In 2019, one quarter of the Brazilian GDP came from only eight municipalities and the leader in share was São Paulo (SP), responsible for 10.3% of the Brazilian GDP, which hit R$7.4 trillion that year. The municipality with the highest per capita GDP was Presidente Kennedy (ES), with R$464,883.49.

The economic density of Brazil was R$870 thousand per square kilometer (R$/km²). Osasco (SP) was the municipality with the highest density, producing R$1.3 billion/km².

Between 2018 and 2019, the municipalities that mostly gained share in the GDP in Brazil were São Paulo (SP), Maricá (RJ), Saquarema (RJ), Parauapebas (PA), Brasília (DF) and São José dos Pinhais (PR), each one with an increase of 0.1 percentage points (p.p.).

The economic activity in the city-region of São Paulo, which comprises 92 neighbor municipalities with a strong interaction, produced the equivalent to nearly one quarter of the Brazilian GDP, as well as 20.4% of the gross value added of the national industry.

In 48.9% of the Brazilian municipalities, public administration was the major economic activity in 2019. That predominance occurred in more than 90% of the municipalities in Acre, Roraima, Amapá, Piauí and Paraíba and in only 9.9% of the municipalities in São Paulo.

This information is from the 2019 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the Municipalities, produced in partnership with the State Statistical Offices, State Government Secretariats and the Manaus Free Trade Zone Superintendence (SUFRAMA). The maps about this study are available on the IBGE´s Interactive Geographic Platform.

Eight municipalities concentrate nearly one fourth of the Brazilian GDP

In 2019, eight municipalities added up to 24.8% of the Brazilian GDP and 14.7% of the population: São Paulo (SP), with 10.3%, and Rio de Janeiro (RJ), with 4.8%, e Brasília (DF), with 3.7%; Belo Horizonte (MG), with 1.3%; Curitiba (PR), with 1.3% and, with 1.1% each, Manaus (AM), Porto Alegre (RS) and Osasco (SP). In 2002, only four municipalities added up to nearly one fourth of the national economy.

The 70 municipalities with the highest GDPs comprised slightly more than one third of the Brazilian population and concentrated nearly half of the Brazilian GDP. On the other hand, the 1,345 municipalities with the lowest GDPs accounted for nearly 1.0% of the national GDP and for 3.1% of the population. Among them, more than half of the municipalities of Piauí (153) and Paraíba (135).

The analysis of the distribution of the GDP by urban concentrations - population arrangement with more than 100 thousand inhabitants, comprising one or more cities with a strong degree of integration, due to commuting to work and study - shows that one fourth of the economic production in Brazil was in only two concentrations in 2019: São Paulo/SP (17.0%), where the municipality of Osasco (SP), among others, is located, and Rio de Janeiro/RJ (7.9%).

The 10 largest Brazilian urban concentrations comprise nearly 42.8% of the GDP, being: São Paulo/SP, Rio de Janeiro/RJ, Brasília/DF, Belo Horizonte/MG, Porto Alegre/RS, Curitiba/PR, Campinas/SP, Salvador/BA, Recife/PE and Fortaleza/CE.

With R$1.3 billion/km², the municipality of Osasco remains leader in economic density

In 2019, the economic density in Brazil was of R$870 thousand per square kilometer (R$/km²), whereas that figure is 10.6 times higher in urban concentrations: R$9.2 million/km². This figure stays at R$129 thousand/km² in the Legal Amazon.

The six municipalities leaders in economic density were in the major urban concentration of São Paulo/SP. The highest density was that of Osasco (SP): R$1.3 billion/km².

City-region of São Paulo concentrates 24.3% of the national GDP

Inequality was more evident whenever the Semi-arid, Legal Amazon and the city-region of São Paulo were compared, three divisions with similar population share. In 2019, the first represented only 5.3% of the Brazilian GDP, Legal Amazon, 8.8% and the city-region of São Paulo, 24.3%

In 2019, 31.4% of the national GDP came from capitals, the lowest participation in the time series. São Paulo (SP) led, with 10.3% of share, and Rio Branco (AC) ranked in the last position among the capitals, with a contribution of 0.1%.

