Between 2002 and 2016, the contribution of semi-arid municipalities to GDP increased from 4.5% to 5.1%, and that of municipalities in the Legal Amazon did from 6.9% to 8.6%. That is the first time the IBGE includes in the survey a geographic analysys. That allows observtion from different approaches and the analysis of economic nteractions. The several maps in the study are available at the IBGE Interactive Geography Platform.

In 2016, among the 5,570 municipalities in the country, the predominantly urban 1,456 account for 87.5% of the Brazilian GDP. In the Southeast Region, the 625 municipalities with this characteristic accounted for half of the national GDP. 

Six municipalities held more than 25% of the country's GDP: São Paulo (SP), with 11.0%, Rio de Janeiro (RJ), with 5.3%, Brasília (DF), with 3.8%, Belo Horizonte (MG), with 1.4%, Curitiba (PR), with 1.3% and Osasco (SP), with 1.2%.

Osasco, the only municipality that is mot a capital, among those with the biggest contributions to the national GDP, went from thr 16th to the sixth position in the ranking between 2002 and 2016, mainly due to the activities of trade, information services and financial activities. 

The 1,318 municipalities with the lowest GDP figures account for about 1,0% of the GDP and for 3.1% of the Brazilian population. The highest 100 GDP figures made up 56.0% of the GDP, against a contribution of 60.0%, in 2002. Only the capitals of three states were not part of this group: Rio Branco (AC), Boa Vista (RR) and Palmas (TO).

The biggest increases of contribution to GDP between 2015 and 2016 came from Ouro and Tabocas do Brejo Velho, both located in Bahia. The former due to the construction of a wind energy plant, and the latter, due to the generation of solar energy. 

Public administration was the main economic activity in 3,062 municipalities, or in 55.0% of the total, in 2016.

Five of the ten biggest per capita GDP figures came from municipalities in the state of São Paulo. 

The complete publication and the support material for the GDP of Municipalities 2016 can be found on the right of the page. 

Osasco moves from the 16th to the sixth position in the municipal economy ranking between 2002 and 2016

Among the six municipalities with the biggest contribution to the national GDP — São Paulo (SP), with 11.0%, Rio de Janeiro (RJ) with 5.3%, Brasília (DF) with 3.8%, Belo Horizonte (MG) with 1.4%, Curitiba (PR) with 1.3% and Osasco (SP) with 1.2% — only Osasco changed its position throughout the time series, having moved from the 16ª position (2002) to the sixth position (2016). The activities that contributed the most to that increase were trade, informations ervices and financial activities. As a result, the municipality surpassed Porto Alegre and Manaus, which were in the sixth and seventh positions, respectively, in 2015.

Highest 100 GDPs amount to 56.0% of the national figure in 2016

In 2002, 1,383 municipalities accounted for 1.0% of the GDP and for 3.7% of the population. In 2016, the 1,318 municipalities with the lowest GDP figures accounted for 1.0% of the GDP and for 3.1% of the Brazilian population. Among these municipalities, those located in Piauí (161), Paraíba (132), Tocantins (72) and Rio Grande do Norte (82), make up about 50% of the municipalities of the respective state. 

On the other hand, the highest 100 municipal GDPs in Brazil represented, in 2016, 56.0% of the national figure, gainst a contribution of 60.0% in 2002. Only the capitals of three states in the North Region were not part of the group: Rio Branco (AC), Boa Vista (RR) and Palmas (TO).

Between 2002 and 2016, in the distribution by Major Region, those one hundred municipalities also reduced their contribution in relation to the GDP in their Major Regions. And, in terms of number of municipalities, the Southeast and South were the only ones to record decrease between 2002 and 2016.

Except for capital municipalities, the one hundre biggest municipal GDPs also reduced their contribution to the national GDP, in the period considered, from 27.1% to 26.4%. However, in the South and Southeast the municipalities reduced participation in the Major Region overall, whereas in the others, there was increase in participation. The North, which, in 2002, did not have any representative among the highest GDPs, had one municipality in 2016: Parauapebas (PA), with 0.2% of the Brazilian GDP.

