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Rio de Janeiro
Municipality
Municipality of Rio de Janeiro
Christ the Redeemer on Corcovado with Sugarloaf Mountain and Guanabara Bay (background)Sugarloaf Cable CarTheatro MunicipalMuseum of TomorrowMaracanã StadiumBarra da TijucaDowntown Rio from Santa Teresa, with the Metropolitan Cathedral (center), Carioca Aqueduct (right) and Rio-Niteroi Bridge (background)
FlagCoat of arms
Nicknames: Cidade Maravilhosa (Marvellous City), Princesa Maravilhosa (Marvellous Princess), Cidade dos Brasileiros (City of Brazilians)
Location in the state of Rio de Janeiro
Rio de JaneiroLocation within BrazilShow map of BrazilRio de JaneiroLocation within South AmericaShow map of South America
Coordinates: 22°54′40″S 43°12′20″W / 22.91111°S 43.20556°W / -22.91111; -43.20556
Country	Brazil
Region	Southeast
State	Rio de Janeiro
Historic countries	Kingdom of Portugal United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves Empire of Brazil
Settled	1555; 469 years ago (1555)
Founded	1 March 1565; 459 years ago (1565-03-01)
Named for	Saint Sebastian Guanabara Bay
Government
• Type	Mayor-council
• Body	Municipal Chamber of Rio de Janeiro
• Mayor	Eduardo Paes (PSD)
• Vice Mayor	Nilton Caldeira (PL)
Area
• Municipality	1,221 km (486.5 sq mi)
• Metro	4,539.8 km (1,759.6 sq mi)
Elevation	2 m (7 ft)
Highest elevation	1,020 m (3,349 ft)
Lowest elevation	0 m (0 ft)
Population
• Municipality	6,211,223
• Rank	4th in South America 2nd in Brazil
• Density	5,174.6/km (13,402/sq mi)
• Urban	11,616,000
• Metro	12,280,702 (2nd)
• Metro density	2,705.1/km (7,006/sq mi)
Demonym	Carioca
GDP (PPP, constant 2015 values)
• Year	2023
• Total (Metro)	$285.9 billion
• Per capita	$23,700
Time zone	UTC−3 (BRT)
Postal Code	20000-001 to 23799-999
Area code	21
HDI (2010)	0.799 – high
Nominal 2018 GDP (City)	US$ 93.9 billion (2nd)
Per capita	US$14,046 (2nd)
Website	en.prefeitura.rio
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name	Rio de Janeiro: Carioca Landscapes between the Mountain and the Sea
Type	Cultural
Criteria	vi
Designated	2012 (36th session)
Reference no.	1100

Rio de Janeiro (Portuguese: [ˈʁi.u d(ʒi) ʒɐˈne(j)ɾu] ), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the sixth-most-populous city in the Americas.

Founded in 1565 by the Portuguese, the city was initially the seat of the Captaincy of Rio de Janeiro, a domain of the Portuguese Empire. In 1763, it became the capital of the State of Brazil, a state of the Portuguese Empire. In 1808, when the Portuguese Royal Court moved to Brazil, Rio de Janeiro became the seat of the court of Queen Maria I of Portugal. She subsequently, under the leadership of her son the prince regent John VI of Portugal, raised Brazil to the dignity of a kingdom, within the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil, and Algarves. Rio remained as the capital of the pluricontinental monarchy until 1822, when the Brazilian War of Independence began. This is one of the few instances in history that the capital of a colonizing country officially shifted to a city in one of its colonies. Rio de Janeiro subsequently served as the capital of the independent monarchy, the Empire of Brazil, until 1889, and then the capital of a republican Brazil until 1960 when the capital was transferred to Brasília.

Rio de Janeiro has the second largest municipal GDP in the country, and 30th-largest in the world in 2008. This is estimated at R$343 billion. In the city are the headquarters of Brazilian oil, mining, and telecommunications companies, including two of the country's major corporations, Petrobras and Vale, and Latin America's largest telemedia conglomerate, Grupo Globo. The home of many universities and institutes, it is the second-largest center of research and development in Brazil, accounting for 17 percent of national scientific output according to 2005 data. Despite the high perception of crime, the city actually has a lower incidence of crime than most state capitals in Brazil.

Rio de Janeiro is one of the most visited cities in the Southern Hemisphere and is known for its natural settings, carnival, samba, bossa nova, and balneario beaches such as Barra da Tijuca, Copacabana, Ipanema, and Leblon. In addition to the beaches, landmarks include the giant statue of Christ the Redeemer atop Corcovado mountain, named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World; Sugarloaf Mountain with its cable car; the Sambódromo (Sambadrome), a permanent grandstand-lined parade avenue which is used during Carnival; and Maracanã Stadium, one of the world's largest football stadiums. Rio de Janeiro was the host of the 2016 Summer Olympics and the 2016 Summer Paralympics, making the city the first South American and Portuguese-speaking city to ever host the events, and the third time the Olympics were held in a Southern Hemisphere city. The Maracanã Stadium held the finals of the 1950 and 2014 FIFA World Cups, the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, and the XV Pan American Games. The city will host the G20 summit in 2024, and the FIFA Women's World Cup in 2027.

