The Eternal Rivalry Between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo

SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – Arguing which city is the best, Cariocas (those born in the city of Rio de Janeiro) and Paulistanos (those born in São Paulo city) continually fight over soccer teams, lifestyles and which is the best city to live in. Over the last few decades, many comparisons have been made, from traffic conditions, to employment opportunities, to cultural events. Here are some interesting differences and similarities between the two cities.

The most blatant difference is population. While the total area occupied by Rio de Janeiro city (1.2 million square km) is slightly less than the total area of São Paulo city (1.5 million square km) the population of the ‘Cidade Maravilhosa’ is only 54 percent of South America’s largest megalopolis. While Rio has a population of 6.7 million, São Paulo boasts a whooping 12.2 million residents.

And the gap between the two cities is likely to increase in coming decades. According to Brazil’s IBGE (Census Bureau), the annual population growth for Rio de Janeiro is 0.56 percent, while São Paulo’s population is expected to grow over 1.26 percent per year in the next few years.

“I only go to São Paulo when I absolutely need to, like for seminars and conferences,” explains Pedro Silva, a professor at Rio’s Federal University (UFRJ). “I always feel confined there; too many people; too many lines; you don’t have a skyline you can just look at and unwind,” adds a physical education teacher who spends most of his weekends surfing and playing beach soccer in Rio’s western beaches of Barra da Tijuca and Recreio dos Bandeirantes.

The volume of people circulating through most of São Paulo’s 97 neighborhoods is undeniable. Despite having a larger subway grid than Rio, during morning and afternoon rush hours, long lines form at stations, with people trying to squeeze into subway cars before they close.

Up on the street, the situation is not any better. In 2018, Latin America’s largest city had a fleet of 8.295 million vehicles, with 69 percent being private automobiles, while the city by the sea had only 2.827 million vehicles, with 72 percent being automobiles.

The frequent, gigantic traffic jams led São Paulo officials to implement in 1996 a vehicle system where, during morning and afternoon peak traffic times, twenty percent of vehicles are not allowed to circulate within the city’s expanded center section. The day of the restriction is determined by the last number of the vehicle’s license plate. While during the first few years there was a significant reduction in traffic jams, the city today again suffers with interminable gridlocks.

“When I have to get somewhere fast I take a taxi,” complains administrator Mariangela Ribeiro. “I hardly use my car or even Uber car service in the city anymore. It’s too stressful to sit in a tailback just watching the lights turn green, then red, then green again and not being able to move.” Taxis with passengers are allowed to travel in the delineated bus lanes which move faster than normal private automobiles.

São Paulo, however, has its benefits. IBGE data show that in 2017 the city’s GDP hovered around R$699.3 billion, while Rio de Janeiro registered a GDP of R$337.6 billion reais. Rio’s per capita GDP, however (R$51,776), was not much lower than that of its rival (R$57,570).

And while the unemployment rates are not very different – Rio de Janeiro at 5.7 percent while Sao Paulo is at 5.2 percent – the number of companies headquartered in each city is significantly different. While in Rio de Janeiro there are a little over 195,000 companies (mostly in hospitality, services and gas and oil), São Paulo has almost 535,600 companies from the financial sector to multinational companies to industries.

“When I finished my university studies, the first company which offered me a job was in São Paulo, so I came,” says Carioca consultant Eder Silva.

“During the first few years I looked for career opportunities that would take me back to Rio, but here is where the big companies are and where business is conducted. Rio is a tourist town,” sighs Silva.

But all is not wine and roses for the city which has a bigger economy than most Brazilian states. Despite the large number of companies, the latest data released by IBGE for city debt, from 2017, shows that the São Paulo city government had a debt of R$1.295 billion, while Rio de Janeiro registered a debt of R$353.009 million. Over the last two years Rio’s debt has increased significantly, but it is unlikely that it has caught up with São Paulo.

With the increased debt and lack of quality public services, Rio’s crime rate has also soared, making headlines around the country and around the world. A report released in 2019, IPEA’s Atlas of Violence with data from 2017, shows that Rio de Janeiro had a rate of 35.6 of violent deaths for every 100,000 inhabitants, in comparison to São Paulo’s 13.2 rate.

Rio de Janeiro city, however, has some surprising results when it comes to education. While the city of São Paulo registered only 93 percent of its children, from 6-14 years old, in school in 2010, Rio registered 96.9 percent of its children obtaining an elementary education during that year. But if Latin America’s financial hub is behind Rio in terms of basic education, it is far ahead in terms of higher education. The megalopolis has twenty-two universities within its area, against Rio’s eleven.

There are areas, however, where both cities are not that different from each other. Rio de Janeiro, for example, is slightly behind São Paulo in its Human Development Index – Rio 0.799 against São Paulo’s 0.805.

Both cities have two airports, one domestic and one international. The ones serving São Paulo city, however, had in 2018 more than triple the number of passengers arriving and leaving than the two serving Rio de Janeiro.

The two cities are also home to the soccer teams with the most fans in the country: Rio de Janeiro has Flamengo with 20 percent of the nation’s soccer fans, whereas São Paulo hosts Corinthians with 14 percent of Brazil’s fans.

Overall, the cities Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo both offer advantages and disadvantages. Each have their own characteristics which makes them liked and disliked by their residents and visitors. Some believe that the best of both worlds would be a mixture of the two. “If I could create the perfect combination I would work in São Paulo and relax in Rio,” concludes Eder Silva.