The
Northeast Region of Brazil is one of the five official and political
regions of the country according to
Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. For the socio-geographic area see
Nordeste (socio-geographic division). Of Brazil's twenty-six states, it comprises nine:
Maranhão,
Piauí,
Ceará,
Rio Grande do Norte,
Paraíba,
Pernambuco,
Alagoas,
Sergipe and
Bahia, along with the
Fernando de Noronha archipelago (formerly a separated territory, now part of Pernambuco).