Iraí de Minas is a Brazilian municipality located in the northwest of the state of

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...

. Its population was 7,027 people living in a total area of 357 km². The city belongs to the mesoregion of Triângulo Mineiro e Alto Paranaiba and to the microregion of

Patrocínio Patrocínio is a municipality in the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil. The population is 91,449 (2020 est.) in an area of 2874 km2. The elevation is 965 m. Highway connections Patrocínio is connected with Uberlândia by BR-365 (154 km) ...

. It became a municipality in 1962.

Location

The municipality is located in the region of the Alto Paranaíba, just north of the Nova Ponte Reservoir, which is fed by the Rio Anzol and the Ribeirão Santa Juliana. The elevation of the town center is 951 meters. Highway connections are made by local road to BR-365, which connects to

Uberlândia Uberlândia () is a municipality in the state of Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil. It is the second largest municipality in the state of Minas Gerais after the state capital Belo Horizonte. Its population in 2020 was 699,097, making it the fou ...

. Neighboring municipalities are:

Monte Carmelo Monte Carmelo is a Brazilian municipality located in the northwest of the state of Minas Gerais. Its population as of 2020 was 47,931 people living in a total area of . The city belongs to the mesoregion of Triângulo Mineiro e Alto Paranaiba a ...

(N);

(E);

Pedrinópolis Pedrinópolis is a Brazilian municipality located in the west of the state of Minas Gerais. Its population as of 2020 was 3,643 people living in a total area of 357 km². The city belongs to the meso-region of Triângulo Mineiro and Alto Par ...

and Perdizes(S); Nova Ponte and

Romaria Romaria is a Brazilian municipality located in the northwest of the state of Minas Gerais. Its population as of 2020 was 3,520 people living in a total area of 402 km². The city belongs to the mesoregion of Triângulo Mineiro e Alto Para ...

(W).

Distances

: 30 km *

: 62 km *

: 76 km *

Belo Horizonte Belo Horizonte (, ; ) is the sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population around 2.7 million and with a metropolitan area of 6 million people. It is the 13th-largest city in South America and the 18th-largest in the Americas. The metropol ...

: 495 km

History

The first settlers were bandeirantes looking for precious stones. The discovery of the diamond Estrela o sul in 1852 caused the arrival of great numbers of prospectors to the region. A settlement was formed with the name Espírito Santo do Cemitério, later changed in 1909 to Iraí, a Tupi word meaning "river of honey". In 1943 the name was changed again to Bagagem, after the nearby river. In 1962 Iraí became a municipality with the present name.Prefeitura Municipal de Iraí
/ref>

Economic activities

The most important economic activities are cattle raising for meat and dairy, commerce, and agriculture, with the main crops being coffee, corn, rice, and citrus fruits. The GDP in 2005 was R$65 million, with 346 million generated by services, 06 million generated by industry, and 19 million generated by agriculture. Iraí de Minas is in the middle tier of municipalities in the state with regard to economic and social development. there was one banking agency in the town. There was a modest retail infrastructure serving the surrounding area of cattle and agricultural lands. There were 895 automobiles in all of the municipality (2007), about one for every 07 inhabitants.IBGE
Iraí de Minas has a small municipal area and therefore little available land for agriculture. In the rural area there were 474 establishments (2006) occupying 39,000 hectares (planted area: 5,800 ha,; natural pasture: 29,000 ha.; and woodland: 3,800 ha.). About 1,500 persons were dependent on agriculture. 60 of the farms had tractors, a ratio of one in 08 farms. There were 19,500 head of cattle in 2006. The main crops were coffee, corn, rice, and soybeans .

Health and education

In the health sector there were 03 health clinics and 01 hospital with 19 beds. In the educational sector there was 04 pre-primary schools, 04 primary school, and 01 middle school. *Municipal

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, whi ...

: 0.757 (2000) *State ranking: 236 out of 853 municipalities *National ranking: 1,672 out of 5,138 municipalities *Literacy rate: 87% *Life expectancy: 71 (average of males and females)Frigoletto
The highest ranking municipality in Minas Gerais in 2000 was

Poços de Caldas Poços de Caldas is a municipality in the south of Minas Gerais state, Brazil, in the microregion of the same name. Its estimated population in 2020 was 168,641 inhabitants. The city is known for its hot springs. History Poços was founded in 1 ...

with 0.841, while the lowest was Setubinha with 0.568. Nationally the highest was

São Caetano do Sul São Caetano do Sul (or São Caetano) ('' Saint Cajetan of the South''. ) is a city in São Paulo state in Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo. The population is 161,957 (2020 est.) in an area of 15.33 km2. It is the ci ...

in São Paulo with 0.919, while the lowest was Setubinha. In more recent statistics (considering 5,507 municipalities) Manari in the state of

Pernambuco Pernambuco () is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.6 million people as of 2020, making it seventh-most populous state of Brazil and with around 98,148 km², being the 19 ...

has the lowest rating in the country—0,467—putting it in last place.

References