The IBGE released today the estimates of the resident population for the 5,570 Brazilian municipalities, based on the reference date of July 1, 2018. It was estimated that Brazil had 208.5 million inhabitants and a population growth rate of 0.82% between 2017 and 2018.

The municipality of São Paulo remained as the most populated in Brazil, with 12.2 million inhabitants, followed by Rio de Janeiro (6.7 million inhabitants), Brasília and Salvador (about 3.0 million inhabitants each). Seventeen Brazilian municipalities had a population greater than 1 million inhabitants, adding up to 45.7 million inhabitants or 21.9% of the whole population of Brazil. Serra da Saudade (MG) was the less populated Brazilian municipality (786 inhabitants), followed by Borá (SP), with 836 inhabitants, and Araguainha (MT), with 956 inhabitants.

In the ranking of the states, the three most populated were in the Southeast Region, whereas the five less populated were in the North Region. Adding up to 45.5 million inhabitants, the leader was the state of São Paulo, which concentrated 21.8% of the Brazilian population. Adding up to 576.6 thousand inhabitants, Roraima is the less populated state (0.3% of the whole population).

The estimates of the resident population for the Brazilian municipalities, with July 1, 2018 as the reference date, were computed based on the Population Projection (2018 Revision) released on July 25, 2018. This revision included the Venezuelan immigrants in the state of Roraima, 99% of them concentrated in the municipalities of Boa Vista and Pacaraima.

The municipal population estimates are one of the parameters used by the Brazilian Court of Audit to calculate the State and Municipal Revenue Sharing Fund and are key to compute a number of social, economic and demographic indicators. This annual release complies with article 102 of Law no. 8,443/1992 and with Complementary Law no. 143/2013.

The population of the municipalities was estimated by a mathematical procedure and was the result of the distribution of the population of the states, projected among their municipalities by demographic methods. The method is based on the projection of the state population and on the growth trend of the municipalities, outlined by the municipal population captured by the two most recent Population Censuses (2000 and 2010). The municipal estimates also incorporated changes in the municipal territory boundaries that took place after 2010.

The table containing the estimated population for each municipality was published in the Official Gazette - DOU today. The methodological note and population estimates for the 5,568 municipalities plus the Federal District and the State District of Fernando de Noronha, as well as for the 27 Federation Units can be seen on the right side.

In 2018, slightly more than half of the Brazilian population (57.0% or 118.9 million inhabitants) lives in only 5.7% of the municipalities (317), which were those with more than 100 thousand inhabitants.

The municipalities with more than 500 thousand inhabitants (46) concentrated 31.2% of the Brazilian population (64.9 million inhabitants). On the other hand, most of the Brazilian municipalities (68.4%) had up to 20 thousand inhabitants and accounted for only 15.4% of the Brazilian population (32.1 million inhabitants).                                           

Excluding the capitals, the ten most populated municipalities were Guarulhos (SP), Campinas (SP), São Gonçalo (RJ), Duque de Caxias (RJ), São Bernardo do Campo (SP), Nova Iguaçu (RJ), Santo André (SP), São José dos Campos (SP), Jaboatão dos Guararapes (PE) and Osasco (SP). 

Serra da Saudade (MG) was the less populated Brazilian municipality in 2018 – estimated at 786 inhabitants –, followed by Borá (SP), with 836 inhabitants, and Araguainha (MT), with 956 inhabitants. Those were the only three municipalities with less than one thousand inhabitants on July 1, 2018.

Among the Metropolitan Areas and Integrated Development Regions - RIDEs, the metropolitan area of São Paulo was the most populated, with 21.6 million inhabitants, followed by that of Rio de Janeiro (12.7 million inhabitants), Belo Horizonte (5.9 million inhabitants), and by the RIDE of the Federal District and Surroundings (4.3 million inhabitants). Among the RMs and RIDEs, 28 of them had a population above 1 million inhabitants and added up to 98.7 million inhabitants, accounting for 47.3% of the whole population.

The set of 27 capitals added up to 49.7 million inhabitants, representing 23.8% of the Brazilian population.

Estimates took into account Venezuelan immigrants in Roraima

The 2018 revision of the population projections included the Venezuelan immigrants in the state of Roraima, who were distributed along some municipalities of the state. Boa Vista and Pacaraima concentrated 99% of those immigrants.