Florianopolis is the capital of the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, in the southern region of the country. The municipality is made up of the main island, the island of Santa Catarina, the mainland, and some small surrounding islands. The city has a population of 516,524 inhabitants, according to estimates for 2021 from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). It is the second most populous municipality in the state (after Joinville) and number 48 in Brazil. The metropolitan region has an estimated population of one million two hundred thousand residents, being the twenty-first largest city in Brazil. The city is known for having a high quality of life, being the Brazilian capital with the highest score in the Human Development Index (HDI), calculated by the UNDP of the United Nations.
Florianópolis' economy is largely based on information technology, tourism and services. The city has more than 100 registered beaches and is a center of nautical activity. The New York Times considered in 2009 that: "Florianópolis was the destination of the year". Newsweek named the county one of the "World's Ten Most Dynamic Cities" in 2006. The 2014 Entrepreneurial Cities Index (ICE), produced by the Brazilian branch of the North American NGO Endeavor, chose the city as the best environment for entrepreneurship in the country. The city was also considered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) one of the "creative cities" of Brazil in 2014, along with Curitiba.