Map of metropolitan areas and urban agglomerations in Brazil as of 2012. Municipalities in red refer to metropolitan capitals and the ones in yellow refer to expansion or conurbation area.
This is alist of the metropolitan areas in Brazil, containing the legally defined metropolitan areas with more than one million inhabitants inBrazil, according to estimates published byIBGE.
In Brazil, the termsmetropolitan area (Portuguese:região metropolitana) andurban agglomeration (aglomeração urbana) have specific meanings. They are defined by federal and state legislation as collections ofmunicipalities focused on "integrating the organization, planning and execution of public functions of common interest".[1] Anintegrated development area (região integrada de desenvolvimento) is one of the two above structures that crosses state (orFederal District) boundaries.
Because these regions are formed by consent of municipalities, their composition can change over time due tomunicipal reorganization. These regions may not coincide exactly with boundaries of statistical Immediate Geographic Areas[2] (formerlymicroregions) defined byIBGE, or with the broader definition of built-upurban area.[3]
