São Paulo in Statistics: Where People Live

In the so-called megacities such as Shanghai, Mexico city, Hong Kong or São Paulo we often talk about overcrowding but what does this actually mean?

Is all of the city overcrowded? How are people spread throughout the city?

One way or analysing this is to look at residential density. Below is a map from LSE cities which measure the population of each square kilometre of various cities around the world and attributes a column height in proportion to the number of people permanently living in that area.

Of course it doesn't account for movement but still it gives us an idea of where the greatest density of people is in each cities and it turns out it varies hugely between cities.

The shape of New York or Istanbul is clearly impacted by a geographical constrain i.e. the sea. Public transport can affect where people live as well as cultural traditions and historical urban planning.

In São Paulo's case we can see that there is a relatively high density spread almost evenly across a large part of the city. This is in fact uncommon. Most cities such as New York or Shanghai have extreme residential density in the central areas of the city and progressively fewer people living in the outer regions.

This possibly reflects the high rise buildings which have been allowed to be built irrespective of the region as opposed to London for example, which has very strict rules on multi storey buildings outside of its financial square mile.

Click here for more statistics on São Paulo.

São Paulo's monorail in testing and ready to launch within 2 months

Testing São Paulo’s new monorail

Progress is often made in small steps and such is the case of São Paulo's Line 15 (Silver). Last week the first tests were made on the new monorail line, the first stretch of which is due to open in March 2014 and which will eventually run 27km across the city.

In true São Paulo style, it lacks no ambition. It will have taken quite some time to build but will still be the world's largest monorail and if that isn't enough it will also carry the highest number of passengers of any monorail system, shifting almost 50,000 people in each direction every single hour. 

Here are some more facts on the Silver line:

Number of operational trains planned: 54

Number of stations: 18 

Planned full system opening date: 2015.

Total construction cost: $6.4 billion 

São Paulo in Statistics: The city's top 11 problems according to its voters

According to Datafolha and looking ahead to the local elections, São Paulo's voters have named the top issues they perceive the city is facing. The biggest problems identified in order of importance are:

Health 26%

Security 16%

Public Transport 15%

Flooding 6%

Education 6%
Transport 6%

Waste / litter  5%
Pavements 3%
Drug trafficking 2%
Housing 2%

Unemployment 2%

This does away with the stereotype that drug trafficking are a major concern for São Paulo residents, in fact the state of the pavements are perceived to be a bigger problem.

Personally I was surprised to see flooding so high up but it is true that the city is badly prepared for the downfalls it receives and for those whose streets are regularly affected it presumably bounces straight to number one priority.

Also interesting for European (or North American) eyes is the fact that unemployment only just scrapes in to the list of problems. If the same survey was carried out in Italy, Spain, Greece or Portugal it would be interesting to compare the percentages..

Homicide rate in São Paulo hits lowest levels in over 30 years

The Sangari Institute has just released a so called map of violence in Brazil covering data from 1980 to 2010 and the most interesting data is no doubt from São Paulo:

Above are comparative results from the last 10 years for Brazil, São Paulo state, São Paulo city and municipalities, and finally the interior of the state (excluding São Paulo city). The interesting data is how the city and its immediate surroundings has transformed from having 60,2 homicides per 100,000 people in 2000 right down to last year’s 15,6 per 100,000. For a population the size of São Paulo that is statistically significant and an incredible drop. Few would have predicted 10 years ago that São Paulo would have four times fewer murders. It has gone from practically twice the national average to nearly half the national average whilst continuing to grow in absolute population size.

Looking at the data more closely we can see it is a complete reversal of the trend up to that point. São Paulo started out in 1980 with a homicide rate similar to its current one but greatly outstripped the already increasing national average year on year until reaching its peak in 1999 reaching levels over 65% higher than the already high national average. Frightening statistics. Escalating lawlessness? An inevitable product of gross inequality? A side effect of the uncontrolled creation of a megalopolis? Either way, 1999 would have been a difficult time to predict any major reduction or even leveling off.

But the data doesn’t lie, here’s the year by year rate again by Brazil, São Paulo state, São Paulo city and municipalities, and finally the interior of the state (excluding São Paulo city):

And in more visual format (check out the purple line which is São Paulo city):

Paradoxically 10 years ago there were more municipalities which didn’t register any homicides at all which means there are now much fewer homicides but they are more dispersed. And counter-intuitively, although the more populous areas have higher rates in general at the top end the municipalities with 200-500,000 population now have a higher rate than ones with over 500,000:

Food for thought and definitely not what the tabloid media, human rights activists, or paranoid affluent Paulistanos would have you believe...

For more statistics on São Paulo: 

http://www.discoveringsaopaulo.com/p/sao-paulo-in-statistics.html

For the full report from the Instituto Sangari:

http://www.institutosangari.org.br/instituto/

São Paulo in Statistics: 2010 Census

Here are some facts and figures on São Paulo recently released as part of the 2010 census but not widely commented on:

Household Income

At R$2,853 average income per household is high compared to the national average of R$ 2,222. The states with the highest household incomes are:

Brasilia D.F (R$ 2,853) [somewhat of an exception as it is a new city and an administrative district]

São Paulo (R$ 2,853)

Santa Catarina (R$ 2,636)

Rio de Janeiro (R$ 2,630)

Rio Grande do Sul (R$ 2,403)

Paraná (R$ 2,364)

Infant Mortality

One of the amazing statistics revealed is infant mortality. In 1980 23,3% of all deaths were infants below the age of 12months. The national average in 2010 is now 3,4% and in São Paulo 2,7%  the 4th lowest in the whole country behind Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and Rio Grande do Sul.

Brazilians living abroad

Of the total number of Brazilians who are living abroad a massive 21,6% originate from São Paulo state. The top destinations at a national level are US, Portugal, Spain, Japan, Italy and England but in São Paulo´s case Japan is second placed.

São Paulo in Statistics: where are we from?

The IPEA (Institute for Applied Economic Research) just pulled demographic data from the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics). It shows where adult residents of different cities were born by federal state.

It shows that barring Brasilia, which is a new city and has a huge migrant population, São Paulo is the city with the highest proportion of adults born outside the state, 46% in total. Bahía, in the North East, is the state which contributes the most to São Paulo city's population followed by Minas Gerais and another North Eastern state Pernambuco. Interestingly, although central São Paulo feels quite multicultural, people born in foreign countries such as myself still only contribute 1% of the city's adults.

Of the remaining 54% we can assume from population growth figures that a large part were not born in the city itself either but in the surrounding towns of the state of São Paulo.

See more statistics on São Paulo here.