History

Portuguese Empire 1565–1815
United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves 1815–1822
 Empire of Brazil 1822–1889
Republic of Brazil 1889–present

Pre-Cabraline period

The region of Rio was inhabited by the Tupi, Puri, Botocudo and Maxakalí peoples.

Colonial period

Europeans first encountered Guanabara Bay on 1 January 1502 (hence Rio de Janeiro, "January River"), during a Portuguese expedition under explorer Gaspar de Lemos, captain of a ship in Pedro Álvares Cabral's fleet, or under Gonçalo Coelho. Allegedly the Florentine explorer Amerigo Vespucci participated as an observer at the invitation of King Manuel I in the same expedition.

In 1555, one of the islands of Guanabara Bay, now called Villegagnon Island, was occupied by 500 French colonists under the French admiral Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon. Consequently, Villegagnon built Fort Coligny on the island when attempting to establish the France Antarctique colony. Eventually this French settlement became too much of a threat to the established Portuguese colony and in 1560 the order was made to get rid of them. A years-long military aggression was then initiated by the new Governor General of Brazil Mem De Sa, and later continued by his nephew Estacio De Sa. On 20 January 1567, a final defeat was imposed on the French forces and they were decisively expelled from Brazil for good.

The city of Rio de Janeiro proper was founded on 1 March 1565 by the Portuguese, led by Estácio de Sá, including Antônio de Mariz [pt]. It was named São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro, in honor of St. Sebastian, the saint who was the namesake and patron of the Portuguese then-monarch Sebastião. Rio de Janeiro was the name of Guanabara Bay. Until early in the 18th century, the city was threatened or invaded by several mostly French pirates and buccaneers, such as Jean-François Duclerc and René Duguay-Trouin.

In the late 17th century, still during the Sugar Era, the Bandeirantes discovered gold and diamonds in the neighboring captaincy of Minas Gerais, thus Rio de Janeiro became a much more practical port for exporting wealth (gold, precious stones, besides the sugar) than Salvador, Bahia, much farther northeast. On 27 January 1763, the colonial administration in Portuguese America was moved from Salvador to Rio de Janeiro. The city remained primarily a colonial capital until 1808, when the Portuguese royal family and most of the associated Lisbon nobles, fleeing from Napoleon's invasion of Portugal, moved to Rio de Janeiro.

Portuguese royal period

The kingdom's capital was transferred to the city, which, thus, became the only European capital outside of Europe. As there was no physical space or urban structure to accommodate hundreds of noblemen who arrived suddenly, many inhabitants were simply evicted from their homes. In the first decade, several educational establishments were created, such as the Military Academy, the Royal School of Sciences, Arts and Crafts and the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts, as well as the National Library of Brazil – with the largest collection in Latin America – and The Botanical Garden. The first printed newspaper in Brazil, the Gazeta do Rio de Janeiro, came into circulation during this period. When Brazil was elevated to Kingdom in 1815, it became the capital of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves until the return of the Portuguese Royal Family to Lisbon in 1821, but remained as capital of the Kingdom of Brazil.

From the colonial period until the first independent era, Rio de Janeiro was a city of slaves. There was a large influx of African slaves to Rio de Janeiro: in 1819, there were 145,000 slaves in the captaincy. In 1840, the number of slaves reached 220,000 people. Between 1811 and 1831, 500,000 to a million slaves arrived in Rio de Janeiro through Valongo Wharf, which is now a World Heritage Site. The Port of Rio de Janeiro was the largest port of slaves in America.

Imperial period

When Prince Pedro proclaimed the independence of Brazil in 1822, he decided to keep Rio de Janeiro as the capital of his new empire while the place was enriched with sugar cane agriculture in the Campos region and, especially, with the new coffee cultivation in the Paraíba Valley. In order to separate the province from the capital of the Empire, the city was converted in Neutral Municipality in 1834, passing the province of Rio de Janeiro to have Niterói as capital.

As a political center of the country, Rio concentrated the political-partisan life of the Empire. It was the main stage of the abolitionist and republican movements in the last half of the 19th century. At that time the number of slaves was drastically reduced and the city was developed, with modern drains, animal trams, train stations crossing the city, gas and electric lighting, telephone and telegraph wiring, water and river plumbing. Rio continued as the capital of Brazil after 1889, when the monarchy was replaced by a republic.

On 6 February 1889 the Bangu Textile Factory was founded, with the name of Industrial Progress Company of Brazil (Companhia Progresso Industrial do Brasil). The factory was officially opened on 8 March 1893, in a complex with varying architectural styles like Italianate, Neo-Gothic and a tower in Mansard Roof style. After the opening in 1893, workers from Great Britain arrived in Bangu to work in the textile factory. The old farms became worker villages with red-bricks houses, and a neo-gothic church was created, which still exists as the Saint Sebastian and Saint Cecilia Parish Church. Street cinemas and cultural buildings also appeared. In May 1894, Thomas Donohoe, a British worker from Busby, Scotland, arrived in Bangu.

