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Population Estimates

Brazil's estimated population will reach 212.6 million residents in 2024

Section: Social Statistics | Caio Belandi | Design: Licia Rubinstein

August 29, 2024 09h00 AM | Last Updated: September 02, 2024 04h23 PM

  • Highlights

  • As of the reference date of July 1, 2024, Brazil had an estimated population of 212.6 million residents.
  • The country has 15 municipalities with more than 1 million residents, of which 13 are capitals. As a whole, 42.7 million residents are in these cities, representing 20.1% of the country's total.
  • São Paulo remains as the most populous municipality in the country, with 11.9 million residents, followed by Rio de Janeiro (6.7 million) and Brasília (3.0 million).
  • Guarulhos and Campinas, both in São Paulo, are the only non-capital municipalities with more than 1 million residents (1.3 million and 1.1 million, respectively).
  • At the bottom of the list, 26 municipalities have fewer than 1,500 inhabitants. Serra da Saudade (MG) is the least populous one, with 854.
  • More than 30% of Brazil's population lives in 48 cities with more than 500,000 residents.
  • The least populous municipalities, with up to 5,000 residents, are 23.1% of the total number of municipalities (1,288) and account for only 2.0% of the population (4.3 million).
Around 20% of the Brazilian population lives in the 15 municipalities with more than one million residents - Photo: Wilson Dias/Agência Brasil

Today (29), the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) released estimates of the populations living in the 5,570 Brazilian municipalities. On the reference date of July 1, 2024, Brazil had an estimated population of 212.6 million residents. The study is one of the parameters used by the Federal Court of Auditors (TCU) to calculate the State and Municipal Revenue Sharing Fund, in addition to being a reference for social, economic and demographic indicators.

The country has 15 municipalities with more than 1 million people, of which 13 are capitals. As a whole, 42.7 million inhabitants are in these cities, representing 20.1% of the country's total. São Paulo remains as the most populous municipality in the country, with 11.9 million people, followed by Rio de Janeiro (6.7 million) and Brasília (3.0 million). Completing the ranking of the five most populous municipalities are Fortaleza (2.6 million) and Salvador (2.6 million).

Municipalities with more than 1 million residents

PLACE FU MUNICIPALITY 2024 POPULATION
1st SP São Paulo 11,895,578
2nd RJ Rio de Janeiro 6,729,894
3rd DF Brasília 2,982,818
4th CE Fortaleza 2,574,412
5th BA Salvador 2,568,928
6th MG Belo Horizonte 2,416,339
7th AM Manaus 2,279,686
8th PR Curitiba 1,829,225
9th PE Recife 1,587,707
10th GO Goiânia 1,494,599
11th PA Belém 1,398,531
12th RS Porto Alegre 1,389,322
13th SP Guarulhos 1,345,364
14th SP Campinas 1,185,977
15th MA São Luís 1,088,057
TOTAL 42,766,437
% in relation to total Brazil 20.1%
TOTAL BRAZIL 212,583,750

Soure: IBGE, Diretoria de Pesquisas - DPE, Coordenação de População e Indicadores Sociais - COPIS

Guarulhos and Campinas, both in São Paulo, are the only non-capitals to appear on the list, with 1.3 million and 1.2 million, respectively. They are also the most populous municipalities among the 26 municipalities with more than 500,000 residents that are not capitals. São Gonçalo (RJ) is the third, with 961,000.

Municipalities with more than 500 thousand residents, except capitals

PLACE FU MUNICIPALITY 2024 POPULATION
 1st   SP   Guarulhos  1,345,364
2nd SP Campinas 1,185,977
3rd   RJ   São Gonçalo  960,652
4th RJ Duque de Caxias 866,347
 5th   RJ   Nova Iguaçu  843,046
6th SP São Bernardo do Campo 840,499
 7th  SP   Santo André  778,711
8th SP Sorocaba 757,459
 9th   SP   Osasco  756,952
10th MG Uberlândia 754,954
11th  SP   Ribeirão Preto  728,400
12th SP São José dos Campos 724,756
13th   PE   Jaboatão dos Guararapes  683,285
14th BA Feira de Santana 657,948
15th   SC   Joinville  654,888
16th MG Contagem 649,975
17th   PR   Londrina  577,318
18th ES Serra 572,274
19th   MG   Juiz de Fora  565,764
20th GO Aparecida de Goiânia 550,925
21st   RJ   Campos dos Goytacazes  519,011
22nd RJ Belford Roxo 518,263
23rd   RJ   Niterói                        516,720
24th PA Ananindeua                       507,838
25th   ES   Vila Velha                        502,899
26th SP São José do Rio Preto                       501,597
TOTAL                  18,521,822
% in relation to total Brazil 8.7%
TOTAL BRAZIL                212,583,750

Source: IBGE, Diretoria de Pesquisas - DPE, Coordenação de População e Indicadores Sociais - COPIS

At the bottom of the list, 26 municipalities have fewer than 1,500 residents. Serra da Saudade (MG) is the least populous, with 854. Anhanguera (GO) and Borá (SP), with 921 and 928, complete the list of municipalities with fewer than a thousand redsidents.

