ABSTRACT

This chapter describes a study of Sao Paulo State that involves a more detailed classification of settlement in the 'transitional' zones around metropolitan centers. It briefly documents the main characteristics of Brazil's urbanization and metropolitanization processes. Based mainly on data from the population censuses of 1980, 1991 and 2000, the chapter begins with an overview of national and regional population trends. Despite the high levels of urbanization across much of Brazil by 2000, it is important to note the continued existence of a large rural population. The chapter examines what the official statistics tell about urban and rural population change, the pace of urbanization and the scale of metropolitan growth. It presents data that indicate some of the problems arising from the type of classification used in Brazil to identify town and country populations. C. Egler emphasizes 'the fragility of the political-administrative concept of urban population employed for statistical purposes in Brazil'.