Brazil has 27 Federative Units (UF's), being 26 states and the Federal District. The states of Brazil are distributed in 5 major regions.
See the acronyms of Brazilian states, their capitals and regions in the table below:
| STATE | INITIALS | CAPITAL | REGION |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roraima | RR | Good view | North |
| Amapá | AP | Macapa | North |
| Amazons | AM | Manaus | North |
| For | PAN | Bethlehem | North |
| Acre | B.C | White River | North |
| Rondônia | RO | Porto Velho | North |
| Tocantins | TO | palms | North |
| Maranhão | BAD | St. Louis | North East |
| Piauí | PI | Teresina | North East |
| Ceará | EC | strength | North East |
| large northern river | RN | Christmas | North East |
| Paraíba | PB | João Pessoa | North East |
| Pernambuco | FOOT | Recife | North East |
| alagoas | AL | Maceio | North East |
| Sergipe | IF | Aracaju | North East |
| Bahia | BA | savior | North East |
| Mato Grosso | MT | Cuiabá | Midwest |
| Federal District | DF | Brasilia | Midwest |
| Goiás | GO | Goiania | Midwest |
| Mato Grosso do Sul | MS | Large field | Midwest |
| Minas Gerais | MG | Belo Horizonte | Southeast |
| Holy Spirit | ES | Victory | Southeast |
| Rio de Janeiro | RJ | Rio de Janeiro | Southeast |
| Sao Paulo | SP | Sao Paulo | Southeast |
| Paraná | PR | Curitiba | South |
| Santa Catarina | SC | Florianopolis | South |
| Rio Grande do Sul | LOL | Porto Alegre | South |
How are the acronyms of Brazilian states defined?
There are some rules for defining the acronyms of Brazilian states. When, for example, the state has a composite name, it is necessary to select the first two letters of each name to define the acronym.
Example: Minas Gerais, acronym: MG
When it's just a name, you need to select the first and second letter.
Example: Piauí, acronym: PI
In case there are two states with the same first and second letters, the newest state selects the third letter.
Example: Rondônia and Roraima have the first two the same. As Rondônia is an older state than Roraima, it continues with RO and Roraima selects the third letter. Therefore: Roraima has the acronym RR and Rondônia has the acronym RO.
How do Brazilian states work?
Brazilian States are considered Federal Units by the 1988 Constitution. The union of all these federative units form the Federation (country), in this case, Brazil.
Brazilian states have:
- self-government;
- singular public administration;
- its own legislative assembly;
- and, in some cases, they have their own laws.
States govern through their own means, but are subordinate to the central government, in this case, the Federal Government of Brazil.
Map of Brazil and the abbreviations of the states.
See also the meaning of:
- state;
- Federalism.
