Vargem Grande do Rio Pardo is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the northeast of the Brazilian state of

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...

Geography

Vargem Grande do Rio Pardo has a total area of 494 km². The elevation is 800 meters. It became a municipality in 1997. It is part of the statistical microregion of Salinas and lies between BR-251 and the boundary with the state of

Bahia Bahia () is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Mina ...

. Neighboring municipalities are: Indaiabira,

São João do Paraíso São João do Paraíso is a city in the northeast of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. In 2020 its population was estimated to be 23,709 in a total area of 1,921 km2. The city belongs to the mesoregion of Jequitinhonha and to the microre ...

, Montezuma, and Novorizonte. The municipality contains about 16% of the

Nascentes Geraizeiras Sustainable Development Reserve The Nascentes Geraizeiras Sustainable Development Reserve ( is a Sustainable development reserve (Brazil), sustainable development reserve in the Cerrado, Cerrado ecoregion within the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Location The Nascentes Geraizei ...

, created in 2014. The reserve protects an area of the

cerrado The Cerrado () is a vast ecoregion of Tropics, tropical savanna in central Brazil, being present in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Maranhão, Piauí, Bahia, Minas Gerais, São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Paraná ...

biome.

Demographics

As of 2020 the population was 5,026. This is one of the poorest municipalities in the state and in the country. Isolation and drought mean that most of the inhabitants live in

extreme poverty Extreme poverty is the most severe type of poverty, defined by the United Nations (UN) as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, ...

. The main economic activities are

cattle raising A ranch (from /Mexican Spanish) is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of farm. These terms are most often applied to li ...

(1,200 head in 2006) and farming with modest production of coffee and mangoes, and corn. In 2006 there were 640 rural producers in a total area of 48,347 hectares. Cropland made up 37,000 hectares. There were only 43 tractors. In the urban area there were no

financial institution A financial institution, sometimes called a banking institution, is a business entity that provides service as an intermediary for different types of financial monetary transactions. Broadly speaking, there are three major types of financial ins ...

s as of 2006. There were 72 automobiles (2007), giving a ratio of about one automobile for every 65 inhabitants.

Health care Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

was provided by 3

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the de ...

clinics. There were no hospitals. The GDP in 2003 was R$13,548,952.00 while the

GDP per capita This is a list of countries by nominal GDP per capita. GDP per capita is the total value of a country's finished goods and services (gross domestic product) divided by its total population (per capita). Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita is ...

was R$2,865.68.

Human Development Index

*Municipal

Human Development Index The Human Development Index (HDI) is a statistical composite index of life expectancy, Education Index, education (mean years of schooling completed and expected years of schooling upon entering the education system), and per capita income i ...

: .598 (2000) *State ranking: 838 out of 853 municipalities as of 2000 *National ranking: 4,700 out of 5,138 municipalities as of 2000 *Life expectancy: 60 *Literacy rate: 65 *Combined primary, secondary and tertiary gross enrollment ratio: .795 *Per capita income (monthly): R$79.60 (''For the complete list see'
Frigoletto
''Note that at last count Brazil had 5,561 municipalities while Minas Gerais still had 853''. The above figures can be compared with those of

Poços de Caldas Poços de Caldas is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the south of Minas Gerais state, Brazil, in the microregion of the same name. Its estimated population in 2020 was 168,641 inhabitants. The city is known for its hot springs. Histor ...

, which had an MHDI of .841, the highest in the state of

. The highest MHDI in the country (2000) was

São Caetano do Sul São Caetano do Sul (; " Saint Cajetan of the South"), or simply São Caetano, is a city in São Paulo state in Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo. The population is 161,957 (2020 est.) in an area of 15.33 km2. It is ...

in the state of

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

with an MHDI of .919. More up-to-date data from 2004 show that the lowest in that year was Manari in the state of

Pernambuco Pernambuco ( , , ) is a States of Brazil, state of Brazil located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.5 million people as of 2024, it is the List of Brazilian states by population, ...

with an MHDI of .467 out of a total of 5504 municipalities in the country as of 2004. At last count Brazil had 5,561 municipalities so this might have changed at the time of this writing. Se
Frigoletto

References

IBGE

Sources

* {{refend Municipalities in Minas Gerais

Geography

Demographics

Human Development Index

See also

References

Sources