Capital municiplities, in 2016, were responsible for about 1/3 of the national GDP. Whereas São Paulo (SP), with 11.0%, was in the first position in terms  of contribution to GDP in the country, Palmas (TO) was in the last position (0.1%). 

In the comparison between 2002 and 2016, in all the Major Regions the number of municipalities which represented up to ¼ of the economy w increased, except in the Southeast, where the municipality of São Paulo (SP) was in this range, in spite of having reduced its contribution from 22.1%, in 2002, to 20.6%, in 2016.

Sustainable energy and silviculture benefit four municipalities between 2015 and 2016

The biggest and smallest advances in the relative share of matinal GDP came from municipalities with little participation in the national GDP, usually 0.0%, which were above the 2,200th position in the country’s GDP.

The municipality of Gentio do Ouro (BA) presented the biggest advance (from the 4,496th, in 2015, to the 2,491st position, in 2016), due to the industry of machinery and equipment for construction of a wind energy plant. Tabocas do Brejo Velho (BA), in the second position in the same comparison, went from the 3,986th to the 2,432nd position, mainly due to the increase of taxes collected due to imports of equipment for the generation of solar power. In the third and fourth position, the municipalities of Olhos d’Água and Estrela do Sul had gains related to silviculture.

São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro reduce contribution to GDP between 2002 and 2016

In 2002, the municipalities of São Paulo (SP) and Rio de Janeiro (RJ) accounted for 19.0% of the Brazilian GDP and, in 2016, for 16.2%. The decrease in participation was distributed between the activities of industry and services. Then, the biggest decreases in participation were 0.5 percentage points in Campos dos Goytacazes (RJ) and of -0.3 percentage points in São Bernardo do Campo (SP) and São José dos Campos (SP).

The biggest increase was that of Osasco (SP), 0.4 percentage points, a contribution from the activities of trade, information services and financial activities. In the second position, Itajaí (SC) increased by 0.2 percentage points and contributed with 0.3% of the GDP in Brazil in 2016, due to the relative increase in Services and in the car industry. Uberlândia (MG) and Jundiaí (SP) advanced 0.1 percentage points each, due to the gains in the manufacturing industry and of trade, respectively.

Public administration prevails in the economy of 55.0% of the municipalities

The main economic activity in 55.0% of the Brazilian municipalities, or in 3,062 municipalities, was Administration, defense, public education and health and social security. More than 90.0% of the muncipalities of Roraima, Paraíba, Piauí, Sergipe, Amapá and Rio Grande do Norte had this profile. The states in the South Region, on the other hand, about 11.0% of the municipalities had that characteristic.

Besides public administration, Agriculture was predominant in 57.6% of the municipalities (3,209). In 25.4% (1,416), the activity accounting for the biggest contribution was Trade and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles or Other services. In 945 municipalities, 17.0% of the total, one of the industrial activities was the most significant one. In comparison with 2002, 71.8% of the municipalities kept their economic profiles.

Five of the ten municipalities with the biggest GDP per capita are in located in São Paulo

The ten municipalities with the highest GDP per capita in the country in 2016 had low population density, and accounted for 1.2% of the GDP and for 0.1% of the population. Paulínia (SP) was the municipality with the highest GDP per capita in 2016, R$ 314,638.69, due to the petroleum refining activity. In the second position was Selvíria (MS), with R$ 306,139.63 due to the generation of hydroelectricity.

Among capital municipalities, Brasília (DF), with R$ 79,099.77, was in the first position in terms of GDP per capita in 2016, whereas Macapá (AP) was the capital that stayed in the lowest position (R$ 19,935.32).

Geographic analysis shows a dynamic concentration of GDP of municipalities

The geographic analysis of GDP in 2016 showed that, in the immediate geographic areas (groups of surrounding municipalities in which one or more of them are leading municipalities and the others as surrounding ones), the leading municipalities (which attract residents of nearby municipalities, for the conduction of diverse economic and social activities) held 58.9% of the national GDP.

