• Highlights

• As of the reference date of July 1, 2024, Brazil had an estimated population of 212.6 million residents.
• The country has 15 municipalities with more than 1 million residents, of which 13 are capitals. As a whole, 42.7 million residents are in these cities, representing 20.1% of the country's total.
• São Paulo remains as the most populous municipality in the country, with 11.9 million residents, followed by Rio de Janeiro (6.7 million) and Brasília (3.0 million).
• Guarulhos and Campinas, both in São Paulo, are the only non-capital municipalities with more than 1 million residents (1.3 million and 1.1 million, respectively).
• At the bottom of the list, 26 municipalities have fewer than 1,500 inhabitants. Serra da Saudade (MG) is the least populous one, with 854.
• More than 30% of Brazil's population lives in 48 cities with more than 500,000 residents.
• The least populous municipalities, with up to 5,000 residents, are 23.1% of the total number of municipalities (1,288) and account for only 2.0% of the population (4.3 million).

Today (29), the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) released estimates of the populations living in the 5,570 Brazilian municipalities. On the reference date of July 1, 2024, Brazil had an estimated population of 212.6 million residents. The study is one of the parameters used by the Federal Court of Auditors (TCU) to calculate the State and Municipal Revenue Sharing Fund, in addition to being a reference for social, economic and demographic indicators.

The country has 15 municipalities with more than 1 million people, of which 13 are capitals. As a whole, 42.7 million inhabitants are in these cities, representing 20.1% of the country's total. São Paulo remains as the most populous municipality in the country, with 11.9 million people, followed by Rio de Janeiro (6.7 million) and Brasília (3.0 million). Completing the ranking of the five most populous municipalities are Fortaleza (2.6 million) and Salvador (2.6 million).

Municipalities with more than 1 million residents

Soure: IBGE, Diretoria de Pesquisas - DPE, Coordenação de População e Indicadores Sociais - COPIS

Guarulhos and Campinas, both in São Paulo, are the only non-capitals to appear on the list, with 1.3 million and 1.2 million, respectively. They are also the most populous municipalities among the 26 municipalities with more than 500,000 residents that are not capitals. São Gonçalo (RJ) is the third, with 961,000.

Municipalities with more than 500 thousand residents, except capitals

Source: IBGE, Diretoria de Pesquisas - DPE, Coordenação de População e Indicadores Sociais - COPIS

At the bottom of the list, 26 municipalities have fewer than 1,500 residents. Serra da Saudade (MG) is the least populous, with 854. Anhanguera (GO) and Borá (SP), with 921 and 928, complete the list of municipalities with fewer than a thousand redsidents.

Municipalities with less than 1500 residents

Source: IBGE, Diretoria de Pesquisas - DPE, Coordenação de População e Indicadores Sociais - COPIS

Among the Federation Units (UF), São Paulo accounts for 21.6% of the population, with 46.0 million. Minas Gerais, with 10% (21.3 million) and Rio de Janeiro, with 8.1% (17.2 million) close the list of the three states with more residents. At the other end, five FUs have less than 1% of the country's population: Rondônia (0.8%), Tocantins (0.7%), Acre (0.4%), Amapá (0.4%) and Roraima (0.3%).

When looking at the population of Metropolitan Areas, Integrated Development Areas and Urban Clusters, the list has 30 with more than one million residents, totaling more than 100 million residents. São Paulo leads with 21.5 million, followed by Rio de Janeiro (12.9 million), Belo Horizonte (6.0 million), FD and Surroundings (DF/GO/MG) (4.7 million), Fortaleza (4.2 million) and Porto Alegre (4.1 million).

Population of Metropolitan Areas, INtegrated Development Areas and Urban Clusters with more than one million residents

Source: IBGE, Diretoria de Pesquisas - DPE, Coordenação de População e Indicadores Sociais - COPIS
RM = Região Metropolitana e RIDE = Região Integrada de Desenvolvimento
Notas: (1) Composição das Regiões Metropolitanas vigente em 31/12/2019.
(2) Inclui Colar Metropolitano
(3) Inclui Área de Expansão Metropolitana
(4) Inclui Entorno Metropolitano

More than 30% of Brazil's population lives in 48 cities with over 500,000 residents

The study also showed the distribution of the Brazilian population and municipalities, according to ranges of population size. In total, 65.7 million persons, or 30.9% of the total, are distributed across 48 municipalities with a population greater than 500,000 residents, or 0.9% of Brazilian municipalities. Another considerable part of the population, around 27.3% (58.0 million), is in the 339 municipalities with a population between 100,000 and 500,000, which corresponds to 6.1% of the total number of municipalities.

This phenomenon is a reflection of the process of population distribution in the territory, as explained Marcio Minamiguchi, IBGE manager of Population Projections and Estimates. “Although the largest urban centers are no longer experiencing the great growth of the past, they still have the demographic weight that comes from a process of concentration over several decades. And over the years, several municipalities have surpassed the 500,000 residents mark,” says the researcher.

On the other hand, the least populated municipalities, with up to 5,000 residents, account for 23.1% of the total (1,288) municipalities, representing only 2.0% of the population (4.3 million).

Understand how Population Estimates are calculated

The estimates of the resident population in the municipalities were calculated based on the Population Projections for Brazil and Federation Units, Revision 2024, and on the population totals of the municipalities listed in the 2010 and 2022 Population Censuses. “The populations counted in the municipalities in the last two Censuses were adjusted and served as a basis for establishing the population growth trend for the Population Estimates up to the reference date, July 1, 2024”, explains Mr. Minamiguchi. “Each year, changes in geographic boundaries that may occur between municipalities are incorporated into the municipal population estimates”, adds the researcher.