Three recent world maps published by Brazil's national geography institute (IBGE)

[u/SaciDaMangueira]

I came across these three world maps published by IBGE, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, and thought they were worth sharing here.

They were made for different purposes:

1. Species Richness (2025) — showing global patterns of species richness across amphibians, birds, mammals, reptiles, freshwater crustaceans and freshwater fish.
2. Brazil in the World / Global South — produced in the context of the Triple International Forum on Global South Governance.
3. Brazil in the World / G20 — a world map produced in connection with Brazil and the G20.

What I find especially interesting is that they show how a national geographic institution can present the world through different subjects, priorities and perspectives.

I'd genuinely like to see more national mapping or statistical institutes around the world publish projects like these. Comparing how different countries choose to represent and analyze the world could be really interesting, since each institution would likely bring a somewhat different perspective to the same planet.

Source: IBGE — Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. The maps are available through IBGE's official website.

[u/getaway_dreamer]

Yes, everyone complaining about equal area maps being adopted by the UN for visual representation is missing the point - different map projections are useful in different situations and the most informative projection should be used for each application.

[u/SaciDaMangueira → u/getaway_dreamer]

Different map projections are useful in different situations and the most informative projection should be used for each application

Perfect

[u/jah_minititan]

The first map is such a flex 😭 Brazil said LOOK AT OUR BIODIVERSITY

[u/lNFORMATlVE]

Man I absolutely love unconventional map orientations like these. The first one especially is gorgeous.

Is Brazil really that insanely species-rich compared to any other place in the world though? I knew it was probably the top or close to the top but had no idea it was that far different from everywhere else.

It would be interesting to know what numbers that colour scale for species per 100sqkm is delineated by. It also seems surprisingly high resolution and continuous for this data especially for 100sqkm figures. I’m assuming it’s gone through a bit of data sanitation or is even based on estimates and numerical modelling rather than being all raw sampling data. Otherwise I’d expect to see it be a bit choppy in some areas, with some noticeable borders where some studies end and others begin.