Antananarivo Renivohitra

Antananarivo Renivohitra is the urban core within the larger Antananarivo Province—the district that is the city itself, Madagascar's densest administrative unit. Where the province spreads across rice terraces and textile towns, Renivohitra concentrates government ministries, manufacturing headquarters, and the 4.2 million people who make the capital function. This administrative distinction matters: the district receives infrastructure investment, tax revenues, and political attention that surrounding areas don't. The same patterns that define Antananarivo city define Renivohitra at higher intensity—total dependency on Toamasina port, textile manufacturing concentrated in EPZs, and highland rice consumption without local production. The April 2025 US tariff crisis hits the district hardest: 400,000 textile jobs concentrate here, and when factories close, the urban core has no agricultural fallback. By 2026, the densest district tests whether urban concentration survives when its primary industry collapses.