National Geographic magazine reaches 49 million print and digital readers in 33 languages worldwide.
The English edition of the April 2021 issue featured a cover story about how air pollution kills millions of people every year, and how air pollution could be increasing the COVID-19 death toll. People in polluted places are more likely to have chronic illnesses, and such patients are the most vulnerable to COVID-19. Air pollution can weaken the immune system and inflame the airways, leaving the body less able to fight off a respiratory virus.
Most of the local-language editions followed the English edition’s cover, with 18 using the flagship air pollution image, while the Hungarian, Latin American and Spanish editions used other pollution images from Los Angeles and Budapest.
Both the German and Kazakhstan editions featured a story about Amazon insects on their covers, and the Bulgarian edition featured a story about Costa Rican tourism on their cover. The Czechia edition featured National Geographic’s “Best of the World” annual travel list, and the Russian edition featured the Mars Rover story on their cover this month to coincide with the 60th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin becoming the first person in space.
Several editions choose to feature local covers this month. The Indonesian edition published a cultural piece on the fading regional tradition of ear-stretching. The Italian edition marked the 50th anniversary of finding Frasassi Cave, including a new expedition that retraced the first one, with some of the very same members of the original exploration team. The Slovenian edition took readers to the country’s sole Carthusian monastery for a glimpse into the lives of its monks. Finally, to mark its 20th anniversary, the Portuguese edition featured a story on the return of the endangered Iberian lynx to the country after a decades-long absence.
See below for a round-up of our covers from across the globe.
