IBGE releases today, August 31, 2011, estimated figures for resident population in each of  the 5,565 Brazilian municipalities on July 1, 2011. The estimated Brazilian population is 192,376,496 residents, 1,620,697 more than in 2010, when it was 190,755,799. São Paulo remains as the most populated city, with 11.3 million residents, followed by Rio de Janeiro (6.4 million), Salvador (2.7 million), Brasília (2.6 million) and Fortaleza (2.5 million). The federal capital, which was in the 6^th position in the population ranking in 2000, has moved up to the 4^th position. Belo Horizonte, which was in 4^th place, fell to the 6^th position in 2011 (2.4 million), being overcome by Brasília and Fortaleza. The 15 most populated municipalities have a total of  40.5 million residents, representing 21.0% of the population.

Population estimates are fundamental for the calculation of economic and socio-demographic indicators in the periods between censuses, and also constitute one of the parameters used by the Brazilian Court of Audit for the distribution of the Municipal and State Revenue Sharing Fund. This annual release is in accordance with supplementary law no. 59, of

The table presenting the estimated population of each municipality has been published in the Official Gazette today, August 31, 2011. The Brazilian law states that well-founded complaints may be submitted to IBGE within a maximum of 20 days after the publication of the estimates, and the Institute will make a conclusive decision on the matter. IBGE is expected to submit the definitive estimates to the Brazilian Court of Audit up to October 31. The data are available on the web page www.ibge.gov.br/home/estatistica/populacao/estimativa2011.

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The most populated municipalities, not considering capitals, are Guarulhos (1.2 million), Campinas (1.1 million), São Gonçalo (1 million), Duque de Caxias (861.2 thousand), Nova Iguaçu (799.0 thousand) and São Bernardo do Campo (770.3 thousand). Except for capitals, the 15 most populated municipalities amount to 11.4 million inhabitants, representing 5.9% of the total population in Brazil in 2011. 

Among the six Brazilian municipalities which had less than one thousand residents in 2000, only Borá (806 residents), in São Paulo, and Serra da Saudade (811 residents), in Minas Gerais, remained in this position in 2011. The population of the 15 least populated municipalities in Brazil amounts to 17,439 residents, approximately 0.01% of the country’s population.

São Paulo remains as the most populated Federation Unit, with 41.6 million residents(21.6% of the Brazilian population), followed by Minas Gerais, with 19.7 million (10.3%), and Rio de Janeiro, with 16.1 million (8.4%). The state of Roraima is the least populated one, with 460.2 thousand inhabitants (0.2%), followed by Amapá, with 684.3 thousand (0.4%), and Acre, with 746.4 thousand (0.4%).

The group of 27 capitals totaled 45.9 million residents in 2011, what represented 23.8% of the total population, the same participation as in 2000. That shows the population dynamics of Brazil has included new routes, particularly towards the inner parts of the country and medium-sized municipalities. Less populated municipalities had low growth rates in the period 2000-2011. Big municipalities, in terms of population volume, which recorded significant increase rates were influenced by a component of natural increase and by the migration flow that favors immigration, although there might have been ocasional decrease in the course of the last four decades. The municipalities that accounted for the most significant increases in the period considered are medium-sized ones, mainly those with a population ranging between 100 thousand and 200 thousand residents. The main highlights were the municipalities whose economies are aimed at agribusiness, petroleum-related activities and those that require manpower for construction.

The metropolitan area (RM) of São Paulo remains as the most populated one, with 19.8 million residents, followed by the metropolitan areas of Rio de Janeiro (11.7 million), Belo Horizonte (5.4 milion), Porto Alegre (3.9 million) and the Integrated Region of Economic Development (RIDE) and surroundings of the Federal District (3.7 million). This one, placed in the eighth position of most populated metropolitan areas in 2000, reached the fifth position in 2011. The 15 most populated metropolitan areas amounted to 71.6 million residents in 2011 (37.25 % of the  total population).

Methodology adopted by IBGE 

The Brazilian population estimated by the method of Demographic Components, considering the base population by sex and age groups of the 2000 Population Census, using mortality tables of 2000 and incorporating the fertility pattern obtained in the preliminary results of the 2010 Population Census. For municipal population estimates, the method used was the  Growth Intercept Method, which adopts as basis the municipal populations of 2000 and 2010. For the Federation Units, the populations were estimated by the addition of populations in the municipalities forming them.

The methodology can be seen in its entirety at www.ibge.gov.br/home/estatistica/populacao/estimativa2011.