Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística

About the publication - 1990 Geographic Mesoregions and Microregions

The Regional Division of Brazil into Geographic Mesoregions and Microregions was institutionalized by means of Resolution PR no. 51, of 31.07.1989, approved by the President of the IBGE and published in the Supplement of the Service Bulletin, year 38, no. 1763, for internal circulation only. In fact, in the end of the 1980’s, Brazil had a very different spatial structure from that which was a reference for the Regional Division in the 1960’s and 1970’s.

The establishment of the Division of Brazil into Geographic Mesoregions and Microregions would fulfill the needs that the Homogenous Mesoregions and Microregions were no longer able to, notably as for the inequalities found in the several areas. Differently from the regionalization model adopted in previous decades, which departed from the aggregation of areas according to homogeneity criteria, the methodology adopted in these studies was based on the notion of national wholeness, having the Federation Units as a universe for analysis, and, later on, marked by successive divisions. By means of the analytical process they identified subsequent regional scales, that is, Mesoregions and later, Microregions.  

A Mesoregion is an individualized area, in a Federation Unit, whose geographic space organization is defined by the following dimensions: the social process, as a determiner; the natural scenario, as a conditioner; the network of communication and places, as an element of spatial articulation. These three dimensions make it possible for the area called a Mesoregion to have a regional identity. That identity is a reality built over time by the society formed there.

Finally, with reference to the macroregional division, the structure identified in 1970 still prevails, with the respective changes that later occurred in the political-administrative map of Brazil: the inclusion of the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, in the Central West Region; the  exclusion of the state of Guanabara, integrated into Rio de Janeiro my means of a merging in 1975, in the Southeast region; the addition of the state of  Tocantins, created in the 1980’s, to the North Region; and the territories located in the North Region being turned into states (Rondônia, Roraima and Amapá).

It is also worth mentioning that the model of Geographic Mesoregions and Microregions, of 1989/1990, resulted in scenario very different from that from the 1970’s, due to a bigger number of those sub-regional units and showing that Brazil was more diverse and dynamic in terms of the criteria adopted.

The Regional Division of Brazil into Geographic Mesoregions and Microregions was adopted by the National Statistical System on 01/01/1990, in accordance with the sole paragraph of article 2 of the IBGE’s Presidential Resolution PR-51.

The relevance of this work about the regional organization of Brazil lies not only on promoting the dissemination of statistical data according to the spaces produced, but also on the offering of elements for the understanding of the national territory organization.

The Map and the Database portray the 1990 Regional Division of Brazil into Geographic Mesoregions and Microregions, as established by Resolution PR-51 of June 31, 1989, published by the IBGE in the Division of Brazil into Geographic Mesoregions and Microregions in 1990.