Facts about Rio de Janeiro
- 09
Athletes competed in Olympic beach volleyball at Ipanema Beach during the 2016 Rio Games, with matches held on temporary sand courts constructed along the famous 2-kilometer shoreline.
- 08
Guanabara Bay, which borders Rio de Janeiro, covers approximately 380 square kilometers and was the site of the 2016 Olympic sailing competitions.
- 07
Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro spans 4.5 kilometers of sand and hosted the 2016 Olympic volleyball tournaments with temporary courts built directly on the shoreline.
- 06
Rio de Janeiro hosted the 2014 FIFA World Cup final at the Maracanã Stadium, where Germany defeated Argentina 1-0 in front of 74,738 spectators.
- 05
Over 6 million people live in Rio de Janeiro's metropolitan area, making it Brazil's second-largest city by population after São Paulo.
- 04
Carnival in Rio de Janeiro draws approximately 2 million visitors annually and costs the city roughly 50 million reais in production and security expenses.
- 03
Sugarloaf Mountain's cable car system, inaugurated in 1913, carries approximately 2 million passengers annually up Rio de Janeiro's iconic 396-meter peak.
- 02
In 1960, Rio de Janeiro was Brazil's capital until the government relocated to the newly constructed city of Brasília, located 1,200 kilometers inland.
- 01
The Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro stands 30 meters tall and was completed in 1931, attracting over 2 million visitors annually.