Donohoe was amazed to discover that there was absolutely no knowledge of football among Brazilians. So he wrote to his wife, Elizabeth, asking her to bring a football when she joined him. And shortly after her arrival, in September 1894, the first football match in Brazil took place in the field beside the textile factory. It was a five-a-side match between British workers, and took place six months before the first game organized by Charles Miller in São Paulo. However, the Bangu Football Club was not formally created until 1904.

Republican period

At the time Brazil's Old Republic was established, the city lacked urban planning and sanitation, which helped spread several diseases, such as yellow fever, dysentery, variola, tuberculosis and even black death. Pereira Passos, who was named mayor in 1902, imposed reforms to modernize the city, demolishing the cortiços where most of the poor population lived. These people then moved to live in the city's hills, creating the first favelas. Inspired by the city of Paris, Passos built the Municipal Theatre, the National Museum of Fine Arts and the National Library in the city's center; brought electric power to Rio and created larger avenues to adapt the city to automobiles. Passos also named Oswaldo Cruz as Director General of Public Health. Cruz's plans to clean the city of diseases included compulsory vaccination of the entire population and forced entry into houses to kill mosquitoes and rats. The people of the city rebelled against Cruz's policy, in what would be known as the Vaccine Revolt.

In 1910, Rio saw the Revolt of the Lash, where Afro-Brazilian crew members in the Brazilian Navy mutinied against the heavy use of corporal punishment, which was similar to the punishment slaves received. The mutineers took control of the battleship Minas Geraes and threatened to fire on the city. Another military revolt occurred in 1922, the Copacabana Fort revolt, a march against the Old Republic's coronelism and café com leite politics. This revolt marked the beginning of Tenentism, a movement that resulted in the Brazilian Revolution of 1930 that started the Vargas Era.

Until the early years of the 20th century, the city was largely limited to the neighborhood now known as the historic city center (see below), on the mouth of Guanabara Bay. The city's center of gravity began to shift south and west to the so-called Zona Sul (South Zone) in the early part of the 20th century, when the first tunnel was built under the mountains between Botafogo and the neighborhood that is now known as Copacabana. Expansion of the city to the north and south was facilitated by the consolidation and electrification of Rio's streetcar transit system after 1905. Botafogos natural environment, combined with the fame of the Copacabana Palace Hotel, the luxury hotel of the Americas in the 1930s, helped Rio to gain the reputation it still holds today as a beach party town. This reputation has been somewhat tarnished in recent years by favela violence resulting from the narcotics trade and militias.

Plans for moving the nation's capital city from Rio de Janeiro to the center of Brazil had been occasionally discussed, and when Juscelino Kubitschek was elected president in 1955, it was partially on the strength of promises to build a new capital. Though many thought that it was just campaign rhetoric, Kubitschek managed to have Brasília and a new Federal District built, at great cost, by 1960. On 21 April of that year, the capital of Brazil was officially moved to Brasília. The territory of the former Federal District became its own state, Guanabara, after the bay that borders it to the east, encompassing just the city of Rio de Janeiro. After the 1964 coup d'état that installed a military dictatorship, the city-state was the only state left in Brazil to oppose the military. Then, in 1975, a presidential decree known as "The Fusion" removed the city's federative status and merged it with the State of Rio de Janeiro, with the city of Rio de Janeiro replacing Niterói as the state's capital, and establishing the Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Region.

In 1992, Rio hosted the Earth Summit, a United Nations conference to fight environmental degradation. Twenty years later, in 2012, the city hosted another conference on sustainable development, named United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. The city hosted the World Youth Day in 2013, the second World Youth Day in South America and first in Brazil. In the sports field, Rio de Janeiro was the host of the 2007 Pan American Games and the 2014 FIFA World Cup Final. On 2 October 2009, the International Olympic Committee announced that Rio de Janeiro would host the 2016 Olympic Games and the 2016 Paralympic Games, beating competitors Chicago, Tokyo, and Madrid. The city became the first South American city to host the event and the second Latin American city (after Mexico City in 1968) to host the Games. Since the early 2010s, Rio de Janeiro has been inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its arts, urban culture and designed landscapes set around a natural environment.

Geography

Rio de Janeiro is near the west end of a strip (from Cabo Frio to just east of Ilha Grande) of Brazil's Atlantic coast close to the Tropic of Capricorn where the shoreline is oriented east and west; the city thus faces largely south. It was founded at the entrance to an inlet, Guanabara Bay (Baía de Guanabara), which is marked by a point of land called Sugar Loaf (Pão de Açúcar) – a "calling card" of the city.

The population of the city of Rio de Janeiro, occupying an area of 1,182.3 km (456.5 sq mi), is about 6,000,000. The population of the greater metropolitan area is estimated at 11–13.5 million. Residents of the city are known as cariocas. The official song of Rio is "Cidade Maravilhosa", by composer André Filho.

