Of the 5,570 Brazilian municipalities, 2,706 (48.6%) were affected by droughts, 1,726 (31.0%) by floods, 1,515 (27.2%) by downpours, 1,093 (19.6%) by accelerated erosion and 833 (15.0%) by landslides between 2013 and 2017. Nevertheless, 59.0% of the Brazilian municipalities did not count on any instrument to mitigate disasters, and only 14.7% (821 municipalities) had a Contingency and/or Mitigation Plan against droughts in 2017.

The data are from the Profile of Brazilian Municipalities - Munic 2017, which brings information on management of agricultural policies in the Brazilian municipalities for the first time ever. It unveiled that most municipalities (92.7%) had a managing office for the agricultural policy and that Municipal Councils of Rural Development were present in 63.7% of the municipalities. In addition, 66.6% of the municipalities had programs of access to agricultural inputs, highlighted by the access to molts and seeds, present in 66.9% and 66.6% of the municipalities with that kind of action or program.

In 2017, 93.4% of the municipalities had some structure in the environmental area – either a department, sector or office of the indirect administration – against 88.5% in 2012.
The presence of Environmental Funding increased from 37.2% in 2012 to 50.3% in 2017. 67.0% of the municipalities counted on some kind of environmental legislation or instrument of environmental management, highlighted by those that deal with basic sanitation (47.1%), selective collection of domestic solid residues (41.9%) and area and/or zone of environmental protection or control (32.2%).

Concerning housing, 3,890 (69.8%) municipalities had some kind of structure in charge of housing policies in 2017. In addition, 3,319 municipalities (59.6%) had a Municipal Council of Housing, though slightly more than half of them (1,680) gathered at least once in a 12-month period. Among the substandard conditions of housing, the most common one was the presence of "irregular and/or clandestine allotments", registered in 3,374 municipalities (60.6%).

Regarding the transportation policy, 1,418 (25.5%) municipalities did not have any office to manage transportation policies and only 534 municipalities (9.6%) had a Municipal Council of Transportation. Local buses circulated in 1,679 (30.1%) municipalities, of which 662 (39.4%) did not provide fleets with accessibility. Among the 3,891 municipalities without transportation service through local buses, 1,222 were supplied by a transportation service through intercity buses. In addition, 4,109 municipalities (73.8%) had cabs, 2,983 (53.6%) had vans and 2,560 (46.0%) had motorcycle cabs. A total of 162 municipalities did not have any kind of road transportation for passengers and the transportation through boats took place in 426 municipalities.

In 2017, 4,908 city halls were occupied by men and 662, by women, i.e., female mayors represented 11.9% of the total. That percentage fell in relation to 2013 (12.1%), though it nearly doubled in relation to 2001 (6.0%). In addition, 6,327,808 persons were employed in the municipal direct and indirect administration, the equivalent of 4.2% of the population aged 18 years and over. That total dropped 3.4% in relation to 2015.

Munic 2017 also brings information on the management and structure of the municipalities related to subjects like manager profile, human resources, housing, transportation, agriculture, environment and risk management and reaction to natural disasters.
The complete publication and the support material of the survey are on the right side of this page.

Profile of the municipal managers: 11.9% of the municipalities had female mayors

In 2017, 4,908 city halls were occupied by men and 662, by women, i.e., female mayors represented 11.9% of the total. It was the first time that the number of female mayors dropped over the previous period: in 2013, this percentage was of 12.1%. However, the percentage of female mayors nearly doubled in relation to 2001, when it was of 6.0%.

In 2017, Roraima (33.3%) and Rio Grande do Norte (28.1%) recorded the highest percentages of municipalities with female mayors, and Espírito Santo (5.1%) and Rio Grande do Sul (6.8%), the lowest ones. In addition, 7.2% of the population lived in municipalities administered by women and no municipality over 500 thousand inhabitants had a female mayor.

Concerning schooling, 54.4% of the mayors had complete higher education. Among male managers, this proportion was of 52.0% and among female managers, 72.4%. 

Human resources: total number of servants in municipal administrations falls 3.4%

In 2017, 6,327,808 persons were employed in the municipal direct and indirect administration, the equivalent of 4.2% of the population aged 18 years and over. That total dropped 3.4% in relation to 2015.

