Formiga (Portuguese for "ant") is a

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

in central-west

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...

state,

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. The population of the

(urban and rural) in 2020 is 67,822. The area of the municipality is 1,504 km². It is located in the statistical meso-region of Centro-Oeste de Minas and the statistical micro-region of Formiga. It was founded in 1839.

Geography

Statistical Micro-region

Formiga is a statistical micro-region containing municipalities: Arcos,

Camacho Camacho is a surname of Spanish origin. Notable people with the surname include: * Tanga Loa, (born 1983), Tongan-American professional wrestler who wrestled as Camacho in WWE * Alejandro Camacho (born 1954), Mexican actor and producer * Alicia ...

, Córrego Fundo, Formiga,

Itapecerica Itapecerica (, ) is a municipality located in the center of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. The population is 21,761 (2020 est.) in an area of 1041 km². The city belongs to the meso-region of Oeste de Minas and to the micro-region of F ...

, Pains,

Pedra do Indaiá Pedra do Indaiá is a Brazil, Brazilian Municipalities of Brazil, municipality. It is located in the center of the Federative units of Brazil, state of Minas Gerais. Pedra do Indaiá has a total area of 349 km2. As of 2020, it had a popula ...

, and Pimenta. In 2000 the population of this area was 144,506 in an area of 4,577.20 km². The population density in 2000 was 31.57 inhabitants/km².

Location

Formiga is located at an elevation of 841 meters just off highway MG-050. Neighboring municipalities are: Pains, Córrego Fundo, Arcos, and

Japaraíba Japaraíba is a Brazil, Brazilian Municipalities of Brazil, municipality located in the center of the Federative units of Brazil, state of Minas Gerais. Its population was 4,384 people living in a total area of 172 km². The city belongs to ...

(North),

(East), Candeias, Cristais, and

Guapé Guapé is a municipality in the state of Minas Gerais in the Southeast region of Brazil. See also *List of municipalities in Minas Gerais This is a list of the municipalities in the States of Brazil, state of Minas Gerais, Minas Gerais (MG), loc ...

(South), and Pimenta (West).Prefeitura Municipal de Formiga
/ref>

Communications

Formiga is linked to Belo Horizonte by MG-050 and lies 2 km south of the highway junction. There is also a railroad line carrying freight. The closest point on the Furnas reservoir is 25 km to the southwest. Distances to other cities *

Divinópolis Divinópolis is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the centre-west of Minas Gerais state, Brazil. The estimated population in 2020 was 240,408 inhabitants. The total area of the municipality is 709 km2 and the elevation is 712 metres ...

: 76 km * Bom Despacho: 110 km *

Lavras Lavras is a municipality in southern Minas Gerais state, Brazil. Located at an altitude of 919 m, it has a population of 104,761 inhabitants (2022). The area of the municipality is 564,495 km2. The average annual temperature is 19.6°C and t ...

: 115 km * Arcos: 26 km *

Belo Horizonte Belo Horizonte is the List of largest cities in Brazil, sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population of around 2.3 million, and the third largest metropolitan area, containing a population of 6 million. It is the List of cities in Sout ...

: 194 km *

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

: 545 km *

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

: 470 km *

Brasília Brasília ( ; ) is the capital city, capital of Brazil and Federal District (Brazil), Federal District. Located in the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region, it was founded by President Juscelino ...

: 812 km

Weather

*Average annual temperature: 21.3 C *Maximum annual temperature: 26.2 C *Minimum annual temperature: 15.1 C *Average annual rainfall index: 1.400 mm Main rivers: Rio Formiga, Rio Mata-Cavalo, Rio Pouso Alegre and Furnas Reservoir. Formiga is located in the Grande River basin.

Economy

Services, light industry, and agriculture are the most important economic activities. In 2004 there were 2,481 enterprises, of which the majority were concentrated in the commerce sector, vehicle repair, and sales of personal and domestic objects. The GDP in 2005 was approximately R$474 million, R$44 million from taxes, 311 million reais from services, 67 million reais from industry, and 50 million reais from agriculture. There were 1,865 rural producers on 77,000 hectares of land (2006). 229 farms had tractors (2006). Approximately 5,600 persons were employed in agriculture. The main crops are coffee, beans, soybeans, rice, sugarcane, and corn. There were 69,000 head of cattle (2006). Poultry raising was also substantial with two hundred head in 2006.IBGE
There were 7 banks (2007). The motor vehicle fleet had 13,066 automobiles, 1,281 trucks, 1,255 pickup trucks, and 5,894 motorcycles. The ratio of inhabitant per motor vehicle was 3 vehicles per inhabitant. Working population by sector (2005) *Transformation industries (508 units): 4,368 workers *Construction (21 units): 974 workers *Commerce (1,447 units): 4,612 workers *Lodging and restaurants (124 units): 339 workers *Transport, storage, communications (132 units): 730 workers *Public administration: 1,694 workers *Health and social services: 512 workers

Health and education

In the health sector there were 31 public health clinics (2005) and 2 private hospitals with 116 beds. Patients with more serious health conditions are transported to

. Educational needs of 13,800 students were met by 30 primary schools, 8 middle schools, and 25 pre-primary schools. The private universit
UNIPAC
has a campus in the city offering 19 undergraduate courses and 3 post-graduate courses. Formiga has one institute of higher learning—the Centro Universitário de Formig
UNIFORMG
offering 17 majors. *Municipal

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

: 0.793 (2000) *State ranking: 65 out of 853 municipalities as of 2000 *National ranking: 736 out of 5,138 municipalities as of 2000 *Literacy rate: 91% *Life expectancy: 74 (average of males and females)Frigoletto
/ref> In 2000 the per capita monthly income of R$254.00 was below the state and national average of R$276.00 and R$297.00 respectively.

Poços de Caldas Poços de Caldas is a Municipalities of Brazil, 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. Histor ...

had the highest per capita monthly income in 2000 with R$435.00. The lowest was

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 Immediate Geographic Region of Teófilo O ...

with R$73.00. The highest ranking municipality in Minas Gerais in 2000 was

with 0.841, while the lowest was

with 0.568. Nationally the highest was

São Caetano do Sul São Caetano do Sul (; " Saint Cajetan of the South"), or simply São Caetano, 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 ...

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 States of Brazil, state of Brazil located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.5 million people as of 2024, it is the List of Brazilian states by population, ...

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

Tourism

In recent years, due to the proximity of the

Furnas Furnas is a civil parish in the municipality of Povoação on the island of São Miguel in the Portuguese Azores. The population in 2011 was 1,439, in an area of 34.43 km2. The parish is one of the largest in the island and in the Azores. ...

reservoir tourism has grown substantially. Furnas is an artificial lake fed by the Rio Grande and Sapucaí rivers and has an area of more than 1,400 km². It is so big—the largest in Brazil when it was built in the 1960s—that it is called the Sea of Mina Gerais. According to the city government site, the city had 7 hotels.

Notable people

* Marcelo Garcia{{Cite web , url=http://graciemagbarcelona2009.wordpress.com/2009/09/20/marcelo-garcia-i-feel-no-pressure-to-be-four-time-champion/ , title=Marcelo Garcia: “I feel no pressure to be four-time champion” , access-date=2009-09-21 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091002151220/http://graciemagbarcelona2009.wordpress.com/2009/09/20/marcelo-garcia-i-feel-no-pressure-to-be-four-time-champion/ , archive-date=2009-10-02 , url-status=dead

References

Municipalities in Minas Gerais