Recife Recife ( , ) is the Federative units of Brazil, state capital of Pernambuco, Brazil, on the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of South America. It is the largest urban area within both the North Region, Brazil, North and the Northeast R ...

Metropolitan Area, officially the Metropolitan Region of Recife (, or ''Grande Recife''), is a major

metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region consisting of a densely populated urban area, urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories which share Industry (economics), industries, commercial areas, Transport infrastructure, transport network ...

Northeast Brazil The Northeast Region of Brazil ( ) is one of the five official and political regions of Brazil, regions of the country according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. Of Brazil's twenty-six states, it comprises nine: Maranhão, ...

with a population of 3.7 million as of 2022, centered on the state capital 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, ...

. In 2017, it was ranked as the 8th largest metropolitan region nationally. The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) defines the region as a "metropolis" in its ''Area of Influence'' surveys, in terms of economic and social importance. The region's area of influence covers a large part of Northeast Brazil, including the entire states of

Alagoas Alagoas () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil and is situated in the eastern part of the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region. It borders: Pernambuco (N and NW); Sergipe (S); Bahia (SW); and the Atlantic Ocean (E). Its capital is ...

Paraíba Paraíba ( , ; ) is a states of Brazil, state of Brazil. It is located in the Brazilian Northeast, and it is bordered by Rio Grande do Norte to the north, Ceará to the west, Pernambuco to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Paraíba i ...

, and

, in addition to portions 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 ...

Ceará Ceará (, ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. It is the List of Brazilian states by population, eighth-largest Brazilian State by ...

Maranhão Maranhão () is a States of Brazil, state in Brazil. Located in the country's Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region, it has a population of about 7 million and an area of and it is divided into 217 municipalities. Clockwise from north, it ...

Piauí Piauí ( ) is one of the states of Brazil, located in the country's Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region. The state has 1.6% of the Brazilian population and produces 0.7% of the Brazilian GDP. Piauí has the shortest coastline of any coas ...

Rio Grande do Norte Rio Grande do Norte (, , ) is one of the states of Brazil. It is located in the northeastern region of the country, forming the northeasternmost tip of the South American continent. The name literally translates as "Great Northern River", refe ...

, and

Sergipe Sergipe (), officially State of Sergipe, is a States of Brazil, state of Brazil. Located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region along the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the country, Sergipe is the smallest state in Brazil by geogra ...

. Within this area of influence are the smaller cities of Natal, João Pessoa,

Maceió Maceió (), formerly anglicised as Maceio, is the capital and the largest city of the coastal state of Alagoas, Brazil. The name "Maceió" is an Indigenous term for a Spring (hydrology), spring. Most maceiós flow to the sea, but some get trapped ...

, and

Aracaju Aracaju () is the capital of the state of Sergipe, Brazil, located in the northeastern part of the country on the coast, about 350 km (217 mi) north of Salvador, Bahia, Salvador. According to the 2020 estimate, the city has 664,908 inha ...

Municipalities

The Metropolitan Region is defined in federal and state legislation as consisting of 14 municipalities. Goiana was formerly a part, but left in March 2020. The Immediate Geographic Region (formerly termed

microregion Microregion is a designation for territorial entities. Austria Brazil Klaus Roth and Ulf Brunnbauer A microregion is a geographic region of a size between that of a community and that of a district.p. 18, "What's in a Region? Southeast Europ ...

) around Recife defined by the IBGE encompasses additional outlying municipalities.

Transport

Airport

Guararapes – Gilberto Freyre International Airport serves the area, and has domestic and international flights.

Ports

The region is served by Suape and

ports.

Metro

Since 1998, an extension to the

Recife Metro The Recife Metro ( Portuguese: ''Metrô do Recife'', Metrorec) is a rapid transit system serving the Metropolitan Region of Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. It is operated by the federally-owned ''Companhia Brasileira de Trens Urbanos (CBTU)'' and ...

is being built. When ready, it will become the second largest in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, after

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 ...

. This system also integrates with several bus lines connected to the

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...

/ metro integration terminals, such as Barro and Joana Bezerra stations. It is possible to ride the metro and the connected bus line by purchasing one ticket only. Since March 2009,

has finished one more phase of expansion. The system counts now has 28 stations (11 integrated with buses) and is 39.5 kilometers long.

Bus

Buses transport over 3 million passengers daily through 224 routes and 4,523 stops.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Recife Metropolitan Area Metropolitan areas of Brazil

Metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region consisting of a densely populated urban area, urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories which share Industry (economics), industries, commercial areas, Transport infrastructure, transport network ...

Geography of Pernambuco