The direct administrations had 6,010,109 employed persons, being 65.7% of them statutory servants, 8.2% CLT workers, 8.2% commissioned workers, 2.3% trainees and 15.6% without a permanent contract. The total number of statutory servants rose 1.8% in relation to 2015.

Between 2015 and 2017, the number of municipalities with indirect administration increased 10.4%, changing from 1,010 to 1,125. On the other hand, the total number of persons employed in the indirect administration dropped 2.3% (7,617 persons), reaching 317,699 persons. Of them, 45.0% were statutory servants, 36.0% CLT workers, 7.0% commissioned-only workers, 2.6% trainees and 9.4% without a permanent contract.

In the direct administration, the increase in the participation of statutory servants from 41.1% in 2015 to 45.0% in 2017 and the decrease in the participation of CLT workers from 38.7% in 2015 to 36.0% in 2017 stood out.

Housing: 39.7% of municipalities have Municipal Plan of Housing

Of the 5,570 Brazilian municipalities, 3,890 (69.8%) had some kind of structure in charge of housing policies in 2017. It was more frequent that small-sized municipalities did not have any structure in charge, yet all the 42 municipalities with more than 500 thousand inhabitants have some kind of structure.

Concerning the instruments for managing housing policies, 2,212 municipalities (39.7%) reported to have a Municipal Plan of Housing and, in 64.8% of them, that plan was articulated with the Municipal Master Plan. 

In addition, 3,319 municipalities (59.6% of the total) had a Municipal Council of Housing, though slightly more than half of them (1,680) gathered at least once in a 12-month period. Most municipalities with councils (76.3%) reported that they were bipartite, i.e., comprised by representations from the government and civil society of same size.

City halls reduce actions related to housing

Among the substandard conditions of housing, the most common one was the presence of "irregular and/or clandestine allotments", registered in 3,374 municipalities (60.6% of the total), followed by the existence of "slums, mocambos, stilts and the like", registered in 952 municipalities (17.2%) and by the existence of "occupations of lands and buildings by housing movements", registered in 724 municipalities (13.0%). The less frequent situation was the existence of "tenements and rooming houses", registered in 684 municipalities (12.3%).

Among the actions adopted by the city halls, the most frequent was the "construction of housing units", in 61.1% of the municipalities; followed by "granting of social rents" (41.0%); “improvement in housing units” (35.4%); “land regularization” (32.8%); “urbanization of settlements” (31.9%); “supply of construction material” (31.2%); “supply of allotments” (22.3%); and "acquisition of housing units” (14.6%). A group of 1,299 municipalities (23.3% of the total) reported not to carry out any of the eight programs or actions surveyed.

Except for land regularization, the city halls reduced their practice in all kinds of actions carried out in relation to 2011, highlighted by the acquisition of housing units, improvement of housing units and urbanization of settlements.

Transportation: 30.1% of municipalities have local buses

In 2017, 1,418 municipalities (25.5%) did not have any office for managing transportation policies. Regarding the instruments for managing transportation, only 534 municipalities (9.6%) had a Municipal Council of Transportation, of which 386 gathered in the 12-month period before the survey. The Municipal Plan of Transportation was present in 388 municipalities (7.0%). The Council and Plan are more frequent in municipalities with more than 500 thousand inhabitants.

Transportation through local buses was present in 1,679 municipalities (30.1%). Among the 3,891 municipalities without transportation services through local buses, 1,222 were supplied by transportation services through intercity buses, which also commuted between neighborhoods, districts and localities within the municipality.

Among the 1,679 municipalities with transportation through local buses, the service was regulated by concession in 52.1%, by permission in 15.0% and by authorization in 13.7%.  In 16.3% of them, the service was provided directly by the city hall and, in 15.2%, the service was unregulated.

The survey also investigated the existing types of formal exemption of fare in the municipalities. The most found exemption was for those over 60 years (1,192), followed by exemptions for children under 5 years (860) and for disabled persons (765). The exemptions for students of the public network were present in 539 municipalities (32.1%) and, for those of the private network, in 219 municipalities (13.0%).

