Demographics
Demographics
Image:Boa viagem Recife, the most important metropolitan region of the Northeast.
Main article: Demographics of Brazil
Brazil's population comprises many racial groups and ethnic groups. The last PNAD (National Research for Sample of Domiciles) census revealed the following numbers: 93.096 million White people (49.7%), 79.782 million Pardo people (42.6%), 12.908 million Black people (6.9%), 919,000 Asian people (0.5%) and 519,000 Amerindian people (0.4%).
Most Brazilians can trace their ancestry to the country's indigenous peoples, Portuguese colonists and African slaves. Since 1500, with the arrival of the Portuguese, miscegenation between these three peoples took place. During over three centuries of Portuguese colonization, Brazil received more than 700,000 Portuguese settlers and 4 million African slaves.
Starting in the late 19th century, Brazil opened its doors to immigration: people of over 60 nationalities immigrated to Brazil. About 5 million European and Asian immigrants arrived from 1870 to 1953, most of them from Southern Europe (Italy, Portugal and Spain) and from Germany. In the early 20th century, people from Japan and the Middle-East also arrived.
The immigrants and their descendants had an important impact in the ethnic composition of the Brazilian population and many diasporas are present in the country. Brazil has the largest population of Italian origin outside of Italy, with over 25 million Italian Brazilians, the largest Japanese population outside of Japan, with 1.6 million Japanese Brazilians, as well the second largest German population outside of Germany, with 12 million German Brazilians.
A characteristic of Brazil is the race mixing. Genetically, most Brazilians have some degree of European, African and Amerindian ancestry.
All the population can be considered a single "Brazilian" ethnic group, with highly varied racial types and backgrounds, but without clear ethnic sub-divisions.
The largest metropolitan areas in Brazil are São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte, respectively with 19.7, 11.4, and 5.4 million inhabitants.
Almost all capitals are the largest city in their corresponding state, except for Vitória, the capital of Espírito Santo, and Florianópolis, the capital of Santa Catarina. There are also non-capital metropolitan areas in the states of São Paulo (Campinas, Santos and the Paraíba Valley), Minas Gerais (Steel Valley), Rio Grande do Sul (Sinos Valley), and Santa Catarina (Itajaí Valley).
Poverty in Brazil is most visually represented by the various favelas, slums in the country's metropolitan areas and remote upcountry regions that suffer with economic underdevelopment and below-par standards of living. An attempt to mitigate these problems is the "Fome Zero" hunger-eradication program implemented by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Part of this is "Bolsa Família", a major anti-poverty program that gives money directly to impoverished families. São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte and Recife have serious problem with crime in Brazil especially with homicides rates.
In response to the crime, Brazil established in June 2004 the National Public Security Force, to act in situations in the emergency, in times of crisis.
Largest cities of Brazil view • talk • edit Municipality State Population
São Paulo
Rio de Janeiro Municipality State Population
1 São Paulo São Paulo 11,016,703
2 Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro 6,136,652
3 Salvador Bahia 2,714,119
4 Fortaleza Ceará 2,416,920
5 Belo Horizonte Minas Gerais 2,399,920
6 Brasília Distrito Federal 2,383,784
7 Curitiba Paraná 1,788,559
8 Manaus Amazonas 1,644,690
9 Recife Pernambuco 1,515,052
10 Porto Alegre Rio Grande do Sul 1,440,939
11 Belém Pará 1,428,368
12 Guarulhos São Paulo 1,283,253
13 Goiânia Goiás 1,220,412
14 Campinas São Paulo 1,059,420
15 São Luís Maranhão 922,458
16 São Gonçalo Rio de Janeiro 973,372
17 Maceió Alagoas 922,458
18 Duque de Caxias Rio de Janeiro 855,010
19 Nova Iguaçu Rio de Janeiro 844,583
20 Teresina Piauí 813,992
Source: Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (2007 Demographic Census)
Image:Boa viagem Recife, the most important metropolitan region of the Northeast.
Main article: Demographics of Brazil
Brazil's population comprises many racial groups and ethnic groups. The last PNAD (National Research for Sample of Domiciles) census revealed the following numbers: 93.096 million White people (49.7%), 79.782 million Pardo people (42.6%), 12.908 million Black people (6.9%), 919,000 Asian people (0.5%) and 519,000 Amerindian people (0.4%).
Most Brazilians can trace their ancestry to the country's indigenous peoples, Portuguese colonists and African slaves. Since 1500, with the arrival of the Portuguese, miscegenation between these three peoples took place. During over three centuries of Portuguese colonization, Brazil received more than 700,000 Portuguese settlers and 4 million African slaves.
Starting in the late 19th century, Brazil opened its doors to immigration: people of over 60 nationalities immigrated to Brazil. About 5 million European and Asian immigrants arrived from 1870 to 1953, most of them from Southern Europe (Italy, Portugal and Spain) and from Germany. In the early 20th century, people from Japan and the Middle-East also arrived.
The immigrants and their descendants had an important impact in the ethnic composition of the Brazilian population and many diasporas are present in the country. Brazil has the largest population of Italian origin outside of Italy, with over 25 million Italian Brazilians, the largest Japanese population outside of Japan, with 1.6 million Japanese Brazilians, as well the second largest German population outside of Germany, with 12 million German Brazilians.
A characteristic of Brazil is the race mixing. Genetically, most Brazilians have some degree of European, African and Amerindian ancestry.
All the population can be considered a single "Brazilian" ethnic group, with highly varied racial types and backgrounds, but without clear ethnic sub-divisions.
The largest metropolitan areas in Brazil are São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte, respectively with 19.7, 11.4, and 5.4 million inhabitants.
Almost all capitals are the largest city in their corresponding state, except for Vitória, the capital of Espírito Santo, and Florianópolis, the capital of Santa Catarina. There are also non-capital metropolitan areas in the states of São Paulo (Campinas, Santos and the Paraíba Valley), Minas Gerais (Steel Valley), Rio Grande do Sul (Sinos Valley), and Santa Catarina (Itajaí Valley).
Poverty in Brazil is most visually represented by the various favelas, slums in the country's metropolitan areas and remote upcountry regions that suffer with economic underdevelopment and below-par standards of living. An attempt to mitigate these problems is the "Fome Zero" hunger-eradication program implemented by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Part of this is "Bolsa Família", a major anti-poverty program that gives money directly to impoverished families. São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte and Recife have serious problem with crime in Brazil especially with homicides rates.
In response to the crime, Brazil established in June 2004 the National Public Security Force, to act in situations in the emergency, in times of crisis.
Largest cities of Brazil view • talk • edit Municipality State Population
São Paulo
Rio de Janeiro Municipality State Population
1 São Paulo São Paulo 11,016,703
2 Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro 6,136,652
3 Salvador Bahia 2,714,119
4 Fortaleza Ceará 2,416,920
5 Belo Horizonte Minas Gerais 2,399,920
6 Brasília Distrito Federal 2,383,784
7 Curitiba Paraná 1,788,559
8 Manaus Amazonas 1,644,690
9 Recife Pernambuco 1,515,052
10 Porto Alegre Rio Grande do Sul 1,440,939
11 Belém Pará 1,428,368
12 Guarulhos São Paulo 1,283,253
13 Goiânia Goiás 1,220,412
14 Campinas São Paulo 1,059,420
15 São Luís Maranhão 922,458
16 São Gonçalo Rio de Janeiro 973,372
17 Maceió Alagoas 922,458
18 Duque de Caxias Rio de Janeiro 855,010
19 Nova Iguaçu Rio de Janeiro 844,583
20 Teresina Piauí 813,992
Source: Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (2007 Demographic Census)
