Brazil has a new biggest favela, and not in Rio de Janeiro

By CARLA BRIDI
Associated Press

SOL NASCENTE, Brazil (AP) — For the first time since poverty, lack of opportunity and economic inequality caused favelas to mushroom across many of the nation’s cities, Brazil’s biggest favela isn’t in Rio de Janeiro. Sol Nascente (Rising Sun, in English) is located just 21 miles from capital Brasilia in the Federal District, whose GDP per capita is higher than any Brazilian state, underscoring the inequality between areas where affluent public servants live and the city’s periphery. The number of households in Sol Nascente has swelled 31% since 2010 to more than 32,000, surpassing the hillside Rocinha favela in Rio that had been Brazil’s most populous, according to preliminary data from the ongoing census.