Senador Modestino Gonçalves - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Senador Modestino Gonçalves is a Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

ian municipality in the state of Minas Gerais

Minas Gerais

Minas Gerais is one of the 26 states of Brazil, of which it is the second most populous, the third richest, and the fourth largest in area. Minas Gerais is the Brazilian state with the largest number of Presidents of Brazil, the current one, Dilma Rousseff, being one of them. The capital is the...

. Its population as of 2007 was 4,988 living in a total area of 951 km². The city belongs to the statistical mesoregion

Mesoregion (Brazil)

Mesoregions are subdivisions of Brazilian states, grouping together various municipalities in proximity and with common characteristics. They were created by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics for statistical purposes and do not, therefore, constitute an administrative area....

of Jequitinhonha

Jequitinhonha

Jequitinhonha is a Brazilian municipality located in the northeast of the state of Minas Gerais.The population as of 2007 was estimated to be 23,982 people living in a total area of 3,518 km². The city belongs to the mesoregion of Jequitinhonha and to the microregion of Almenara. ...

and to the statistical microregion

Microregion (Brazil)

Microregions are legally defined administrative areas in Brazil consisting of groups of municipalities bordering urban areas. Microregions are grouped together into mesoregions....

of Diamantina. It became a municipality in 1962.

The municipal seat of Sendador Modestino Gonçalves is located at an elevation of 743 meters in the upper Jequitinhonha River

Jequitinhonha River

thumb|Source of the river in [[Serro]]|rightThe Jequitinhonha River is a river that flows mainly through the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. Its source lies near Diamantina in the Serra do Espinhaço at an elevation of 1,200 m, after which it flows northward and then east-northeastward across the...

valley. It is northeast of Diamantina to which it is connected by secondary highways. The nearest major population center is Itamarandiba

Itamarandiba

Itamarandiba is a Brazilian municipality located in the north-center of the state of Minas Gerais. Its population as of 2007 was 31,883 living in a total area of 2,736 km². The city belongs to the statistical mesoregion of Jequitinhonha and to the statistical microregion of Capelinha...

, which had 31,000 inhabitants in 2007.

The distance to Itamarandiba

Itamarandiba

is 48 km; and the distance to Belo Horizonte

Belo Horizonte

Belo Horizonte is the capital of and largest city in the state of Minas Gerais, located in the southeastern region of Brazil. It is the third largest metropolitan area in the country...

is 373 km. Neighboring municipalities are: Diamantina - Felício dos Santos

Felício dos Santos

Felício dos Santos is a Brazilian municipality located in the center-north of the state of Minas Gerais. Its population as of 2007 was 5,685 living in a total area of 358 km². The city belongs to the statistical mesoregion of Jequitinhonha and to the statistical microregion of Diamantina. It...

- Carbonita

Carbonita

Carbonita is a municipality in the northeast of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. As of 2007 the population was 10,145 in a total area of 1,454 km². The elevation of the town center is 751 meters. It is part of the IBGE statistical meso-region of Jequitinhonha and the micro-region of...

- Itamarandiba

Itamarandiba

and São Gonçalo do Rio Preto

São Gonçalo do Rio Preto

São Gonçalo do Rio Preto is a Brazilian municipality in the state of Minas Gerais. Its population as of 2007 was 3,124 living in a total area of 313 km². The city belongs to the statistical mesoregion of Jequitinhonha and to the statistical microregion of Diamantina...

.

The main economic activities are services, and agriculture. The GDP in 2005 was R$16 million, with 10 million from services, 2 million from industry, and 3 million from agriculture. There were 632 rural producers on 27,000 hectares of land. Only 14 farms had tractors (2006). The main crops cultivated were coffee, urucum, sugarcane, beans, and corn. There were 7,000 head of cattle (2006). In 2007 there was 1 bank in the town.
Modestino Gonçalves is ranked in the bottom tier of municipalities in the state and country in human development. It is one of the poorest municipalities in Minas Gerais.

Municipal Human Development Index
Human Development Index
The Human Development Index is a composite statistic used to rank countries by level of "human development" and separate "very high human development", "high human development", "medium human development", and "low human development" countries...

: 0.626 (2000)
State ranking: 794 out of 853 municipalities as of 2000
National ranking: 4197 out of 5,138 municipalities as of 2000
Literacy rate: 71%
Life expectancy: 63 (average of males and females)

The highest ranking municipality in Minas Gerais in 2000 was Poços de Caldas

Poços de Caldas

Poços de Caldas is a city and municipality in south-western Minas Gerais state, Brazil, in the microregion of the same name. Its estimated population in 2009 was 151,449 inhabitants...

with 0.841, while the lowest was Setubinha

Setubinha

Setubinha is a municipality in the northeast of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. As of 2007 the population was 10,834 in a total area of 536 km². The elevation is 729 metres. It is part of the IBGE statistical microregion of Teófilo Otoni...

with 0.568. Nationally the highest was São Caetano do Sul

São Caetano do Sul

São Caetano do Sul is a city in São Paulo state in Brazil, located in the Greater São Paulo Metropolitan Area. It is the city with the highest per capita income in Brazil and it also has the highest Human Development Index .-Geography:São Caetano do Sul is located on a plateau that is part of the...

in São Paulo with 0.919, while the lowest was Setubinha. In more recent statistics (considering 5,507 municipalities) Manari in the state of Pernambuco

Pernambuco

Pernambuco is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. To the north are the states of Paraíba and Ceará, to the west is Piauí, to the south are Alagoas and Bahia, and to the east is the Atlantic Ocean. There are about of beaches, some of the most beautiful in the...

has the lowest rating in the country--0,467--putting it in last place.

There was 1 health clinic in 2005. Patients with more serious health conditions are transported to Diamantina or to Itamarandiba. Educational needs were met by 21 primary schools and 1 middle school (2007).

See also