Parks

The city has parks and ecological reserves such as the Tijuca National Park, the world's first urban forest and UNESCO Environmental Heritage and Biosphere Reserve; Pedra Branca State Park, which houses the highest point of Rio de Janeiro, the peak of Pedra Branca; the Quinta da Boa Vista complex; the Botanical Garden; Rio's Zoo; Parque Lage; and the Passeio Público, the first public park in the Americas. In addition the Flamengo Park is the largest landfill in the city, extending from the center to the south zone, and containing museums and monuments, in addition to much vegetation.

Since 1961, the Tijuca National Park (Parque Nacional da Tijuca), the largest city-surrounded urban forest and the second largest urban forest in the world, has been a National Park. The largest urban forest in the world is the Floresta da Pedra Branca (White Rock Forest), which is located in the West Zone of Rio de Janeiro.

Environment

Due to the high concentration of industries in the metropolitan region, the city has faced serious problems of environmental pollution. The Guanabara Bay has lost mangrove areas and suffers from residues from domestic and industrial sewage, oils and heavy metals. Although its waters renew when they reach the sea, the bay is the final receiver of all the tributaries generated along its banks and in the basins of the many rivers and streams that flow into it. The levels of particulate matter in the air are twice as high as that recommended by the World Health Organization, in part because of the large numbers of vehicles in circulation.

The waters of Sepetiba Bay are slowly following the path traced by Guanabara Bay, with sewage generated by a population of the order of 1.29 million inhabitants being released without treatment in streams or rivers. With regard to industrial pollution, highly toxic wastes, with high concentrations of heavy metals – mainly zinc and cadmium – have been dumped over the years by factories in the industrial districts of Santa Cruz, Itaguaí and Nova Iguaçu, constructed under the supervision of State policies.

The Marapendi lagoon and the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon have suffered with the leniency of the authorities and the growth in the number of apartment buildings close by. The illegal discharge of sewage and the consequent deaths of algae diminished the oxygenation of the waters, causing fish mortality.

There are, on the other hand, signs of decontamination in the lagoon made through a public-private partnership established in 2008 to ensure that the lagoon waters will eventually be suitable for bathing. The decontamination actions involve the transfer of sludge to large craters present in the lagoon itself, and the creation of a new direct and underground connection with the sea, which will contribute to increase the daily water exchange between the two environments. However, during the Olympics the lagoon hosted the rowing competitions and there were numerous concerns about potential infection resulting from human sewage.

Climate

Rio has a tropical savanna climate (Aw) that closely borders a tropical monsoon climate (Am) according to the Köppen climate classification, and is often characterized by long periods of heavy rain between December and March. The city experiences hot, humid summers, and warm, sunny winters. In inland areas of the city, temperatures above 40 °C (104 °F) are common during the summer, though rarely for long periods, while maximum temperatures above 27 °C (81 °F) can occur on a monthly basis.

Along the coast, the breeze, blowing onshore and offshore, moderates the temperature. Because of its geographic situation, the city is often reached by cold fronts advancing from Antarctica, especially during autumn and winter, causing frequent weather changes. In summer there can be strong rains, which have, on some occasions, provoked catastrophic floods and landslides. The mountainous areas register greater rainfall since they constitute a barrier to the humid wind that comes from the Atlantic. The city has had rare frosts in the past. Some areas within Rio de Janeiro state occasionally have falls of snow grains and ice pellets (popularly called granizo) and hail.

Drought is very rare, albeit bound to happen occasionally given the city's strongly seasonal tropical climate. The Brazilian drought of 2014–2015, most severe in the Southeast Region and the worst in decades, affected the entire metropolitan region's water supply (a diversion from the Paraíba do Sul River to the Guandu River is a major source for the state's most populous mesoregion). There were plans to divert the Paraíba do Sul to the Sistema Cantareira (Cantareira system) during the water crisis of 2014 in order to help the critically drought-stricken Greater São Paulo area. However, availability of sufficient rainfall to supply tap water to both metropolitan areas in the future is merely speculative.

Roughly in the same suburbs (Nova Iguaçu and surrounding areas, including parts of Campo Grande and Bangu) that correspond to the location of the March 2012, February–March 2013 and January 2015 pseudo-hail (granizo) falls, there was a tornado-like phenomenon in January 2011, for the first time in the region's recorded history, causing structural damage and long-lasting blackouts, but no fatalities. The World Meteorological Organization has advised that Brazil, especially its southeastern region, must be prepared for increasingly severe weather occurrences in the near future, since events such as the catastrophic January 2011 Rio de Janeiro floods and mudslides are not an isolated phenomenon. In early May 2013, winds registering above 90 km/h (56 mph) caused blackouts in 15 neighborhoods of the city and three surrounding municipalities, and killed one person. Rio saw similarly high winds (about 100 km/h (62 mph)) in January 2015.

Temperature also varies according to elevation, distance from the coast, and type of vegetation or land use. During the winter, cold fronts and dawn/morning sea breezes bring mild temperatures; cold fronts, the Intertropical Convergence Zone (in the form of winds from the Amazon Forest), the strongest sea-borne winds (often from an extratropical cyclone) and summer evapotranspiration bring showers or storms. Thus the monsoon-like climate has dry and mild winters and springs, and very wet and warm summers and autumns. As a result, temperatures over 40 °C (104 °F), that may happen about year-round but are much more common during the summer, often mean the actual "feels-like" temperature is over 50 °C (122 °F), when there is little wind and the relative humidity percentage is high.

