rio de janeiro city is home to about 6 million people, and about 16 million people live within the state of rio - this can be felt the very moment one arrives in rio, as the streets are filled with pedestrians at basically any time of day.

rio's inhabitants are called cariocas - they are an eccentric mix of people with mostly european, african, and indigenous heritage, among other ethnic minorities.

In regards to populational statistics in Rio, it is important to remember that ethnicity in Brazil is self-declared, which means that the genotype of the individual plays no particular role in his or her identification.

According to the 2007 statistics relased by IBGE, roughly 54% of cariocas are caucasian, 33% pardos/mixed, and 12% from african backgrounds - there is a very clear sense of integration among cariocas, not only across races and ethnicities, but also across age groups - this is easily visible in most cultural, social, business settings, and events.