Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística

Institutional Mission

"To portray Brazil by providing the information required to the understanding of its reality and the exercise of citizenship."

Major Functions

The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics - IBGE is the main provider of data and information about the Country. Such information meets the demands of several types of segments of civil society, as well as the bodies at the federal, state and municipal level.

The IBGE offers a complete and current overview of the Country, by means of the main activities it carries out:

• Production and analysis of statistical information
• Coordination and consolidation of statistical information
• Production and analysis of geographic information
• Coordination and consolidation of geographic information
• Organization and Implementation of a system of environmental information
• Documentation and dissemination of information
• Coordination of the national statistical and cartographic services

Background

When Brazil was an Empire, the only institution with exclusively statistical activities was the General Directorate of Statistics, created in 1871. With the advent of the Republic, the government felt the need for enhancing these activities, mainly after the implantation of vital records of births, weddings and deaths.

As time went by, the institution in charge of the Statistics in Brazil changed its name and functions a few times until 1934, when the National Department of Statistics was extinct, passing on its attributions to the proper ministries.

The necessity of a body capable of articulating and coordinating statistical surveys, bringing together the action of specialized services in the Country, favored the creation, in 1934, of the National Institute of Statistics – INE, which inaugurated its activities on May 29, 1936. In the following year, the Brazilian Council of Geography was nominated and joined the INE, which then became the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics.

Since then, the IBGE has accomplished its mission: identifying and analyzing territory, counting the population, tracing the evolution of the economy as a reflex of people’s employment, production, and pointing out, as well, how people live.

Structure

The IBGE is an entity run by the federal administration, under the Ministry of Economy. It has four directorates and two central bodies.

In order to cover the whole national territory, the IBGE has a national network of survey and dissemination, formed by:

• 27 Superintendencies (26 in the state capitals and 1 in the Federal District)
• 27 Sectors of Information Documentation and Dissemination (26 in the capitals and 1 in the Federal District)
• 566 Collection Agencies in the main municipalities.

The IBGE also keeps the Ecologic Reserve of Roncador, 35 kilometers to the south of Brasília.

Crediting the IBGE as a source

The names “Fundação Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística - IBGE” (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics Foundation), “Fundação IBGE" (IBGE Foundation) and “IBGE” are used interchangeably by the current legislation, however, in the technical production of IBGE, that is, in the documents related to its studies and surveys (manuals , questionnaires, disclosure of results, advertising material, etc.), the Institute does not adopt the term "Foundation" in its brand, but "Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) - IBGE", or just IBGE. In the documents of administrative or legal nature related to the Institute, in turn, as is the case of its Bylaws, for example, the name “Fundação IBGE" (IBGE Foundation) is used, characterizing its legal nature.

Thus, when crediting the Institute for its statistical or geoscientific information, it is recommended that the user adopt "Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística" (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) - IBGE, or simply IBGE.