Northeast Region, Brazil

Northeast Region Região Nordeste
Region
Coordinates: 12°58′S 38°31′W / 12.967°S 38.517°W / -12.967; -38.517
Country	Brazil
Largest cities	Recife (by metro pop.) Salvador (by city proper) Fortaleza (by pop. density)
States	List  Alagoas  Bahia  Ceará  Maranhão  Paraíba  Pernambuco  Piauí  Rio Grande do Norte  Sergipe
Area
• Region	1,558,196 km2 (601,623 sq mi)
• Rank	3rd
Population
• Region	54,658,515
• Rank	2nd
• Density	35/km2 (91/sq mi)
• Rank	3rd
• Urban	71%
GDP [1]
• Total	R$ 1.243 trillion (US$ 230.596 billion)
HDI
• Year	2014
• Category	0.710 – high (5th)
• Life expectancy	69 years (5th)
• Infant mortality	33.2 per 1,000 (1st)
• Literacy	85,8% (5th)
Time zones	UTC−02:00 (FNT)
	UTC−03:00 (BRT)

The Northeast Region of Brazil (Portuguese: Região Nordeste do Brasil [ʁeʒiˈɐ̃w nɔʁˈdɛstʃi du bɾaˈziw]) is one of the five official and political regions of the country according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. Of Brazil's twenty-six states, it comprises nine: Maranhão, Piauí, Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Alagoas, Sergipe and Bahia, along with the Fernando de Noronha archipelago (formerly a separate territory, now part of Pernambuco).

Chiefly known as Nordeste ("Northeast") in Brazil, this region was the first to be colonized by the Portuguese and other European peoples, playing a crucial role in the country's history. Nordeste's dialects and rich culture, including its folklore, cuisines, music and literature, became the most easily distinguishable across the country. To this day, Nordeste is known for its history and culture, as well as for its natural environment and its hot weather.^{[citation needed]}

Nordeste stretches from the Atlantic seaboard in the northeast and southeast, northwest and west to the Amazon Basin and south through the Espinhaço highlands in southern Bahia. It encloses the São Francisco River and drainage basin, which were instrumental in the exploration, settlement and economic development of the region. The region lies entirely within the earth's tropical zone and encompasses Caatinga, Atlantic Forest and part of the Cerrado ecoregions. The climate is hot and semi-arid, varying from xeric in Caatinga, to mesic in Cerrado and hydric in the Atlantic Forest. The Northeast Region represents 18% of Brazilian territory, has a population of 57 million people, 28% of the total population of the country, and contributes 14.2% (2020) of Brazil's GDP.^[2] Nearly three quarters of the population live in urban areas clustered along the Atlantic coast^{[citation needed]} and about 15 million people live in the hinterland. It is an impoverished region: 43.5% of the population lives in poverty, defined as less than $2/day.^[3]

The capital of each state including the states of Salvador, Recife, Fortaleza and São Luís is its largest city; those four capitals are coastal cities with a population of more than one million.^[4] Nordeste has nine international airports,^{[Note 1]} and the region has the second largest number of passengers (roughly 20%) in Brazil.

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