How Many Presidents Has Brazil Had?
Since the republic was proclaimed in 1889, Brazil has had 36 presidents — but they have filled 39 presidencies, because Getúlio Vargas, Ranieri Mazzilli and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva each held the office in separate, non-consecutive spells. Lula's current term, sworn in on 1 January 2023, is counted as the 39th.
Why 36 people but 39 presidencies
Brazil, like most republics, counts its leaders by the person. So when someone holds the office, loses it, and returns years later, they are not given a fresh identity — they are the same president, serving again. Three men did exactly that: Getúlio Vargas (who dominated the 1930s–50s), the caretaker Ranieri Mazzilli in the 1960s, and Lula in our own decade.
Lula is the clean modern example. He governed from 2003 to 2011, left office, and came back in 2023 — the same person, a new presidency. Count the people and you reach 36. Count the presidencies they filled and you reach 39. Both figures are correct; they simply answer slightly different questions.
The gap in the middle: 1964 to 1985
Part of what makes Brazil's count feel high is that it does not skip the dictatorship. After the 1964 coup, five army generals governed in turn — Castelo Branco, Costa e Silva, Médici, Geisel and Figueiredo — and all five sit in the official list of presidents. Brazil chose to keep them on the record rather than erase them.
The New Republic began in 1985, when an electoral college chose Tancredo Neves. He fell gravely ill before he could be sworn in and died weeks later, so his vice-president José Sarney became the first civilian president of the new democratic era — a man who had never been voted in for the job he ended up holding.
The democratic era, in order (since 1985)
The full list of 36 stretches back to 1889 and includes the empire-to-republic founders and the military generals. Here are the nine presidencies of the New Republic — the democratic Brazil that began in 1985 — which is the part most people are actually asking about.
The two impeachments
Twice in just over two decades, Brazil's Congress has forced out an elected president. In 1992 Fernando Collor — the first leader chosen by direct vote after the dictatorship — resigned as the Senate moved to convict him in a corruption scandal; he was barred from office for eight years. In 2016 Dilma Rousseff, the country's first woman president, was impeached and removed over charges tied to the federal budget.
Both cases handed the presidency to a sitting vice-president — Itamar Franco in 1992, Michel Temer in 2016 — which is part of why so many Brazilian presidents reached the office without ever winning a presidential election themselves.
How much power is in the job?
The Brazilian presidency looks almost imperial on paper — one person as head of state, head of government and commander-in-chief. The brake is Congress, where no president has ever commanded a single-party majority.
Think you know them? Prove it
A quick quiz. The counting questions catch most people.
- Wikipedia — List of presidents of Brazil, and List of presidents of Brazil by time in office (39 presidencies, 36 people; Vargas, Mazzilli and Lula served non-consecutive terms)
- Presidência da República (gov.br) — Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, sworn in 1 January 2023
- Britannica — List of presidents of Brazil
- CIA World Leaders directory (updated 2026) — President Lula, Vice-President Geraldo Alckmin
- Natural Earth public-domain country data (via world-atlas), used on the Leaders of the World map
Thirty-six people, thirty-nine presidencies, five generals, two impeachments and one metalworker who has now governed across three different decades — Brazil's top job is a good deal easier to win than it is to keep.