Minas Novas

Minas Novas is a municipality in the northeast of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. As of 2007 the population was 30,578 in a total area of 1,810 km². The elevation of the urban area is 635 meters. It is part of the IBGE statistical meso-region of Jequitinhonha and the micro-region of Capelinha. It became a municipality in 1730.

The economy is based on cattle raising, services, and subsistence agriculture, with the main crops being coffee, rice, beans, sugarcane, and corn. There were plantations of eucalyptus trees for charcoal production. In 2005 there were 3,367 rural producers but only 19 tractors. 10,500 persons were dependent on agriculture. As of 2005 there were 10 public health clinics, with 1 of them carrying out diagnosis and complete therapy. There was one hospital 69 beds. Educational needs were met by 68 primary schools and 5 middle schools and 10 nursery schools. There were 867 automobiles in 2006, giving a ratio of 35 inhabitants per automobile (there were 1,290 motorcycles). There was one bank in 2007.

Neighboring municipalities are: Capelinha, Chapada do Norte, Leme do Prado, Novo Cruzeiro, Setubinha, Turmalina and Virgem da Lapa. The distance to Belo Horizonte is 500 km.

Minas Novas is ranked low on the MHDI and was one of the poorest municipalities in the state and in the country in 2000.

The above figures can be compared with those of Poços de Caldas, which had an MHDI of .841, the highest in the state of Minas Gerais. The highest in the country was São Caetano do Sul in the state of São Paulo with an MHDI of .919. The lowest was Manari in the state of Pernambuco with an MHDI of .467 out of a total of 5504 municipalities in the country as of 2004. At last count Brazil had 5,561 municipalities so this might have changed at the time of this writing.

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