Emigration
History of emigration
Since the 1990s emigration has been one of the most important social phenomena in Brazil – as it has throughout Latin America. [1]Streams of emigrants took their leave of Brazil as a result of the economic developments of the 1980s. Until the onset of the economic recession the Brazilian people had remained true to their country even in times of economic and political difficulties. Only after the end of the military dictatorship in 1985 did the people´s dissatisfaction gradually begin to show in the form of emigration. The Sarney government (1985 to 1990) did not succeed in bringing the national debt and the highest rate of inflation Brazil had ever experienced under control. Not for political, but rather for economic reasons did many hundreds of thousand leave their country in this so-called "lost" decade. [2]
The ten most common destination countries of Brazilians abroad, 2000 Lizenz: cc by-nc-nd/2.0/de (bpb)Of the South Americans who entered the USA between 1990 and 2000, 65.6% were Brazilians. [4] In 2006 an estimated 2.8 million Brazilians were living in the United States, many tens of thousands of them illegally. Tightening of the laws and border controls made what was at first mostly circular migration to the USA more difficult, whereupon the number of emigrants to Europe in the 1990s grew. For reasons of language and the descent of many emigrants, Portugal was selected as one of the most common destinations. [5] According to the Brazilian consulates, there were about 50,000 Brazilians living legally in Portugal in 2000, and several thousand living there as irregular migrants. Portugal is also used as a gateway to the EU and, among other things, as a transit route to Germany. According to Brazilian foreign ministry estimates, there were 60,000 Brazilians living in Germany in the year 2000 – more than were living in Portugal. [6] Seventy-five percent of Brazilian migrants registered in Germany are women, as Federal Statistical Office figures verify. [7]
In addition to North America and Europe, at the beginning of the 1980s Japan became the third major migration destination for Brazilians. Of these main destinations for emigrants, only Japan had recruited Brazilian workers. In response to the problems of the increasing number of Brazilians abroad, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, as foreign minister (1992-1993) under President Franco, made it a priority of his work to increase the number of consulates and embassies and extended their function to make them general places of information for Brazilians abroad. [8] Under the Lula administration the first steps have been taken towards an emigrant-friendly policy: the cost of remitting money is to be reduced and programmes to reintegrate returning migrants expanded. [9] To throw light on the situation of Brazilians living abroad the first international conference, "Brazilians in the World" took place in Rio in July 2008. [10] Definite state measures to combat the brain drain caused by the outflow of young workers have not yet been adopted.