According to data from the Brazilian National Institute of Meteorology (INMET), since 1931, the absolute minimum temperature recorded in Rio de Janeiro was 6.4 °C on August 18, 1933, at the meteorological station in the Bangu neighborhood (deactivated in March 2004). This same station, located in the city's hottest neighborhood, recorded a maximum temperature of 43.1 °C on January 14, 1984, which held the record for the highest temperature in the city until December 26, 2012, when 43.2 °C was recorded at the Santa Cruz station. The record for rainfall within 24 hours is 349.4 mm, recorded on February 26, 1971, at the former station in the Engenho de Dentro neighborhood.

Demographics

According to the 2010 IBGE Census, there were 5,940,224 people residing in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Since 1960, when it was surpassed by São Paulo, the city of Rio de Janeiro has been the second-most populous city in Brazil.

Ethnic groups

The 2022 census revealed the following numbers: White Brazilian (45.4% or 2,821,619); Mixed (38.7% or 2,403,895); Black (15.6% or 968,428); Asian (10,514 or 0.2%); Indigenous (6,531 or 0.1%). The population of Rio de Janeiro was 53.2% female and 46.8% male.

The black community was formed by residents whose ancestors had been brought as slaves, mostly from Angola and Mozambique, as well by people of Angolan, Mozambican and West African descent who moved to Rio from other parts of Brazil. Nearly half of the city's population is by phenotype mixed or black. White in Brazil is defined more by having a European-looking phenotype rather than ancestry, and two full siblings can be of different "racial" categories in a skin color and phenotype continuum from pálido (branco) or fair-skinned, through branco moreno or swarthy Caucasian, mestiço claro or lighter skinned multiracial, pardo (mixed race) to negro or black. Pardo, for example, in popular usage includes those who are caboclos (mestizos), mulatos (mulattoes), cafuzos (zambos), juçaras (archaic term for tri-racials) and westernized Amerindians (which are called caboclos as well), being more of a skin color rather than a racial group in particular.

Immigration and migration

Different ethnic groups contributed to the formation of the population of Rio de Janeiro. Before European colonization, there were at least seven different indigenous peoples speaking 20 languages in the region. A part of them joined the Portuguese and the other the French. Those who joined the French were then exterminated by the Portuguese, while the other part was assimilated.

Rio de Janeiro is home to the largest Portuguese population outside of Lisbon in Portugal. After independence from Portugal, Rio de Janeiro became a destination for hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Portugal, mainly in the early 20th century. The immigrants were mostly poor peasants who subsequently found prosperity in Rio as city workers and small traders.

The Portuguese cultural influence is still seen in many parts of the city (and many other parts of the state of Rio de Janeiro), including architecture and language. Most Brazilians with some cultural contact with Rio know how to easily differentiate between the local dialect, fluminense, and other Brazilian dialects. People of Portuguese ancestry predominate in most of the state. The Brazilian census of 1920 showed that 39.7% of the Portuguese who lived in Brazil lived in Rio de Janeiro. Including all of the Rio de Janeiro, the proportion raised to 46.3% of the Portuguese who lived in Brazil. The numerical presence of the Portuguese was extremely high, accounting for 72% of the foreigners who lived in the capital. Portuguese born people accounted for 20.4% of the population of Rio, and those with a Portuguese father or a Portuguese mother accounted for 30.8%. In other words, native born Portuguese and their children accounted for 51.2% of the inhabitants of Rio, or a total of 267,664 people in 1890.

As a result of the influx of immigrants to Brazil from the late 19th to the early 20th century, also found in Rio de Janeiro and its metropolitan area are communities of Levantine Arabs who are mostly Christian or Irreligious, Spaniards, Italians, Germans, Japanese,

According to an autosomal DNA study from 2009, conducted on a school in the poor suburb of Rio de Janeiro, the "pardos" there were found to be on average about 80% European, and the "whites" (who thought of themselves as "very mixed") were found to carry very little Amerindian and/or African admixtures. The results of the tests of genomic ancestry are quite different from the self made estimates of European ancestry. In general, the test results showed that European ancestry is far more important than the students thought it would be. The "pardos" for example thought of themselves as 1⁄3 European, 1⁄3 African and 1⁄3 Amerindian before the tests, and yet their ancestry on average reached 80% European. Other studies showed similar results

Religion

Religion in Rio de Janeiro is diverse, with Catholic Christianity being the majority religion. According to data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), in 2010 the population of Rio de Janeiro had 3,229,192 Roman Catholics (51.1%), 1,477,021 Protestants (23.4%), 372.851 Spiritists (5.9%), 37,974 Jehovah's Witnesses (0.6%), 75,075 Buddhists (0.2%), 52,213 Umbanda (0.8%), 21,800 Jews (0.3%), 25,743 Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church (0.4%), 16,776 new eastern religious (0.2%), 28,843 Candomblé (0.4%), 3,853 Mormons (<0.1%), 5,751 Eastern Orthodox Christians (<0.1%), 7,394 spiritualists (0.1%), 964 Muslims (<0.1%), 5,662 esoteric (<0.1%) and 802 Hindus (<0.1%). 858,704 had no religion (13.5%), and 113,530 followed other forms of Christianity (1.8%).