Municipalities with less than 1500 residents

PLACE FU MUNICIPALITY 2024 POPULATION
1st MG Serra da Saudade                    854
2nd GO Anhanguera                    921
3rd SP Borá                    928
4th MT Araguainha                 1,006
5th SP Nova Castilho                 1,074
6th MG Cedro do Abaeté                 1,091
7th RS André da Rocha                 1,157
8th RS União da Serra                 1,186
9th TO Oliveira de Fátima                 1,211
10th MG São Sebastião do Rio Preto                 1,248
11th RS Coqueiro Baixo                 1,311
12th RS Engenho Velho                 1,317
13th PR Nova Aliança do Ivaí                 1,327
14th PI Miguel Leão                 1,352
15th PR Jardim Olinda                 1,353
16th RS Carlos Gomes                 1,387
17th RS Tupanci do Sul                 1,398
18th SP Uru                 1,419
19th GO Cachoeira de Goiás                 1,419
20th MG Grupiara                 1,426
21st GO Lagoa Santa                 1,426
22nd RS Guabiju                 1,442
23rd SP Flora Rica                 1,492
24th MG Doresópolis                 1,496
25th MG Paiva                 1,498
26th TO Crixás do Tocantins                 1,499
TOTAL               33,238
% in relation to total Brazil 0.02%
TOTAL BRAZIL 212,583,750

Source: IBGE, Diretoria de Pesquisas - DPE, Coordenação de População e Indicadores Sociais - COPIS

Among the Federation Units (UF), São Paulo accounts for 21.6% of the population, with 46.0 million. Minas Gerais, with 10% (21.3 million) and Rio de Janeiro, with 8.1% (17.2 million) close the list of the three states with more residents. At the other end, five FUs have less than 1% of the country's population: Rondônia (0.8%), Tocantins (0.7%), Acre (0.4%), Amapá (0.4%) and Roraima (0.3%).

When looking at the population of Metropolitan Areas, Integrated Development Areas and Urban Clusters, the list has 30 with more than one million residents, totaling more than 100 million residents. São Paulo leads with 21.5 million, followed by Rio de Janeiro (12.9 million), Belo Horizonte (6.0 million), FD and Surroundings (DF/GO/MG) (4.7 million), Fortaleza (4.2 million) and Porto Alegre (4.1 million).

Population of Metropolitan Areas, INtegrated Development Areas and Urban Clusters with more than one million residents

PLACE METROPOLITAN AREA(1) 2024 POPULATION
1st São Paulo (SP)              21,518,955
2nd Rio de Janeiro (RJ)              12,936,629
3rd Belo Horizonte (MG)                5,997,565
4th FD and Surroudings (DF/GO/MG)                4,732,087
5th Porto Alegre (RS)                4,167,025
6th Fortaleza (CE)                4,137,255
7th Recife (PE)                3,954,323
8th Curitiba (PR)                3,697,928
9th Salvador (BA)                3,623,647
10th Campinas (SP)                3,305,102
11th Manaus (AM)                2,783,002
12th Goiânia (GO)                2,724,808
13th Vale do Paraíba e Litoral Norte (SP)                2,593,344
14th Belém (PA)                2,539,097
15th Sorocaba (SP)                2,258,150
16th Grande Vitória (ES)                2,025,668
17th Baixada Santista (SP)                1,862,976
18th Grande São Luís (MA)                1,722,253
19th Ribeirão Preto (SP)                1,702,452
20th Natal (RN)                1,607,422
21th Norte/Nordeste Catarinense (SC)                1,569,222
22th Piracicaba (SP)                1,568,246
23th Florianópolis (SC)                1,461,218
24th João Pessoa (PB)                1,380,923
25th Maceió (AL)                1,347,703
26th Entorno do Distrito Federal (GO)                1,313,792
27th Grande Teresina (PI/MA)                1,298,453
28th Vale do Rio Cuiabá (MT)                1,134,425
29th Londrina (PR)                1,125,446
30th São José do Rio Preto (SP)                1,006,051
TOTAL 103,095,167
% in relation to total Brazil 48.5%
TOTAL BRAZIL            212,583,750

Source: IBGE, Diretoria de Pesquisas - DPE, Coordenação de População e Indicadores Sociais - COPIS
RM = Região Metropolitana e RIDE = Região Integrada de Desenvolvimento
Notas: (1) Composição das Regiões Metropolitanas vigente em 31/12/2019.
(2) Inclui Colar Metropolitano
(3) Inclui Área de Expansão Metropolitana
(4) Inclui Entorno Metropolitano

More than 30% of Brazil's population lives in 48 cities with over 500,000 residents

The study also showed the distribution of the Brazilian population and municipalities, according to ranges of population size. In total, 65.7 million persons, or 30.9% of the total, are distributed across 48 municipalities with a population greater than 500,000 residents, or 0.9% of Brazilian municipalities. Another considerable part of the population, around 27.3% (58.0 million), is in the 339 municipalities with a population between 100,000 and 500,000, which corresponds to 6.1% of the total number of municipalities.

This phenomenon is a reflection of the process of population distribution in the territory, as explained Marcio Minamiguchi, IBGE manager of Population Projections and Estimates. “Although the largest urban centers are no longer experiencing the great growth of the past, they still have the demographic weight that comes from a process of concentration over several decades. And over the years, several municipalities have surpassed the 500,000 residents mark,” says the researcher.

On the other hand, the least populated municipalities, with up to 5,000 residents, account for 23.1% of the total (1,288) municipalities, representing only 2.0% of the population (4.3 million).

Understand how Population Estimates are calculated

The estimates of the resident population in the municipalities were calculated based on the Population Projections for Brazil and Federation Units, Revision 2024, and on the population totals of the municipalities listed in the 2010 and 2022 Population Censuses. “The populations counted in the municipalities in the last two Censuses were adjusted and served as a basis for establishing the population growth trend for the Population Estimates up to the reference date, July 1, 2024”, explains Mr. Minamiguchi. “Each year, changes in geographic boundaries that may occur between municipalities are incorporated into the municipal population estimates”, adds the researcher.



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