The first population data from the 2022 Census, released this Wednesday (28) by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), show a significant drop in the number of residents in Salvador. The capital of Bahia lost 9.6% of its residents in comparison with data from the last census carried out in 2010. Thus, the city dropped two positions among the most populous in the country, moving from 3rd to 5th position: it was surpassed by Brasilia and Fortaleza. Salvador has 257,651 fewer residents than it had 12 years ago, which puts the city at the top of the list of biggest reductions in absolute data. It is more than double that of Rio de Janeiro, which ranks second. However, the reduction of 109,023 residents in the Rio de Janeiro capital represents a drop of just 1.7%. In the list of the 20 most populous cities in the country, only one had a percentage drop greater than Salvador: São Gonçalo (RJ), one of the three that are not capitals and appear in the list. Distant about 35 kilometers from Rio de Janeiro, it saw its population shrink by 10.3% and fell from 16th to 18th position. arte most populous cities census 2022 – Arte/Agência Brasil Brazil usually performs the Demographic Census every ten years. The objective is to offer a portrait of the population and housing conditions in the country. The information obtained subsidizes the elaboration of public policies and decisions related to the allocation of financial resources. The 2022 Census was supposed to be held in 2020, but it was postponed twice: first, due to the covid-19 pandemic and then due to budgetary issues. The census operation began in June last year. With several delays, due to difficulties in completing home visits in all 5,570 municipalities in the country, data collection ended only in February of that year. According to the first data released, the Brazilian population had a jump of 12.3 million in the last 12 years, reaching a total of 203 million. Urban Concentrations In addition to the population survey of the capitals, the IBGE also presented numbers related to urban concentrations, which can be a single municipality with more than 100 thousand inhabitants or a group of municipalities that add up to more than 100 thousand inhabitants and have population integration among themselves. This integration can be identified by the meeting of urbanized areas or by the displacement of residents for the purpose of work and study. In the case of capitals, data on urban concentrations provide new angles for analyzing population variation. Belo Horizonte, for example, registered a drop of 2.5% in the number of inhabitants. However, the urban concentration of Belo Horizonte, which includes neighboring cities, had an increase of 4.4% in its population. Almost all the municipalities around the capital of Minas Gerais registered an increase in the number of residents, with more expressive increases, for example, in Nova Lima and Ribeirão das Neves. A similar situation is observed in Curitiba. Although there was a slight increase of 1.2% in the population of the capital of Paraná, the increase was more significant in the surrounding cities, generating a population increase of 10.3% in urban concentration. In Rio de Janeiro, however, most neighboring municipalities recorded a situation closer to that observed in the capital, varying between a slight increase and a slight drop. “It is not possible to understand the demographic dynamics of an urban concentration by looking at municipalities in isolation. It takes a look at the whole, to understand the demographic dynamics that is happening there in that urban space”, points out the technical coordinator of the 2022 Census, Luciano Duarte.
Agência Brasil
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