Presidente Kennedy has the highest per capita GDP in Brazil

In 2019, the ten municipalities with the highest per capita GDP added up to 1.5% of the Brazilian GDP and 0.2% of the population. Presidente Kennedy (ES), with R$464,883.49, posted the highest per capita GDP, followed by Ilhabela (SP), both of them due to petroleum extraction. Ranked in the third position, hydroelectric power generation was the highlight in Selvíria (MS). Ranked in the fourth position, petroleum refining was the major activity in Paulínia (SP), whereas Triunfo (RS), in the 10th position, stood out in the petrochemical industry.

Louveira (SP) ranked in the fifth position, due to Trade and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles and Manufacturing industries. Ranked in the sixth and eighth positions, São Gonçalo do Rio Abaixo (MG) and Canaã dos Carajás (PA) had extraction of iron ore as the major activity. The municipalities of Sales Oliveira and Iracemápolis, ranked in the seventh and ninth positions, had Manufacturing industries as the major activity.

Among the capitals, Brasília (DF), with R$90,742.75, led in relation to the per capita GDP, whereas Belém (PA) ranked in the last position, with R$21,708.55. In other words, the per capita GDP of the federal capital was 2.58 times higher than the Brazilian per capita GDP (R$35,161.70). That of Belém corresponded to only 62% of the national per capita GDP.

Per capita GDP of the city-region of São Paulo is 166% of the national figure

In 2002, 13 major urban concentrations showed a higher per capita GDP than the national average. Except for Brasília/DF and Manaus/AM, the others were located in the Southeast and South regions. In 2019, Cuiabá/MT was included.

In 2019, the analysis of the major urban concentrations showed that the highest per capita GDP ration was located in the urban concentration of Brasília/DF (2.04), followed by Campinas/SP (2.02), São Paulo/SP (1.65), São José dos Campos/SP (1.57) and Sorocaba/SP (1.44), all of them in the state of São Paulo.

Regional inequality of the per capita GDP was more evident whenever the regions of the Semi-arid, Legal Amazon and the city-region of São Paulo were compared. In 2019, the per capita GDP of the Semi-arid was 40% of the national figure and that of the Legal Amazon, 66%, whereas that of the city-region of São Paulo corresponded to 166% of the national figure.

Six cities have biggest gain of share in the GDP in a year

Between 2018 and 2019, the municipalities that mostly gained share in the GDP in Brazil were São Paulo (SP), Maricá (RJ), Saquarema (RJ), Parauapebas (PA), Brasília (DF) and São José dos Pinhais (PR), each one with an increase of 0.1 p.p.

In São Paulo (SP), the gain the share was mainly due to Financial activities, insurance and related services. In Maricá (RJ) and Saquarema (RJ), the gain in the share was due to petroleum extraction, an activity that benefited from the increase in the international prices of that commodity in 2019, whereas Parauapebas (PA) stood out in extraction of iron ore.

In Brasília (DF), the gain was associated with Trade and repair of motor vehicles and Financial activities, insurance and related services. In São José dos Pinhais (PR), car manufacturing was responsible for the gain in the share.

In contrast, the biggest drops of share occurred in Rio de Janeiro (RJ), Vitória (ES), Campos dos Goytacazes (RJ) and Ouro Preto (MG). In Rio de Janeiro (RJ), Manufacturing industries dropped, due to basic metals. Campos dos Goytacazes (RJ), in turn, had its relative decrease associated with the same segment that leveraged the result of Maricá and Saquarema: petroleum extraction.

In spite of the increase in the international prices of that commodity, the performance of the municipalities in Rio de Janeiro oriented to petroleum extraction was not uniform. In Vitória (ES) and Ouro Preto (MG), the loss in the share was also associated with Manufacturing industries, though, in these cases, due to pelletizing and extraction of iron ore, respectively.

In 17 years, share of Maricá (RJ) in the Brazilian GDP is that mostly grew

Between 2002 and 2019, the biggest gain of share in the GDP occurred in Maricá (RJ), with an increase of 0.5 p.p. due to petroleum extraction. Osasco (SP) came right after that, with an increase of 0.3 p.p. leveraged by services, especially Financial activities, insurance and related services. Niterói (RJ) ranked in the third position, with a gain of 0.3 p.p. also due to petroleum extraction.

