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Regions of Brazil

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Brazil is divided into five regions (also called macroregions) by the Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE). These divisions are composed of states within them.

The five regions


Name
 Population
(2009 estimate)
Largest City
Largest Metropolitan Area
Number of States
North 15,8 million Manaus Manaus metropolitan area 7
Northeast 53,5 million Salvador Recife metropolitan area 9
Central-West 13,6 million Brasília Brasilia Urban Metropolitan Complex 3 + DF
Southeast 80,7 million São Paulo São Paulo metropolitan area 4
South 27,3 million Curitiba Porto Alegre metropolitan area 3

North Region

Main article: North Region, Brazil
  • Area: 3,869,637.,9 km² (45.27%)
  • Population: 15,801,472 (3.31 people/km²; 6.2%; 2009)
  • GDP: R$ 154 billion / US$96,2 billion (2008; 4.7%) (5th)
  • HDI: 0.855
  • Climate: Equatorial
  • States: Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Pará, Rondônia, Roraima, Tocantins
  • Largest Cities: Manaus (1,403,796); Belém (1,279,861); Ananindeua (392,947); Porto Velho (314,525); Macapá (282,745); Santarém (262,721); Rio Branco (252,885); Boa Vista (220,383); Palmas (208,000).
  • Economy: Iron, Energy production, electronic manufacturing, tourism.
  • Transport: Mainly rivers (which are abundant in the region). Highways are scarce and present mainly in the east. Airplanes are commonly used in small remote communities and sometimes in the larger cities.
  • Vegetation: Almost the entire region is covered by Amazon Rainforest, except the state of Tocantins, which has savanna-like vegetation (cerrado). Although most of the native vegetation still remains, the region suffers from critical problems due to the growing deforestation of the area.
  • Notable characteristics: Presence of the Amazon Rainforest, which is the vegetation dominant in every state but Tocantins. Cities are spread far apart in the region, and it has the lowest population density of the country. There are very few paved highways in the region, as it is almost isolated from the rest of the country. It is also the biggest region of Brazil, being responsible for almost half of the Brazilian territorial extension. Economic growth above national average(especially in Amazonas and in Tocantins).

Northeast Region

Main article: Northeast Region, Brazil
  • Area: 1,561,177 km² (18.3%)
  • Population: 53,340,945 (30.55 people/km²; 29%; 2009)
  • GDP: R$437 billion / US$273,1 billion (2009; ~12%) (3rd)
  • HDI: 0.828
  • Climate: Very hot all the year long. Tropical near the coast and semi-arid in the interior; semi-equatorial in the far west of the region.
  • States: Alagoas, Bahia, Ceará, Maranhão, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Piauí, Rio Grande do Norte, Sergipe
  • Largest Cities: Salvador (2,676,606); Fortaleza (2,447,409); Recife (1,536,934); São Luís (1,011,943); Maceió (932,608); Natal (789,836); Teresina (714,583); João Pessoa (595,429); Jaboatão dos Guararapes; (580,795); Feira de Santana (481,137); Aracaju (461,083); Olinda (368,666); Campina Grande (354,546).
  • Economy: Tourism, cocoa, machinery manufacturing, textiles.
  • Transport: Mainly highways, which are more abundant along the coast, although transport by sea is also important.
  • Vegetation: Mainly desert-like vegetation, with tropical forests along the coast and in the west and savanna-like vegetation in the southwest.
  • Notable characteristics: This region was the first part of Brazil discovered by the Portuguese, and the first Brazilian capital, Salvador, was founded here. It has the lowest levels in the country in almost all of the social indicators, being considered the most impoverished region in Brazil. However, has been growing above national average since the start of 21st century, gradually reducing the socio-economic distance to the other regions.

Central-West Region

Main article: Central-West Region, Brazil
  • Area: 1,612,077.2 km² (18.86%)
  • Population: 13,357,154 (7.2 people/km²; 6.4%)
  • GDP: R$279 billion / US$174,3 billion (2008; 8.3%) (4th)
  • HDI: 0.900
  • Climate: Savanna climate (hot, with little precipitation during winter in the northeast and the east; Tropical in the east and in the west; Equatorial in the north; Some temperate climate places in the south).
  • States: Goiás, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Distrito Federal (Federal District).
  • Largest Cities: Brasília (national capital) (2,562,963); Goiânia (1,318,148); Campo Grande (796,252); Cuiabá (556,298); Aparecida de Goiânia (442,978); Anápolis (334,613).
  • Economy: Livestock, Soybeans, tourism.
  • Transport: Highways where they are present (mostly in the center and east regions); transport by rivers is common in the north and in the east; airplanes are used in remote and smaller communities.
  • Vegetation: Mainly savanna-like vegetation, including the Pantanal (Chaco, in Paraguay), flooded areas in the west, equatorial rainforests in the north.
  • Notable characteristics: With a low population density, most of the land in the region is used for grazing instead of agriculture. The region is also the least industrialized in the country, based mainly in food & meat processing.

Southeast Region

Main article: Southeast Region, Brazil

South Region

Main article: South Region, Brazil
  • Area: 577,214 km² (6.75%)
  • Population: 25,800,000 (43,46 people/km², 12.5%)
  • GDP: R$503 billion / US$313,8 billion (2008; ~15%) (2nd)
  • HDI: 0.967
  • Climate: Subtropical in all region, hot to moderately hot in the summer, mild (though very cold for Brazilian standards) and very humid winters. Snow is very common, mainly in the highlands (for example in Santa Catarina state's São Joaquim).
  • States: Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina
  • Largest Cities: Curitiba (1,828,092); Porto Alegre (1,441,554); Londrina (510,707); Joinville (429,004); Caxias do Sul (360,223); Florianópolis (341,781); Pelotas (323,034); Canoas (305,711); Maringá (288.,465); Ponta Grossa (281,000); Blumenau (277,500); Cascavel (273,000); Foz do Iguaçu (269,585); Santa Maria (243,396), Rio Grande (238,000)
  • Economy: Machinery and automobile industries, textiles, tourism, energy production, information technology, orange, apple, grapefruit.
  • Transport: There are many developed highways and railways throughout the region, although the latter is mainly used for freight. Rivers are used when possible.
  • Vegetation: Rainforests along the coast (Mata Atlântica), tropical semiciduous in the north and west (Araucárias) and prairie-like vegetation in the south (Pampas). Little native vegetation still remains due to deforestation.
  • Notable characteristics: The South region is characterized by its high standard of living, with by far the best social indicators of the country. This region contains the cities with the highest HDI levels: Florianópolis has an HDI of 0.975; Porto Alegre has an HDI of 0.969; Curitiba has an HDI of 0.980 (information accurate as of 1996). The region, along with the state of São Paulo, is also characterized by its strong immigrant presence, with many inhabitants descended from mainly Italian, German, Portuguese, Azorean, Polish, Ukrainian, Russian, Spanish, Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish immigrants, and have added to the local culture, especially in architecture, cuisine and forms of agriculture. Some Madeiran, Dutch, French, British and Southern Slavic (mainly Croatian and Macedonian) ancestries are also common.

Notes

  • The number given in parenthesis are percentages relative to Brazil as a whole.
  • The populations for the cities given do not include their metropolitan areas.

See also

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