over a quarter of the city's inhabitants are self-declared Protestants."Panorama das Religiões nas Capitais"
. Fundação Getúlio Vargas.

References

External links

*
About the Goiânia metropolitan area on the official website of Goiânia city hallMap of Greater Goiânia area
on

WikiMapia Wikimapia is a geographic online encyclopedia project. The project implements an interactive "clickable" web map that utilizes Google Maps with a geographically-referenced wiki system, with the aim to mark and describe all geographical objects ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Greater Goiania Metropolitan areas of Brazil Populated places in Goiás