A descriptive, retrospective study of the socio-economic profile of the population seeking health services in a Northeastern region of the State of S.Paulo was carried out and the results compared with those of previous studies. A total of 126,297 patients discharged from 25 general hospitals of the region in 1988 were studied according to sex, age group, residence, source of financing and hospital indicators. The results of this study show that the distribution of the demand according to sex and age is similar to that known from the relevant literature. These results suggest that the regionalization of assistance, in spite of planning and of pertinent legislation, is unsatisfactory, strongly influenced by the presence of large urban centers and socio-economic development. Various sources of financing are used together with a considerable increase of private health insurance and a diminishing participation of governmental institutions over the years. The region studied presents a high rate hospitalization as well as rate of hospital bed utilization.264256263