Rio de Janeiro has had a rich and influential Catholic tradition. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro is the second largest archdiocese in Brazil after São Paulo. The Rio de Janeiro Cathedral was inaugurated in 1979, in the central region of the city. Its installations have a collection of great historical and religious value: the Archdiocesan Museum of Sacred Art and the Archdiocesan Archive. In a Contemporary architecture, it has a conical shape, with 96 meters of internal diameter and capacity to receive up to 20 thousand faithful. The splendor of the building, with straight and sober lines, is due to the changing stained glass windows carved on the walls up to the dome. Its design and execution was coordinated by Monsignor Ivo Antônio Calliari (1918–2005). Saint Sebastian is recognized as the city's patron saint, which is why it received the canonical name of "Saint Sebastian of Rio de Janeiro."

Many Protestant creeds coexist in the city, Presbyterian, Congregational, Lutheran and Anglican Churches. In addition to evangelical churches such as the Baptist, Methodist, Seventh-day Adventist and Pentecostal churches, such as the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, Assembly of God, Christian Congregation in Brazil and The Foursquare Church.

Afro-Brazilian religions such as Umbanda and Candomblé find support in various social segments, although professed by less than 2% of the population, many Cariocas simultaneously observe those practices with Roman Catholicism.

Christianity

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro, the Metropolitan See of its respective Ecclesiastical Province, belongs to the Regional Episcopal Council Leste I of the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (CNBB) (headquartered in Rio until 1977). Founded in 1676, it covers a territory of 1,721 km.

The Cathedral of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro, or Metropolitan Cathedral, was inaugurated in 1979 in the central region of the city. Its facilities house a collection of great historical and religious value: the Archdiocesan Museum of Sacred Art and the Archdiocesan Archive. The Banco da Providência and the Archdiocesan Caritas are also based there. In a contemporary architectural style, it has a conical shape, with an internal diameter of 96 meters and a capacity to hold up to 20,000 worshippers. The splendor of the building, with its straight and sober lines, is due to the changing stained glass windows carved into the walls up to the dome. Its design and execution were coordinated by Monsignor Ivo Antônio Calliari (1918–2005). Saint Sebastian is recognized as the patron saint of the city, which is why it received the canonical name "São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro".

The city is home to various Protestant or reformed denominations, exemplified by the Presbyterian, Congregational, Lutheran and Anglican churches. There are also evangelical churches such as the Baptist, Methodist, Seventh-day Adventist churches, and those of Pentecostal origin: Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, Assembly of God, Christian Congregation in Brazil, Foursquare Gospel, House of Blessing, God is Love Pentecostal Church, Christian Maranatha, and New Life.

Education

The Portuguese language is the official and national language, and thus the primary language taught in schools. English and Spanish are also part of the official curriculum. There are also international schools, such as the American School of Rio de Janeiro, Our Lady of Mercy School, SIS Swiss International School, the Corcovado German School, the Lycée Français and the British School of Rio de Janeiro.

The city has several universities and research institutes. The Ministry of Education has certified approximately 99 upper-learning institutions in Rio. The most prestigious university is the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. It is the fifth-best in Latin America; the second-best in Brazil, second only to the University of São Paulo; and the best in Latin America, according to the QS World University Rankings.

Some notable higher education institutions are Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ); Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro (UNIRIO); Rio de Janeiro State University (UERJ); Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ, often nicknamed Rural); Fluminense Federal University (UFF); Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio); Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV); Military Institute of Engineering (IME); Superior Institute of Technology in Computer Science of Rio de Janeiro (IST-Rio); College of Publicity and Marketing (ESPM); The Brazilian Center for Research in Physics (CBPF); National Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics (IMPA); Superior institute of Education of Rio de Janeiro (ISERJ) and Federal Center of Technological Education Celso Suckow da Fonseca (CEFET/RJ). There are more than 137 upper-learning institutions in whole Rio de Janeiro state.

The Rio de Janeiro State University (public), Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (public), Brazilian Institute of Capital Markets (private) and Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (private) are among the country's top institutions of higher education. Other institutes of higher learning include the Colégio Regina Coeli in Usina, notable for having its own 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge funicular railway on its grounds.

Primary schools are largely under municipal administration, while the state plays a more significant role in the extensive network of secondary schools. There are also a small number of schools under federal administration, as is the case of Pedro II School, Colégio de Aplicação da UFRJ and the Centro Federal de Educação Tecnológica of Rio de Janeiro (CEFET-RJ). In addition, Rio has an ample offering of private schools that provide education at all levels. Rio is home to many colleges and universities. The literacy rate for cariocas aged 10 and older is nearly 95 percent, well above the national average. In Rio, there were 1,033 primary schools with 25,594 teachers and 667,788 students in 1995. There are 370 secondary schools with 9,699 teachers and 227,892 students. There are 53 University-preparatory schools with 14,864 teachers and 154,447 students. The city has six major universities and 47 private schools of higher learning.

