Brazil's industrial heartland moves to the countryside

Brazil’s industrial landscape is undergoing a quiet but profound transformation. For decades, the country’s manufacturing prowess was concentrated in and around bustling metropolitan areas like São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Today, that picture has shifted dramatically: most industrial jobs are now in the country’s interior, away from major urban centers.

In 1985, two-thirds of Brazil’s manufacturing employment came in state capitals and their surrounding metropolitan regions. By 2022, 54.4% of industrial jobs had moved to the countryside, according to a new study by economists Paulo Morceiro and Milene Tessarin at the University of São Paulo’s Regional and Urban Economics Center (Nereus).