Demographics of Brazil
Map of Brazilian states by population.
Map of Brazilian states by population density.
Brazil’s population is very diverse, compris-
ing many races and ethnic groups. In gener-
al, Brazilians trace their origins from four
sources
of
migration:
Amerindians,
Europeans, Africans and Asians.
Brazil has conducted a periodical popula-
tion census since 1872. Since 1940, this
census has been carried out decennially.
Scanned versions of the forms for each
census distributed in Brazil since 1960 are
available on-line from IPUMS Internation-
al.[1]
Historically Brazil’s population always ex-
perienced large degrees of ethno-religious
intermarriage, mutual assimilation of cul-
tures, syncretism and, above all,
racial
miscegenation.
Largest cities
Largest cities of Brazil
Municipality Federative
unit
Population
Munici
1 São Paulo
São Paulo
10.990.249 11 Belém
2 Rio de
Janeiro
Rio de
Janeiro
6,161,047
12 Guarul
3 Salvador
Bahia
2,948,733
13 Goiâni
4 Brasília
Federal
District
2,557,158
14 Campi
5 Fortaleza
Ceará
2,473,614
15 São Lu
6 Belo
Horizonte
Minas
Gerais
2,434,642
16 São Go
2
7 Curitiba
Paraná
1,828,092
17 Maceió
8 Manaus
Amazonas
1,709,010
18 Duque
Caxias
9 Recife
Pernambuco 1,549,980
19 Nova I
2
10 Porto Alegre Rio Grande
do Sul
1,430,220
20 São Be
ardo d
Campo
Source: Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (
^1 Metropolitan region of São Paulo
^2 Metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro
Cities in Brazil , except for the state of São
Paulo, are usually not arranged in a single
network, but rather on various export paths
to seaside ports. Some geographers have
called this an "archipelago" of cities,[2] and
the most important cities are on the coast or
close to it. State capitals are also each the
largest city in its state, except for Palmas,
the new capital of the recently created state
of Tocantins, and Florianópolis, the capital of
Santa Catarina. There are also non-capital
metropolitan areas
in São Paulo state
(Campinas, Santos and Paraíba Valley), Mi-
nas Gerais (Steel Valley), Rio