Nearly 40% of municipalities do not have local bus fleet with accessibility

Concerning the accessibility of the fleet, of the 1,679 municipalities providing transportation services through local buses, 197 (11.7%) had their fleet fully accessible, 820 (48.8%) had their fleet partially accessible and the other 662 (39.4%) had their fleet without accessibility.

In addition, cabs were present in 4,109 municipalities (73.8% of the total), vans in 2,983 municipalities (53.6%) and motorcycle taxis in 2,560 municipalities (46.0%). A total of 162 municipalities did not have any kind of road transportation for passengers and the transportation through boats took place in 426 municipalities. In the North Region, 41.2% of the municipalities had transportation services through boats. 

Agriculture: more than 90% of municipalities have managing office for agriculture

Most municipalities (92.7%) counted on a managing office for agricultural policies and 65.8% of them had a servant graduated in agriculture among their effective employees. Among the qualifications, agricultural technicians (58.7%), veterinarians (52.0%) and agronomists (45.3%) prevailed. The highest percentage took place in the South Region (83.5%), followed by the North Region (65.8%). The lowest percentage was registered in the Central-West (55.7%), even having an important role in the national agricultural activity.

Important to discuss and assess public policies, the Municipal Councils of Rural Development - CMDRs were present in 3,747 municipalities (63.7%). It is worth highlighting that the recommendation to create CMDRs was relatively new and demanded a long period. The highest proportion was in the South Region (82.5%), followed by the Southeast (68.2%), Northeast (63.8%), Central-West (54.6%) and North (50.4%).

Two thirds of municipalities streamline access to inputs by producers

Concerning managing programs or actions, two thirds of the Brazilian municipalities (66.6%) had some action or program to streamline the access to inputs by agricultural producers, highlighted by the South (82.5%) and Northeast (71.4%) Regions. The Central-West recorded the lowest index (52.3%). Among the different agricultural inputs raised, molts and seeds stood out, present in 66.9% and 66.6% of the municipalities with actions or programs to streamline the access, respectively. Regarding the form of access to the inputs, free distribution of seeds took place in 75.0% of them.

The index of municipalities that provided agricultural machinery to producers, by means of programs or actions, was 84.8%, reaching 90.6% in municipalities with up to 5 thousand inhabitants. As very important producers of grains in crops requiring extensive mechanization, the South and Central-West Regions held the highest proportions (95.1% and 90.4%, respectively).

Programs or actions for family farming exist in 82.6% of municipalities

Munic raised data on activities usually related to small producers: organic farming, family farming, aquaculture, fishing and production of community gardens. Of the total number of Brazilian municipalities, 4,826 (86.6%) developed at least a program or action in any of those areas, registering the highest proportion in the South Region (94.4%), followed by the North (90.0%). Family farming prevailed in the municipalities, reaching 4,599 city halls (82.6%), followed by organic farming (36.5%), community gardens (35.7%), aquaculture (25.9%) and fishing (18.6%).

Concerning animal health, 31.1% of the municipalities (1,732) had a program or action to vaccinate the livestock. The Services of Sanitary Inspection of Products of Animal Origin - SIM were implemented in 43.6% of the municipalities, reaching the highest proportions in the South (69.4%) and North (52.7%) Regions. The municipal slaughterhouses, key to the small farmers, were present in 20.1% of the municipalities. The index hit 40.5% in the Northeast Region.

Actions or programs to mitigate climate problems for agricultural sector exist in 46.4% of municipalities

Actions or programs to mitigate climate problems for the agricultural sectors existed in 46.4% of the Brazilian municipalities, reaching the highest proportion in the Northeast Region (59.9%), where droughts stand out as a historical problem.

A municipal legislation that deals with land subdivision and zoning or land use is of great importance to protect the soil, water, relief and vegetation cover. Nevertheless, of the 5,570 Brazilian municipalities, 4,106 (73.7%) did not have a legislation for land subdivision and 3,833 municipalities (68.8%) did not have laws for zoning or land use.