Social issues

There are significant disparities between the rich and the poor in Rio de Janeiro, and different socioeconomic groups are largely segregated into different neighborhoods. Although the city clearly ranks among the world's major metropolises, large numbers live in slums known as favelas, where 95% of the population are poor, compared to 40% in the general population.

There have been a number of government initiatives to counter this problem, from the removal of the population from favelas to housing projects such as Cidade de Deus to the more recent approach of improving conditions in the favelas and bringing them up to par with the rest of the city, as was the focus of the "Favela Bairro" program and deployment of Pacifying Police Units.

Rio has more people living in slums than any other city in Brazil, according to the 2010 Census. More than 1,500,000 people live in its 763 favelas, 22% of Rio's total population. São Paulo, the largest city in Brazil, has more favelas (1,020), but proportionally has fewer people living in favelas than Rio.

Rio also has a large proportion of state-sanctioned violence, with about 20% of all killings committed by state security. In 2019, police killed an average of five people each day in the state of Rio de Janeiro, with a total of 1,810 killed in the year. This was more police killings than any year since official records started in 1998.

Politics

Municipal government

In Rio de Janeiro, the executive power is represented by the mayor and the cabinet of secretaries, in accordance with the model proposed by the Federal Constitution. The Organic Law of the Municipality and the current Master Plan, however, stipulate that the public administration must provide the population with effective tools for the exercise of participatory democracy. In this way, the city is divided into subprefectures, each of which is headed by a sub-mandatory appointed directly by the mayor.

Legislative power is constituted by the municipal council, composed of 51 councilors elected for four-year terms (in compliance with the provisions of article 29 of the Constitution, which disciplines a minimum number of 42 and a maximum of 55 for municipalities with more than five million inhabitants). It is up to the House to prepare and vote on fundamental laws for the administration and the Executive, especially the participatory budget (Lei de Diretrizes Orçamentárias). Although the veto power is granted to the mayor, the process of voting on the laws that oppose him usually generates conflicts between the Executive and the Legislative.

There are also municipal councils, which complement the legislative process and the work engendered in the secretariats. Compulsorily formed by representatives of various sectors of organized civil society, they are on different fronts — although their effective representation is sometimes questioned. The following are currently in operation: Municipal Council for the Protection of Cultural Heritage (CMPC), Defense of the Environment (CONDEMAM), Health (CMS), the Rights of Children and Adolescents (CMDCA), Education (CME), Social Assistance (CMAS) and Anti-Drugs.

State government

As the capital of the homonymous state, the city is the seat of the state government. The Guanabara Palace (formerly known as Paço Isabel) is located in the Laranjeiras neighborhood, in the south zone, and is the official seat of the Rio de Janeiro executive power. Not to be confused with Palácio Laranjeiras, situated in the same neighborhood, which is the official residence of the governor of Rio de Janeiro.

The Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro (ALERJ) is the state legislative body and is headquartered at Tiradentes Palace, where the Chamber of Deputies of Brazil previously functioned.

The Court of Justice of the State of Rio de Janeiro (TJRJ) is the highest body of the judiciary in the state. Its central court is located in downtown Rio de Janeiro, but, from 2013 to July 2018, some of the courts of this court were moved to Cidade Nova.

Federal government

The city of Rio de Janeiro was successively the capital of the Portuguese colony of the State of Brazil (1621–1815), after the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves (1815–1822), the Empire of Brazil (1822–1889) and from the Republic of the United States of Brazil (1889–1968) until 1960, when the seat of government was definitively transferred to the then newly built Brasília.

Despite the change in the federal capital, 59% of civil servants in the Executive Branch of federal agencies and public companies remained in the city. Rio de Janeiro is also the only Brazilian state where the number of federal employees exceeds the number of state employees. About a third of all federal public bodies and companies remain in the former capital, with 50 public offices, including agencies, autarchies, foundations and public companies, such as the National Library, the National Nuclear Energy Commission, Fiocruz, BNDES, Petrobras, Eletrobras, IBGE, Casa da Moeda, the National Archives, among others.

Subdivisions

The city is commonly divided into the historic center (Centro); the tourist-friendly wealthier South Zone (Zona Sul); the residential less wealthy North Zone (Zona Norte); peripheries in the West Zone (Zona Oeste), among them Santa Cruz, Campo Grande and the wealthy newer Barra da Tijuca district. Rio de Janeiro is administratively divided into 33 distritos (districts) named Regiões Administrativas ("Administrative Regions") and 165 bairros (neighborhoods).

Subprefectures are officially grouped into four regions (or "zones"), taking into account geographic position and occupation history; however these do not have any administrative or political power over the municipality. The official political division of the municipality takes into account historical-cultural characteristics to divide the neighborhoods. Most of its population is concentrated in the neighborhoods of Campo Grande, Santa Cruz, Bangu, Tijuca, Realengo, Jacarepaguá, Copacabana, Barra da Tijuca, Maré, Guaratiba and Taquara together, these eleven neighborhoods concentrate a population of 1.5 million inhabitants, according to the 2010 census.

