With more than 72 thousand residents, the community of Rocinha, in the south zone of Rio de Janeiro, is the largest favela in the country. The finding is part of a supplement to the 2022 Census, released this Friday (8) by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
The demographic survey identified 16,390,815 inhabitants in the country in 12,348 favelas, spread across 656 municipalities.
IBGE researchers consider favelas and urban communities to be locations with characteristics such as legal insecurity of ownership, absence or precarious or incomplete provision of public services, urban planning patterns outside the current order and occupation of areas with restrictions or environmental risk.
If Rocinha were a city, the 72,021 residents would place it as the 459th largest in Brazil. In 2022, the country had 5,570 municipalities, that is, Rocinha had more inhabitants than 5,112 cities.
The 20 largest Brazilian favelas have 858.6 thousand residents, representing 5.2% of the total population living in communities across the country. Of these most populous, eight were in the North region; seven, in the Southeast; four in the Northeast; and one in the Midwest.
See the list of the 20 largest in terms of number of residents:
1) Rocinha – Rio de Janeiro (RJ), 72 021
2) Sol Nascente – Brasília (DF), 70 908
3) Paraisópolis – São Paulo (SP), 58 527
4) City of God/Alfredo Nascimento – Manaus (AM), 55 821
5) Rio das Pedras – Rio de Janeiro (RJ), 55 653
6) Heliópolis – São Paulo (SP), 55 583
7) São Lucas Community – Manaus (AM), 53 674
8) Coroadinho – São Luís (MA), 51 050
9) Baixadas da Estrada Nova Jurunas – Belém (PA), 43 105
10) Beiru / Tancredo Neves – Salvador (BA), 38 871
11) Pernambués – Salvador (BA), 35 110
12) Zumbi dos Palmares/Nova Luz – Manaus (AM), 34 706
13) Santa Etelvina – Manaus (AM), 33 031
14) Baixadas da Condor – Belém (PA), 31 321
15) Colônia Terra Nova – Manaus (AM), 30 142
16) Jacarezinho – Rio de Janeiro (RJ), 29 766
17) Vila São Pedro – São Bernardo do Campo (SP), 28 466
18) Olympic City – São Luís (MA), 27 326
19) Chafik / Macuco – Mauá (SP), 26 835
20) Grande Vitória – Manaus (AM), 26 733
Paraisópolis, a favela located in the south of São Paulo. Photo: Espaço do Povo Paraisópolis
Households
The Census also lists the 20 largest favelas in terms of number of occupied permanent private homes. They represent 5.3% of the total of 295,009 households in communities spread across the country.
Once again, Rocinha leads the ranking with more than triple the number of households in 20th place (Colônia Terra Nova, Manaus). Only the São Paulo cities of Vila São Pedro, Chafik/Macuco and Jardim Oratório are not located in capital cities.
See the list of the 20 largest in terms of number of households:
1) Rocinha – Rio de Janeiro (RJ), 30 371
2) Rio das Pedras – Rio de Janeiro (RJ), 23 846
3) Sol Nascente – Brasília (DF), 21 889
4) Paraisópolis – São Paulo (SP), 21 442
5) Heliópolis – São Paulo (SP), 20 205
6) Coroadinho – São Luís (MA), 16 741
7) City of God/Alfredo Nascimento – Manaus (AM), 15 872
8) Beiru / Tancredo Neves – Salvador (BA), 15 618
9) Comunidade São Lucas – Manaus (AM), 15 469
10) Pernambués – Salvador (BA), 14 649
11) Baixadas da Estrada Nova Jurunas – Belém (PA), 13 077
12) Jacarezinho – Rio de Janeiro (RJ), 10 936
13) Vila São Pedro – São Bernado do Campo (SP), 10 273
14) Zumbi dos Palmares/Nova Luz – Manaus (AM), 9 720
15) Baixadas da Condor – Belém (PA), 9 638
16) Santa Etelvina – Manaus (AM), 9 301
17) Jardim Oratório – Mauá (SP), 9 189
18) Chafik / Macuco – Mauá (SP), 9 158
19) Olympic City – São Luís (MA), 8 923
20) Colônia Terra Nova – Manaus (AM), 8 692
Extension
IBGE also highlighted the favelas with the largest territorial extensions. In this ranking, the Census highlights that “there was no direct relationship between the territorial areas of favelas and urban communities and the number of residents and households in these territories”.
In other words, having more area does not necessarily mean having more houses, just as having more houses does not necessarily mean having more residents. Rocinha, for example, despite having the largest number of homes and residents, does not even appear on the list of the 20 largest favelas in territorial extension.
See the list of the 20 largest by area (square kilometer):
1) September 26th – Brasília (DF), 10.5
2) Sol Nascente – Brasília (DF), 9.2
3) Morro da Cruz I and II – Brasília (DF), 5.9
4) Água Limpa Invasion – Itabirito (MG), 5.7
5) Valéria – Salvador (BA), 5.5
6) Coroadinho – São Luís (MA), 5.4
7) Santa Etelvina – Manaus (AM), 4.8
8) Parque Estrela – Magé (RJ), 4.6
9) João de Barro – Boa Vista (RR), 4.6
10) Jardim Progresso – Natal (RN), 4.5
11) City of God/Alfredo Nascimento – Manaus (AM), 4.3
12) Baía do Sol – Belém (PA), 4.2
13) Residencial Tiradentes – São Luís (MA), 4.2
14) Gapara – São Luís (MA), 4.1
15) Vila Nestor – São Luís (MA), 4.1
16) National – Porto Velho (RO), 4.1
17) Santa Rita – Feira de Santana (BA), 4.0
18) Barra Alegre – Ipatinga (MG), 3.9
19) São Lucas Community – Manaus (AM), 3.8
20) Água Boa – Belém (PA), 3.8