In 35.9% of the municipalities, the city hall knew of the existence of forestry in its territory. The highest proportion was in the North Region (55.6%), highlighted by the states of Amazonas and Acre, packed with traditional communities, with indexes above 80.0% of the municipalities.

Environment: 47.1% of municipalities have legislation on basic sanitation

93.4% of the Brazilian municipalities counted on an office to deal with environment. The larger the class of population size, the higher the percentage of municipalities structured, reaching 100% in the 42 municipalities with more than 500 thousand inhabitants. Until 1987, only 3.3% of the municipalities had a Municipal Council for Environment Protection - CMMA. In 2017, they were 3,540 (74.1%), proportionally more frequent among the municipalities of the most developed regions and among the most populated ones. 

The Municipal Fund of Environment - FMMA was present in 2,803 (50.3%) of the municipalities, eventually hitting 100.0% in the municipalities with more than 500 thousand inhabitants.

67.0% of the municipalities counted on some kind of environmental legislation or instrument of environmental management, highlighted by those that deal with basic sanitation (47.1%), selective collection of domestic solid residues (41.9%) and area and/or zone of environmental protection or control (32.2%). On the other hand, the following subjects were rare: destination of packaging used in agrotoxins (15.1%), management of river basins (14.6%) and adaptation and mitigation of climate change (4.4%).

Slightly more than half of the municipalities (54.8%) had an Integrated Plan of Solid Residues, varying from 49.1% in the municipalities between 5,001 and 10 thousand inhabitants to 83.3% in those with more than 500 thousand inhabitants. More than two thirds of the municipalities (68.2%) registered the occurrence of environmental impacts, being 46.0% resulting from droughts or downpours, 36.5% from inappropriate destination of sewage and 33.0% from fires. 

Risk management and reaction to disasters: flood mitigation is major action of municipalities

Among the instruments of planning and risk management surveyed, the most present were: Master Plan that includes the mitigation of gradual floods, downpours or sudden floods (25.3%) and Land Use and Occupation Law that includes the mitigation of gradual floods, downpours and sudden floods (23.1%). In 2013, those indexes were 17.2% and 14.8%, respectively. It should be highlighted that 59% of the Brazilian municipalities did not count on any instrument for disaster mitigation in 2017.

Northeast Region has 82.6% of municipalities affected by drought

In the four years covered by the survey, drought episodes hit 2,706 municipalities (48.6%). The Northeast recorded the highest proportion of affected municipalities (82.6%) and the South, the lowest one (10.7%). Roraima had 14 out of its 15 municipalities affected. Only 14.7% (821 municipalities) reported to have a Plan of Contingency and/or Mitigation for droughts.

Floods hit 1,729 municipalities (31.0%), mostly concentrated in the South Region (53.9%) and less in the Northeast (13.2%). The larger the class of population size of the municipalities, the higher the proportion of those hit by floods: 92.9% of those with more than 500 thousand inhabitants against 18.8% of those with up to 5 thousand inhabitants.

1,093 municipalities (19.6%) suffered accelerated erosion, mostly concentrated in those with more than 500 thousand inhabitants (54.8%) against 13.9% in those with up to 5 thousand inhabitants. Gradual floods hit 1,515 municipalities (27.2%) in the last four years, mostly concentrated in the South Region (50.7%) and less in the Northeast (7.2%). The highest percentage of affected municipalities was posted in Amazonas (90.3%).

Caused by intense rainfall, downpours and sudden floods overflow drainage channels fastly and unpredictably. They hit 1,590 municipalities, mostly concentrated in the South Region (55.3%) and in the municipalities between 100 thousand and 500 thousand inhabitants (61.9%). Ceará was the less affected state (1.3%).

Landslides occurred in 833 municipalities (15.0%), mainly caused by infiltration of rainfall coupled with changes in the natural conditions of the relief, like chopping for building houses, roads, landfills and other works. The Southeast (21.2%) and South (24.8%) Regions were those that concentrated most of the municipalities hit by landslides of hillsides and the Central-West, less of them (3.2%). The highest percentage was registered in the municipalities with more than 500 thousand inhabitants (61.9%) against 9.9% in those between 5 thousand and 10 thousand inhabitants.