“It is a highly heterogeneous population, with social and economic conditions that are greatly impacted by the situation they had in Brazil and that they find in Portugal as well”, Camila Escudero explained to Lusa.

Furthermore, there is a tendency for “migration not only of the person, but of the entire family, with children who are still young”, she highlighted, estimating that the “age range is between 20 and 40 years old”.

At the beginning of the Brazilian migratory flow, in the 1990s, the majority of Brazilian migrants came from “small towns, from the interior”, but today “there is a departure from big cities, from capitals”, Camila Escudero explained to Lusa .

Growing numbers

In 2013, according to data from the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF), the Brazilian community in Portugal numbered 92,120 people and was already the main resident foreign community.

A decade later this number quadrupled: In a response sent to Lusa in September, SEF states that 393,000 Brazilian citizens reside in Portugal, with a greater incidence in the municipalities of Lisbon, Cascais, Sintra, Porto and Braga, and by the end of 2022, 239,744 Brazilians lived in Portugal.

This number does not cover people with dual nationality.

Higer education

There is also an increase in Brazilians with a higher level of education, in relation to previous migrations, referring to the new Brazilian community in Portugal, the second largest in the world outside Brazil, only behind the United States, which hosts almost two millions of Brazilians.

“Many people come from the middle/upper class here in Brazil, who have some financial resources to stay in Portugal, even if they do not have a license to work in their respective areas of training”, she highlighted.

Camila Escudero also analyzed the different motivations of social classes.

If in the lower classes the reason is economic, “in the higher classes, mainly, it is to improve the quality of life with regard to security”, education and “the very location of Portugal, which is strategic in Europe”.