Florianópolis: a capital with big-city services and nature on the doorstep

A mid-sized capital with metropolitan services

Florianópolis had 537,211 residents in the 2022 IBGE Census. It ranks 21st in population among Brazil's 27 capitals, which puts it among the smallest. IBGE's estimate for 2025, which is a projection and not a count, is 587,486 inhabitants.

The city does not work alone. According to the 2022 Census, the Metropolitan Region brings together 22 municipalities and 1,356,861 people, and the island is linked to the mainland by three bridges over a channel about 500 m wide. Other sources use narrower definitions of the metropolitan region, so the total changes with the criterion.

Quality of life: the recognition of the HDI

The most quoted figure is the HDI of 0.847 from the Atlas of Human Development (UNDP), which uses the 2010 Census. At the time, Florianópolis ranked 3rd among the country's 5,565 municipalities and ahead of every capital, followed by Vitória (0.845), Brasília (0.824) and Curitiba (0.823).

That snapshot is 16 years old and comes from the 2010 Census, so it is best read as a photograph of that year.

The airport: growth and international flights

Hercílio Luz airport is about 14 km from the city centre, and the current terminal began operating in 2019. The concession holder is Zurich Airport Brasil, with a concession dating from 2017 and management of the airport from 2018. In 2025 the airport handled 5,180,583 passengers, 6% more than in 2024 and about 32% above 2019 (our own calculation, from the table below).

International traffic is what changed most. According to the trade press, the airport received just over 273,000 international passengers in 2018 and reached 1 million in a single year in October 2025. The Santiago de Chile route leads growth, ahead of Buenos Aires, and direct flights to Lisbon (TAP) and Panama City (Copa) arrived in 2024.

A caveat about 2024: the 19% rise between May and October of that year was boosted by the temporary closure of Porto Alegre's airport because of the floods. So comparing 2025 with 2024 measures an unusual year.

Universities, hospitals and science

UFSC, based in Florianópolis and with campuses also in Araranguá, Blumenau, Curitibanos and Joinville, had in 2025 more than 26,000 undergraduate students, about 13,000 postgraduates, 2,660 lecturers and 2,900 technical staff, with 110 on-campus undergraduate courses, 6 distance courses and more than 150 postgraduate programmes (the source does not break the figures down by campus). It is not alone:

• UDESC: a state university created in 1965 and headquartered in Florianópolis. The capital hosts its centres for arts (CEART), administration (ESAG), education (FAED) and health and sport sciences (CEFID).
• IFSC: a federal institute founded in 1909, with 22 campuses in 20 cities across the state. In the region there are the Florianópolis, Florianópolis-Continente, São José and Palhoça Bilíngue campuses.
• University Hospital: linked to UFSC (Professor Polydoro Ernani de São Thiago Hospital), it treats patients through the SUS public health system and is part of the Ebserh network of university hospitals.

In health, the capital has leading public hospitals, such as the Joana de Gusmão Children's Hospital, which is exclusively for children and traces its origins to a children's hospital from 1964 (the current hospital opened in 1979). We did not find a current, consolidated indicator, such as beds per inhabitant, from an official source. That is why we do not compare the health network with that of other capitals.

Technology and remote work

According to the Florianópolis Innovation Network, in data released in March 2025, the technology sector accounts for 25% of Florianópolis's GDP, with revenue of about R$ 12 billion in 2023, about 6,100 companies and about 38,000 jobs, or 45% of the technology positions in Santa Catarina. According to the same report, only Barueri (SP), at 27.2%, had a higher technology share of GDP.

At state level, the Acate Observatory (the sector's association) recorded in 2024 revenue of R$ 42.5 billion, 29,400 companies and 100,400 technology jobs, the third-largest number in the country. City and state figures come from different surveys and should not be added together or compared directly.

Remote work has also left its mark. The Digital Nomads Florianópolis Observatory, run by the consultancy DashCity, projected 5,666 digital nomads for 2025, 224% more than in 2018, staying about a month on average according to SC Inova, as cited in the report. The projection is to pass 15,000 by 2030. These are private estimates, not a census. We also found no official count of coworking spaces in the city.

Culture and city life

Anyone living here or spending a season here finds a cultural calendar that does not require travelling. A few addresses in the centre and its surroundings:

• Álvaro de Carvalho Theatre: opened in 1875, with 470 seats and listed as state heritage in 1988.
• Public Market: the current building has stood on its site since 1899 and has had its present layout since 1932. The north wing was renovated by a consortium of the city and state governments.
• Centro Integrado de Cultura: in Agronômica, it brings together the Ademir Rosa Theatre (over 900 seats), the Santa Catarina Art Museum, the Museum of Image and Sound, a cinema room and the State Public Library.

The calendar includes the Maratona Cultural, a free festival whose 12th edition took place in March 2026, and the National Oyster Festival (Fenaostra), held at CentroSul. For dates and programmes of each edition, check the official channels.

Beach and forest within the municipality

The island is about 54 km long and up to 18 km wide. The airport is 14 km from the centre and Ingleses beach, in the north-east, about 35 km. That shows the real size of the city: the sea is always close, and the way from the centre to the northern beaches takes a while, so it is worth planning the day with time to spare and enjoying the journey.

Nature lies within the municipality. The island covers 424 km², part of it protected by parks and reserves. Rio Vermelho State Park, in the north-east, covers 1,532 hectares and was created in 2007. For visitors, the simplest way to help conserve it is to follow the rules and signs of each protected area. As for beaches, there is no single number: English-language Wikipedia gives 42 and 60 in different passages and the Portuguese edition speaks of more than 100 mapped beaches, so the count changes with the criterion. That is why we avoid fixing a total.

In short: the capital offers an international airport, universities, a significant technology sector and cultural life, with sea and forest within the municipality. Anyone who chooses to spend a season here finds that combination close at hand, and looking after what makes the place special, from the sea to the state park, is part of enjoying it well.