The article discusses the ongoing judicial disputes in Brazil regarding the official population counts reported by the 2022 Census, conducted by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). Many municipalities are contesting these numbers in court, leading to rulings that disproportionally inflate their populations. This situation has arisen primarily due to financial incentives; larger populations qualify municipalities for higher allocations from the Fund for the Participation of Municipalities (FPM), a federal resource that must be distributed to local governments.

The legality of these cases raises questions about the integrity of population data and the impact on municipal funding. As the Brazilian legal system handles these disputes, certain municipalities are achieving what is termed "judicial population," indicating numbers that have not been verified by the official census authority. The phenomenon highlights a critical intersection of law, governance, and finance in Brazil's public administration.

Notably, a significant concentration of these legal disputes is occurring in the Amazon region, where municipalities are particularly motivated to challenge census figures to secure more funding. According to the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU), a substantial number of these litigations are underway, indicating a trend that could complicate future census operations and municipal revenue allocations.