Centro or Downtown is the historic core of the city, as well as its financial center. Sites of interest include the Paço Imperial, built during colonial times to serve as a residence for the Portuguese governors of Brazil; many historic churches, such as the Candelária Church (the former cathedral), São Jose, Santa Lucia, Nossa Senhora do Carmo, Santa Rita, São Francisco de Paula, and the monasteries of Santo Antônio and São Bento. The Centro also houses the modern concrete Rio de Janeiro Cathedral. Around the Cinelândia square, there are several landmarks of the Belle Époque of Rio, such as the Municipal Theatre and the National Library building. Among its several museums, the Museu Nacional de Belas Artes (National Museum of Fine Arts) and the Museu Histórico Nacional (National Historical Museum) are the most important.

The South Zone (Zona Sul) is composed of several districts, among which are São Conrado, Leblon, Ipanema, Arpoador, Copacabana, and Leme, which compose Rio's Atlantic beach coastline. The neighborhood of Copacabana beach hosts one of the world's most spectacular New Year's Eve parties ("Reveillon"), as more than two million revelers crowd onto the sands to watch the fireworks display. From 2001, the fireworks have been launched from boats, to improve the safety of the event.

The North Zone (Zona Norte) begins at Grande Tijuca (the middle class residential and commercial bairro of Tijuca), just west of the city center, and sprawls for miles inland until Baixada Fluminense and the city's Northwest. This region is home to the Maracanã (located in Grande Tijuca), once the world's highest capacity football venue, able to hold nearly 199,854 people, as it did for the World Cup final of 1950. This region is also home to most of the samba schools of Rio de Janeiro such as Mangueira, Salgueiro, Império Serrano, Unidos da Tijuca, Imperatriz Leopoldinense, among others. Some of the main neighborhoods of Rio's North Zone are Alto da Boa Vista which shares the Tijuca Rainforest with the South and Southwest Zones; Tijuca, Vila Isabel, Méier, São Cristovão, Madureira, Penha, Manguinhos, Fundão, Olaria among others. Many of Rio de Janeiro's slums (favelas), are located in the North Zone.

West Zone (Zona Oeste) of Rio de Janeiro is a vaguely defined area that covers some 50% of the city's entire area, including Barra da Tijuca and Recreio dos Bandeirantes neighborhoods. The West Side of Rio has many historic sites because of the old "Royal Road of Santa Cruz" that crossed the territory in the regions of Realengo, Bangu, and Campo Grande, finishing at the Royal Palace of Santa Cruz in the Santa Cruz region. The highest peak of the city of Rio de Janeiro is the Pedra Branca Peak (Pico da Pedra Branca) inside the Pedra Branca State Park. It has an altitude of 1024m. The Pedra Branca State Park (Parque Estadual da Pedra Branca) is the biggest urban state park in the world comprising 17 neighborhoods in the west side, being a "giant lung" in the city with trails, waterfalls and historic constructions like an old aqueduct in the Colônia Juliano Moreira in the neighborhood of Taquara and a dam in Camorim. Santa Cruz and Campo Grande Region have exhibited economic growth, mainly in the Campo Grande neighborhood. Industrial enterprises are being built in lower and lower middle class residential Santa Cruz, one of the largest and most populous of Rio de Janeiro's neighborhoods, most notably Ternium Brasil, a new steel mill with its own private docks on Sepetiba Bay, which is planned to be South America's largest steel works. A tunnel called Túnel da Grota Funda, opened in 2012, creating a public transit facility between Barra da Tijuca and Santa Cruz, lessening travel time to the region from other areas of Rio de Janeiro.

International relations

Twin towns – sister cities

Rio de Janeiro is twinned with:

• Arganil, Portugal
• Atlanta, United States
• Baku, Azerbaijan
• Barcelona, Spain
• Beijing, China
• Beirut, Lebanon
• Braga, Portugal
• Brisbane, Australia
• Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Busan, South Korea
• Cape Town, South Africa
• Tangier, Morocco
• Cologne, Germany
• Guimarães, Portugal
• Guiyang, China
• Istanbul, Turkey
• Kyiv, Ukraine
• Kobe, Japan
• Lahore, Pakistan
• Lisbon, Portugal
• Liverpool, United Kingdom
• Luanda, Angola
• M'banza Congo, Angola
• Madrid, Spain
• Montpellier, France
• Nice, France
• Nairobi, Kenya
• Oklahoma City, United States
• Olhão, Portugal
• Ramat Gan, Israel
• Saint Petersburg, Russia
• Samarkand, Uzbekistan
• Santa Comba, Spain
• Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain
• Viana do Castelo, Portugal
• Viseu, Portugal
• Warsaw, Poland

Partner cities

Rio de Janeiro has the following partner/friendship cities:

• Berlin, Germany
• Kansas City, United States
• Moscow, Russia
• New York, United States
• Paris, France
• Philadelphia, United States
• Tokyo, Japan
• Toronto, Canada
• Yerevan, Armenia