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 ...

has a high level of

urbanization Urbanization (or urbanisation) refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. It is predominantly t ...

with 87.8% of the population residing in

urban Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...

and metropolitan areas. The criteria used by the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) in determining whether households are urban or rural, however, are based on political divisions, not on the developed environment. Nowadays, the country has 5,570 municipalities. With two exceptions, the state capitals are all the largest cities in their respective states: Florianópolis, the capital of Santa Catarina is its second-largest city after

Joinville Joinville () is the largest city in Santa Catarina, in the Southern Region of Brazil. It is the third largest municipality in the southern region of Brazil, after the much larger state capitals of Curitiba and Porto Alegre. Joinville is also a ...

, while Vitória is only the fourth-largest city in

Espírito Santo Espírito Santo (, , ; ) is a state in southeastern Brazil. Its capital is Vitória, and its largest city is Serra. With an extensive coastline, the state hosts some of the country's main ports, and its beaches are significant tourist attra ...

, although it is located in that state's largest metropolitan area.

Most populous cities in Brazil

Curitiba_Eixos_e_densidades_02_2006_Prefeitura_91

Praia de Boa Viagem - Recife - Pernambuco - Brasil(3)

Vista do Morro Santa teresa, Porto Alegre - panoramio - Andervaz

Convento_da_Penha_-_Vila_Velha_-_ES_-_panoramio_(46)

This is a list of the most populous cities based on the population of the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

where the city is located, rather than its metropolitan area. As IBGE considers the entire Federal District synonymous to Brasília, the population of the Federal District is shown for Brasília. ; IBGE Census counts as of 1 August 2010. Estimates of 1 July 2021 :State capitals are in bold and states' largest cities are in ''italics''. Brazil's population, as recorded by the 2010 census, was of 190,755,799 inhabitants (22.40 inhabitants per square kilometer), with 84.36% of the population defined as urban. The population is heavily concentrated in the

Southeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

Most populous cities in Brazil

Distribution

Largest metropolitan areas

See also

References