Novo Cruzeiro is a Brazilian municipality located in the northeast 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 as of 2020 was estimated to be 31,335 people living in a total area of 1,701 km². The city belongs to the mesoregion of Jequitinhonha and to the microregion of

Araçuaí Araçuaí is a Brazilian municipality located in the northeast of the state of Minas Gerais in the Jequitinhonha River valley. The Araçuaí River, a tributary of the Jequitinhonha, flows through it. Its population was estimated to be 36,712 peop ...

. The elevation of the municipal seat is 980 meters. It became a municipality in 1943. Most of the population lives in the rural area, with over 10,000 people still engaged in agriculture, which is mainly subsistence. Novo Cruzeiro was founded by Anastácio Roque Esteves, who settled here in 1917 along the banks of the Ribeirão São Bento, a tributary of the Rio Gravatá. The first name was Fazenda Santa Maria do Ribeirão da Pedra, then Vila Gravatá, São Bento, and finally Novo Cruzeiro, the name coming from the change of the currency of the country from mil réis to the Cruzeiro. The town was once connected with the south by a railroad line, E. F. Bahia a Minas, which was extinguished in 1965. Several of the old stations have been restored and are now used as public buildings. The economy is based on cattle raising, services, and

subsistence agriculture Subsistence agriculture occurs when farmers grow food crops to meet the needs of themselves and their families on smallholdings. Subsistence agriculturalists target farm output for survival and for mostly local requirements, with little or no su ...

, with the main crops being coffee (5,500 ha.), rice, beans, sugarcane, and corn. The cattle herd had 18,000 head in 2006. In 2005 there were 3318 rural producers but only 47 tractors. 10,300 persons were dependent on agriculture. As of 2005 there were 10 public health clinics, with 2 carrying out diagnosis and complete therapy. There was one hospital with 42 beds. Educational needs were met by 37 primary schools, 6 middle schools and 6 nursery schools. There were 569 automobiles in 2006, giving a ratio of 60 inhabitants per automobile (there were 1650 motorcycles). There was 1 bank in 2007. Neighboring municipalities are:

Caraí Caraí is a Brazilian municipality located in the northeast of the state of Minas Gerais. Its population was estimated to be 23,780 people living in a total area of 1,240 km2. The city belongs to the mesoregion of Jequitinhonha and to the mi ...

Itaipé Itaipé is a Brazilian municipality located in the northeast of the state of Minas Gerais. Its population was estimated to be 12,836 people living in a total area of 483 km2. The city belongs to the mesoregion of Vale do Mucuri and to the m ...

Ladainha In capoeira, music sets the rhythm, the style of play, and the energy of a game. In its most traditional setting, there are three main styles of song that weave together the structure of the capoeira roda. The roda represents the most strict and t ...

Setubinha Setubinha is a municipality in the northeast of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. As of 2020 the population was 12,378 in a total area of 536 km². The elevation is 729 metres. It is part of the IBGE statistical microregion of Teófilo ...

- Minas Novas - Chapada do Norte - and Jenipapo de Minas. The distance to

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 ...

is 557 km. The distance to the nearest major population center,

Teófilo Otoni Teófilo Otoni is a municipality in northeast Minas Gerais state, Brazil. The population of the municipality was 140,937 in 2020 and the area is 3,242.818 km2. Origin of the name The city is named after (Vila do Príncipe, 27 January 1807 - ...

is 111 km. As of 2002 most of the access roads were still not paved. Social Indicators Novo Cruzeiro is ranked low on the MHDI and was one of the poorest municipalities in the state and in the country in 2000. *MHDI: .629 (2000) *State ranking: 791 out of 853 municipalities *National ranking: 4,147 out of 5,138 municipalities in 2000 *Life expectancy: 64 *Literacy rate: 61 *Combined primary, secondary and tertiary gross enrolment ratio: .745 *Per capita income (monthly): R$125.00 Frigoletto
/ref> The above figures can be compared with those of

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 ...

, which had an MHDI of .841, the highest in the state of

. The highest in the country 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 the state of

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

with an MHDI of .919. The lowest was 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 ...

with an MHDI of .467 out of a total of 5504 municipalities in the country as of 2004. At last count Brazil had 5,561 municipalities so this might have changed at the time of this writing.

References

See also