The state of São Paulo has 83 Latter-day Saint stakes, by far the largest number of stakes among Brazilian states.

Each of the nation’s 26 states and one federal district is home to at least one stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

São Paulo, with about 22% of the nation’s population, is headquarters to 29% of the 285 stakes in the country. The state of Rio Grande do Sul, with 26 stakes, has the second-largest number.

Brazil’s 1.47 million members of the Church is the third most in the world, behind the United States and Mexico. Brazil’s 285 stakes is the second most, after the United States’ almost 1,700 and more than Mexico’s 227.

States in Brazil and number in each state of stakes of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Church News graphic

Fourteen of the 26 states have at least one temple in operation or planned. For each of the 12 states without a temple, at least one neighboring state has or will have a temple, although in a country as geographically large as Brazil, even a neighboring state can be a significant distance away. The country is about 2,700 miles north to south and a similar distance east to west.

A temple in Brasília, Distrito Federal — a status similar to Washington, D.C. — will be dedicated Sept. 17 by Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. 

Following is a list of Brazilian states and the number of Latter-day Saint stakes in each (with cities of operating and planned temples):

1. São Paulo - 83 (São Paulo - 2, Campinas, Santos, Ribeirão Preto)

2. Rio Grande do Sul - 26 (Porto Alegre) 

3. Paraná - 24 (Curitiba, Londrina) 

4. Ceará - 20 (Fortaleza) 

5. Rio de Janeiro - 15 (Rio de Janeiro)

6. Pernambuco - 14 (Recife) 

7. Minas Gerais - 13 (Belo Horizonte)

8. Santa Catarina - 11

9. Bahia - 11 (Salvador) 

10. Amazonas - 9  (Manaus)

11. Paraíba - 7

12. Pará - 7 (Belém)

13. Alagoas - 6 (Maceió) 

14. Rio Grande do Norte - 6 (Natal)

15. Goiás - 6

16. Distrito Federal - 5 (Brasília)

17. Mato Grosso do Sul - 3

18. Piauí - 3 (Teresina) 

19. Espírito Santo - 3 (Vitória)

20. Maranhão - 3

21. Tocantins - 2

22. Sergipe - 2

23. Mato Grosso - 2

24. Roraima - 1

25. Amapá - 1

26. Rondônia - 1

27. Acre - 1

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