The biggest drops in the period were in São Paulo (-2.3 p.p.) and Rio de Janeiro (-1.5 p.p.), which again pointed out to a trend of deconcentration of the GDP at municipal level. The reduction in São Paulo was explained by the relative decrease in Financial activities, insurance and related services. Rio de Janeiro reduced its weight in the Brazilian industry.

Other drops occurred in Campos dos Goytacazes (RJ), which lost 0.4 p.p., São Bernardo do Campo (SP) and São José dos Campos (SP), which lost 0.3 p.p. each. In Campos dos Goytacazes, the reduction was due to petroleum extraction and, in the other two municipalities, due to Manufacturing industries.

Public administration prevails in 48.9% of the Brazilian municipalities

In 2,726 municipalities (48.9%), Administration, defense, public education and health, and social security was the major economic activity in 2019. In Acre, Roraima, Amapá, Piauí and Paraíba, that percentage exceeded 90%. On the other hand, São Paulo had only 9.9% of its municipalities with that characteristic.

Among the 241 municipalities in which the major economic activity was related with manufacturing industries, 197 (81.7%) were in the Southeast and South. Among those in which Agriculture, including support to agriculture and post-harvest, appears as the major activity, Mato Grosso recorded the highest percentage (39.7%), followed by Rio Grande do Sul (33.6%).

São Desidério (BA) has the highest value added of Agriculture

In 2019, nearly one fourth of the gross value added of the Brazilian Agriculture came from 149 municipalities, of which 96 (64.4%) were in the South and Central-West, anchored in the production of soybeans and sugarcane.

The five municipalities with the highest figures were São Desidério (BA), Sorriso (MT), Rio Verde (GO), Diamantino (MT) and Campo Novo do Parecis (MT), which added up to 2.3% of the gross value added of Agriculture.

In the analysis according to the rural regions - set of municipalities, in which one of them comprises the urban pole where inputs are acquired and to where the agricultural products are delivered -, the highest gross value added was in the south of Brazil, being soybeans the major highlight, especially the rural regions of the regional capitals of Passo Fundo/RS, Cascavel/PR and Ponta Grossa/PR.

Eighteen municipalities account for one fourth of the value added of Industry

Eighteen municipalities concentrated one fourth of the gross value added of Industry in 2019, unveiling a higher concentration than in Agriculture. São Paulo (4.1%) maintained the first position (8.1% in 2002), followed by Rio de Janeiro/RJ (2.6%) and Manaus/AM (2.2%), due to the Free Zone. They were followed by Maricá (RJ), with 1.8%, and Niterói (RJ), with 1.5%, which had their performance associated with petroleum extraction.

Among the urban concentrations, São Paulo/SP registered the highest share (10.0% of the industrial activity in Brazil), followed by  Rio de Janeiro/RJ (7.8%), Belo Horizonte/MG (3.3%), Curitiba/PR (3.0%) and Campinas/SP (3.0%). Those five urban concentrations added up to 27.1% of the gross value added of the Brazilian industry.

The city-region of São Paulo concentrated 20.4% of the gross value added of Industry in Brazil, standing out in Manufacturing industries. In contrast, the Legal Amazon represented 9.9% of the Industry and the Semi-arid, 4.1%.

São Paulo, Rio and Brasília concentrate nearly one fourth of value added of Services

In Services (except Administration, defense, public education and health, and social security), three municipalities added up to nearly one fourth of this entire activity in Brazil in 2019: São Paulo (SP), with 14.9%, Rio de Janeiro (RJ), with 5.1%, and Brasília (DF), with 3.5%. The 41 municipalities with the highest share accrued half of the total, from which 19 were capitals. In the same year, the 2,026 municipalities with the lowest share added up to only 1.0% of those services.

The urban concentration of São Paulo/SP held 22.7% of the gross value added of Services (except Administration, defense, public education and health, and social security).

The city-region of São Paulo concentrated 30.2% of Services in Brazil, still excluding public administration. The Legal Amazon participated with 6.5% and the Semi-arid recorded a gross value added that accounted for 4.2% of those services.