Virgem da Lapa () 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 13,740 people living in a total area of . 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 ...

. It became a municipality in 1948. Virgem da Lapa is located just on the left bank (north) of the

Jequitinhonha River The Jequitinhonha River () flows mainly through the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. Its source lies near Diamantina in the Espinhaço Mountains at an elevation of , after which it flows northward and then east-northeastward across the uplands. A ...

at an elevation of 385 meters (center of the town). The climate is semi-arid and the region suffers from periodic drought. 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 rice, beans, manioc, sugarcane, and corn. The cattle herd had 14,000 head in 2006. In 2005 there were 1858 rural producers but only 14 tractors among them. 6,200 persons were dependent on agriculture—almost half of the population. As of 2005 there were 5 health clinics and 1 public hospital with 42 beds. Educational needs were met by 24 primary schools, 2 middle schools and 3 nursery schools. There were 492 automobiles in 2006, giving a ratio of 29 inhabitants per automobile (there were 675 motorcycles). There was 1 bank in 2007. Neighboring municipalities are:

Rubelita Rubelita is a municipality in the northeast of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. Its population in 2020 was 5,798 inhabitants in a total area of 1,109 km². Rubelita belongs to the Salinas statistical microregion. The elevation of the m ...

- Coronel Murta -

Berilo Berilo () is a municipality in the northeast of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. the population was 11,872 in a total area of 586 km2. The elevation is 401 meters. It is part of the IBGE statistical meso-region of Jequitinhonha and th ...

José Gonçalves de Minas José Gonçalves de Minas () is a municipality in the northeast of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. the population was 4,487 in a total area of 382 km². The elevation of the town center is 546 meters. It is part of the IBGE statistic ...

- Josenópolis. 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 . The distance to the nearest major population center,

is . Social Indicators Virgem da Lapa is ranked low on the MHDI and was one of the poorest municipalities in the state and in the country in 2000. *MHDI: .664 (2000) *State ranking: 696 out of 853 municipalities *National ranking: 3,549 out of 5,138 municipalities in 2000 *Life expectancy: 67 *Literacy rate: 72 *Combined primary, secondary and tertiary gross enrolment ratio: .740 *Per capita income (monthly): R$107.00Frigoletto
/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

{{Authority control Municipalities in Minas Gerais

See also

References