National Geographic magazine reaches 49 million print and digital readers in 33 languages worldwide.
The September 2019 issue was a special single-topic issue focused on the current state of the Arctic.
The English edition featured a cover story chronicling the drastic and immediate effects of climate change in the Arctic and how they have led some to question if this could be the beginning of the next Cold War. This feature story explores the looming tensions between Russia, China and the U.S. over the Arctic.
Most of the international-language editions featured this same story on their covers, using the same map image, while five of the editions stayed with the Arctic theme but choose a human touch for the yellow frame, opting for an ethereal image from the Inuit camping trips story, featuring a child collecting meltwater from ice.
Seven of the editions de-emphasized the Arctic focus to build a more typical issue: For the cover, the Bulgaria and Czechia editions ran a feature on the rise and fall of the Celts in Central Europe created by the National Geographic Magazine in Germany.
Both the Arabic and German editions featured cover stories from the May 2019 English issue. The Arabic edition featured a Planet or Plastic? story about the consequences of newborn fish are mistaking tiny bits of trash for food. The German edition featured a Leonardo Da Vinci story about his enduring brilliance.
The Indonesian edition published a story about Peruvian child sacrifice from the February 2019 English issue. Both the Portuguese and Spanish editions led with a shared local cover story marking the 500th anniversary of Magellan’s circumnavigation.
See below for a round-up of our covers from across the globe.
