Brazil has an estimated population of about 217 million people in 2025, making it the seventh most populous country in the world and by far the largest in South America. Roughly half of everyone living in South America is Brazilian, and the country alone accounts for more people than the rest of the continent combined.
How Many People Live in Brazil?
At approximately 217,000,000 residents, Brazil sits seventh globally behind India, China, the United States, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Nigeria. It is the only country in the Western Hemisphere besides the United States to surpass 200 million people. Spread across a national territory of more than 8.5 million square kilometres, this gives Brazil a fairly low overall population density of about 25 people per square kilometre.
That national average, however, hides enormous regional contrasts. The southeastern and coastal regions are crowded with megacities, while the vast Amazon interior is among the most sparsely settled inhabited places on Earth. The Amazon region covers roughly 60% of Brazil's land area yet holds only about 13% of its population, so most Brazilians live within a few hundred kilometres of the Atlantic coast.
Population Growth and the Demographic Transition
Brazil's population is still growing, but only slowly, at an annual rate of around 0.52%. This is a dramatic change from the 1960s, when growth exceeded 3% per year and the average woman had more than six children. Today the fertility rate has fallen to roughly 1.7 births per woman, below the replacement level of 2.1 and one of the lowest figures in Latin America.
What makes Brazil's case remarkable is that this decline happened without any government-imposed family planning program. Instead it was driven by rapid urbanization, rising levels of women's education and workforce participation, and the spread of television, which reshaped expectations about family size. Demographers expect Brazil's population to peak at roughly 230 million people around the year 2045 and then begin a slow decline as the population ages.
An Urban Nation and Its Largest Cities
Brazil is one of the most urbanized large countries on the planet, with around 87% of its population living in towns and cities. Its three best-known urban centres are São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and the capital, Brasília.
- São Paulo is the largest city in the Southern Hemisphere, with over 12 million residents in the city proper and about 22 million in its metropolitan area. It is the financial and industrial engine of the country, generating roughly 11% of Brazil's entire GDP.
- Rio de Janeiro has about 6.7 million city residents and roughly 13 million in its metro area. It is world-famous for its beaches, Carnival celebrations, and the Christ the Redeemer statue.
- Brasília, the purpose-built capital inaugurated in 1960, is home to around 3 million people and is recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its bold modernist design.
Other major metropolitan areas include Belo Horizonte, Salvador, Fortaleza, and Recife, each anchoring large populations in different corners of the country.
Who Are the Brazilian People?
Brazil is one of the most ethnically mixed societies in the world, the product of centuries of contact between Indigenous peoples, Portuguese colonists, enslaved Africans, and later waves of European, Middle Eastern, and Japanese immigrants. In broad terms, roughly 43% of Brazilians identify as mixed-race (pardo), around 47% as White, about 8% as Black, and roughly 1% as Asian or Indigenous, though these self-reported categories blur in practice.
Portuguese is the sole official language, and Brazil is the largest Portuguese-speaking country on Earth, home to more lusophones than Portugal and all the other Portuguese-speaking nations combined. Christianity is the dominant faith: historically about two-thirds of Brazilians were Roman Catholic, but evangelical Protestant churches have grown rapidly and now claim a large and rising share of believers. Strong regional cultures persist, from the Afro-Brazilian traditions of Bahia in the northeast to the European-influenced communities of the cooler south.
Key Population Facts at a Glance
- Population (2025 estimate): around 217 million
- World rank: 7th most populous country
- Annual growth rate: about 0.52%
- Fertility rate: roughly 1.7 children per woman
- Urban population: about 87%
- Capital: Brasília
- Largest city: São Paulo
For a fuller picture of the country's geography, economy, and culture, see our brazil country guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Brazil the most populous country in South America?
Yes. With about 217 million people, Brazil is comfortably the most populous country in South America, holding roughly half of the entire continent's population. The next largest, Colombia, has only about a fifth as many people.
Why has Brazil's population growth slowed so much?
Brazil's fertility rate fell from over six children per woman in 1960 to about 1.7 today. This was driven by rapid urbanization, better education and job opportunities for women, and changing cultural expectations about family size, rather than any official population policy.
Will Brazil's population keep growing?
For now, yes, but slowly. Projections suggest the population will peak at around 230 million people in the mid-2040s before gradually declining as fertility stays below replacement level and the population ages.
What is the largest city in Brazil?
São Paulo is the largest city, with more than 12 million residents in the city itself and around 22 million across its wider metropolitan area, making it the biggest city in the Southern Hemisphere.