Between 2002 and 2016, in the areas with highest GDP and biggest population– like São Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Curitiba, Porto Alegre, Rio de Janeiro – the municipalities reduced their participation in comparison with municipalities in the surroundings, whereas in the areas with smaller GDP – such as the Semi-arid region – there was the opposite, leading municipalities increased their contribution over that of the surroundings.

In the comparison between urban and rural areas, 1,456 predominantly urban municipalities (26.1% of the total) accounted for 87.5% of the Brazilian GDP. Only the 625 predominantly urban municipalities in the Southeast Region (11.2% of the total) accounted for half of the national GDP.

In the City-Region of São Paulo, 140 municipalities account for 26.0% of the GDP

The so-called City-Region of São Paulo – the almost entirely continuous urbanization area that stretches from Santos to Piracicaba, and from Sorocaba to Pindamonhangaba, and gathers 140 municipalities interconnected and led by the municipality of São Paulo – concentrated, in 2016, 26.0% of the GDP in the country, versus 28.2% in 2002. On average, a square kilometer of the territory in the City-Region of São Paulo produced 68 times more than a square kilometer in the rest of Brazil.

Legal Amazon and Semi-arid Region increased their contribution from 2002 to 2016

The Legal Amazon (which encompasses the states of Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Mato Grosso, Pará, Rondônia, Roraima and Tocantins, and also part of Maranhão) and the Semi-arid Region (formed by 1,262 municipalities in the states of Maranhão, Piauí, Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Alagoas, Sergipe, Bahia and Minas Gerais) increased their participation in the national GDP. Between 2002 and 2016, the semi-arid region went from 4.5% to 5.1%, and the Legal Amazon, from 6.9%, in 2002, to 8.6%. It is worth mentioning that the figures from the Legal Amazon refer to diverse economic activities such as agribusiness in Mato Grosso, manufacturing industry in the Manaus Free Trade Zone, mining and quarrying industry and livestock in Pará.

In 2002, the Legal Amazon accounted for 14.8% of national Agriculture, and reached 21.0% in 2016. In the services sector (except public administration), the participation of that region increased from 5.5% to 6.6% in the period. In this last activity, the Semi-arid also recorded an increase in participation, from 3.2% to 4.1%.

Metropolises concentrated wealth, but reduced contribution to GDP between 2002 and 2016

When municipal GDP is analyzed from the perspective of urban hierarchy, it is possible to observe that the lower the position, the bigger the wealth. In the group of 12 Brazilian metropolises (177 municipalities) GDP per capita was, in 2002, 2.6 times bigget than in the group of local centers (4.479 small municipalities). That difference fell to 2.2 times in 2016. The participation of metropolises in the Brazilian GDP fell from 47.3%, in 2002, to 44.6%, in 2016, whereas in local centers figures rose from 15.8% to 17.1%.

São Paulo was the urban concentration with biggest decrease of contribution to GDP from 2002 to 2016

Considering big urban concentrations (continuous urban spaces that can be formed by one or more municipalities, with more than 750 thousand inhabitants), the biggest decreases in terms of contribution to GDP in Brazil between 2002 and 2016 were recorded by São Paulo (-2 percentage points) and Rio de Janeiro (- 1 percentage points) and São José dos Campos (- 0.44 percentage points). The biggest increases in participation took place in Jundiaí (+ 0.34 percentage points), Brasília (+0.18 percentage points), Fortaleza (+0.15 percentage points) and Goiânia (+0.13 percentage points).

In urban concentrations between 100 thousand and 750 thousand inhabitants, the biggest decreases in terms of contribution to GDP between 2002 and 2016 were those of Campos dos Goitacazes (-0.52 percentage points), Macaé-Rio das Ostras (-0.28 percentage points), Volta Redonda-Barra Mansa (-0,16 percentage points) and Ipatinga (- 0.12 percentage points). The biggest increases of participation were those of Itajaí – Balneário de Camboriú (+0.25 percentage points), Uberlândia (+0.16 percentage points), Paraopebas (+0,11 percentage points) and Maringá (+0.09 percentage points).