The IBGE releases today, August 28, 2015, the estimate of the population living in the 5,570 Brazilian municipalities with reference date of July 1st, 2015. The population estimate for Brazil is of 204.5 million inhabitants and a growth rate of 0.87% between 2014 and 2015. The municipality of São Paulo remains as the most populous, with 12.0 million inhabitants, followed by Rio de Janeiro (6.5 million), Salvador (2.9 million) and Brasília (2.9 million). Seventeen Brazilian municipalities have more than one million inhabitants, numbering 44.9 million inhabitants or 22.0% of the total population of Brazil.

In the state ranking, the three most populous sates are in the Southeast Region, whereas the three least populous are in the North. São Paulo, with 44.4 million inhabitants, concentrates 21.7% of the total population of the country. Roraima is the least populous state, with 505.7 thousand inhabitants (0.2% of the total population), followed by Amapá, with 766.7 thousand inhabitants (0.4% of the total population) and Acre, with 803.5 thousand inhabitants (0.4% of the total population).

The population estimates are crucial to the calculation of economic and socio-demographic indicators in the intercensal periods and are also one of the parameters used by the Brazilian Court of Audit in the distribution of the State and Municipal Revenue Sharing Fund. This annual release is pursuant to article 102 d of law no 8.443/1992 and to Complementary Law no 143/2013.

The table with the population estimates for each municipality was published in the Official Gazette (D.O.U.) today, August 28 2015. The methodological note and the table with the population estimates for 5570 Brazilian municipalities and for the 27 Federation Units can be accessed on this link.

More than half (56.1%) of the population lives in 304 municipalities

The distribution of the Brazilian population in its 5,570 municipalities shows a high concentration in large urban centers. The 41 municipalities with more than 500 thousand inhabitants concentrate 29.9% of the Brazilian population (61.2 million inhabitants) and more than half of the Brazilian population (56.0% or 114.6 million inhabitants) lives just in 5.5% of the municipalities (304 municipalities), which are those with more than 100 inhabitants. On the other hand, just 6.3% of the population (1.4 million) dwell in 2,451 Brazilian municipalities (44.0% of the municipalities) with up to 10,000 inhabitants.

Population and municipality distribution according to the groups of the municipalities’ population size

Capitals apart, the most populous municipalities were Guarulhos, Campinas, São Gonçalo, Duque de Caxias, São Bernardo do Campo, new Iguaçu, Santo André, Osasco, São José dos Campos and Jaboatão dos Guararapes.

Serra da Saudade (MG) is the Brazilian municipality with the smallest population, estimated at 818 inhabitants in 2015, followed by Borá (SP), with 836 inhabitants and Araguainha (MT) with 976 inhabitants. These three municipalities were the only ones in the country with less than a thousand inhabitants on 07/01/2015. The population of the 18 least populous municipalities (with less than 1,500 inhabitants) totals 22,281 inhabitants, representing almost 0.01% of the total population in Brazil.

Considering the Metropolitan Areas on December 31, 2014, the MA of São Paulo is the most populous, with 21.1 million inhabitants, followed by the MA of Rio de Janeiro (12.3 million inhabitants), the MA of Belo Horizonte (5.8 million inhabitants), the MA of Porto Alegre (4.3 million inhabitants) and the Integrated Development Region of (RIDE) the Federal District and surroundings (4.2 million inhabitants). The 26 Metropolitan Areas with more than 1 million inhabitants total 93.2 million inhabitants, representing 45.6% of the total population.

Where: MA = Metropolitan Area and RIDE = Integrated Development Region

Note: Composition of the Metropolitan Areas in force on 12/31/2014.

24.5% of the municipalities recorded population reduction

Of the 5,570 municipalities, 24.5% (1,364 municipalities) presented negative growth rates, which means the population decreased between 2014 and 2015. More than half of the Brazilian municipalities (52.6% or 2,930 municipalities) recorded growth ranging between 0.0% and 0.9% and 271 municipalities (4.9%) registered growth equal or above 2.0%. Just 65 municipalities presented growth higher than 3.0%.

The group of municipalities with up to 20 thousand inhabitants recorded a greater proportion of municipalities with population decrease or growth up to 0.5%. Conversely, the group of municipalities with more than 100 thousand inhabitants presented the higher proportional number of those with growth rates above 1%.  

There are still significant differences among the Major Regions. The North and Central-West Regions are those with the highest proportions of municipalities with high growth rates (above 1%). On the other hand, the scenario in the South Region depicts the greatest proportion of municipalities with negative growth rates.

The number of municipalities by geometric growth rate, according to groups of population by size. Brazil 2014-2015

The municipality with the highest growth rate in the 2014-2015 period was Brejo de Areia (MA), it was calculated at 113.72%, followed by Juazeiro do Piauí (PI) (11.23%) and Banzaê (BA) (9.17%). These three municipalities had their borderlines altered. The municipality of Severiano Melo (RN) presented the lowest growth rate (-9.01%), followed by Japurá (AM), with -8.47%.