Centro-Sul
Centro-Sul (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˌsẽtɾuˈsuw], South-Central) is a geographic area that encompasses the Southeastern, Southern and Central-West regions of Brazil (see Brazil Regional Division), excluding the north of Minas Gerais, most of Mato Grosso, and parts of Tocantins.
Demographics
In this region live around 135 million Brazilians. The most remarkable characteristics of the region is the human domination over the nature: only ~5% of the native vegetation is left. Other very strong characteristic is populational and economic: most industries are concentrated in the area and responsible for ~75% of the national GDP. A majority of the population is of predominantly European ancestry, and more than half of the population self-identify as White Brazilian.
The region also is characterized by having a high standard of living (HDI of ~0.787, in average), compared to the rest of the country.
The Centro Sul can often be understood as the such as the junction of South, Southeast and Central-West macro-regions, although the division does not traditionally include the north of Minas Gerais and most of Mato Grosso, besides including a very small part of the Tocantins, that in the North.
This understanding is due to the fact that the three macro-regions present similar social indicators, higher than the North and Northeast.
Although it was always the richest geoeconomic region, until the 1980s it was much poorer than the neighboring countries of Uruguay and Argentina.
Only the state of São Paulo presents better indicators for a longer time, due to the strong industrialization, the development of the South and Central-West regions occurred less recently with the expansion of agribusiness.
The Centro Sul now has similar development to that of Uruguay and Argentina the richest South American countries.
References
https://exame.abril.com.br/brasil/55-das-cidades-brasileiras-tem-desenvolvimento-medio/ http://www.atlasbrasil.org.br/2013/ https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.DDAY