IBGE launches page “Population Center: The demographic heart of Brazil”
December 12, 2025 01h09 PM | Last Updated: December 16, 2025 03h20 PM
Starting this Friday (12), the website “Population Center: The demographic heart of Brazil” will be available. The new product from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) shows a new concept about the distribution of the Brazilian population throughout the history of Population Censuses, from 1872 to 2022.
The content explains what the Population Center is, details the methods used to determine it and the inputs required for the calculation, in addition to highlighting its relevance for understanding the occupation of the Brazilian territory over time.
Maria do Carmo Bueno, director of Geosciences (DGC), was the creator of the product when she was still at the CDDI. “The project emerged as a way to show population displacement with Census data, using maps. To define the Population Center of Brazil, population data by municipality and the historical municipal grids corresponding to the census years were used.”
The page offers an interactive experience, with maps, graphs, photographs and historical images, allowing you to visualize the location of the Population Center in each census period and understand the social, demographic and economic context of the time. It is also possible to follow the movement of the Center over the years, reflecting socioeconomic transformations and the evolution of the territorial occupation of Brazil.
YouTube video here: IBGE PODCAST #24 · December 12, 2025
Ricardo Neves, from the Coordination of Service and Information (COATI), also participated in the project and spoke about interactivity on the website. “People will be able to navigate between decades and, in addition to the data, we bring the historical context, with images, maps and graphs.”
In addition to its historical and analytical value, the Population Center is a valuable tool for urban planning and studies on complex demographic dynamics. It makes it possible to assess the impacts of urbanization and urban growth on population distribution, guiding public policies and development strategies more effectively.
The results reveal that, in all the years analyzed, the Population Center was located in a municipality in the state of Minas Gerais, highlighting its strategic position in relation to large Brazilian population clusters.
The Population Center: The demographic heart of Brazil can be accessed at the following link: https://mapasinterativos.ibge.gov.br/centropop/
