Case study of one EDC to illustrate: • current patterns of immigration and emigration (Brazil)

Question 1

Brazil

Answer 1

Brazil is the seventh largest economy in the world and the leading economic power in Latin America. Brazil is moving rapidly through the demographic transition with declining crude birth rate and ageing population. There is increased migration between Brazil and its neighbouring countries, especially Mercosur members, but also Chile and the Andean states

Question 2

What is Brazil’s GDP per capita?

Answer 2

As an emerging economy it experienced a signifi cant increase in GDP per capita from US$4874 in 2007 to US$5823 in 2014.

Question 3

What is the sectoral contribution to GDP in Brazil?

Answer 3

services 69 percent, industry 25 percent and agriculture 6 percent.

Question 4

What is Brazil’s net migration?

Answer 4

A net migration loss of half a million in each of the four-year periods 2000-04 and 2005-09, but this slowed to 190,000 between 2010 and 2014 (source: World Bank).

Question 5

What changes are happening to Brazil’s inter-regional migration patterns?

Answer 5

• slowing down of emigration of lower skilled economic migrants to the USA.
• Increased emigration of highly skilled workers to Europe, USA and Japan.
• An influx of migrants from Haiti and increasingly from African countries using Ecuador and Chile as transit countries.

Question 6

What did the 2014 football World Cup and 2016 Olympics attract?

Answer 6

A rise in the number of international labour migrants in the construction industry to Brazil.

Question 7

What is the pattern of internal migration in Brazil?

Answer 7

Strong and continuing internal migration especially from the northeast to the cities of the southeast.

Question 8

When was Brazil a net recipient of migrants?

Answer 8

During the late nineteenth and twentieth century, Brazil was a net recipient of migrants. There were periods in which Europeans were attracted to work in the agricultural sector, especially coffee cultivation - particularly Italians, Germans and Portuguese. Also Japanese migrants have long been drawn towards agricultural and industrial sectors. Economic migration between near neighbours Paraguay and Argentina has always been relatively high.

And political crises at various times have led to migrations from Bolivia, Angola and Lebanon.

Question 9

When has immigration into Brazil slowed?

Answer 9

In the last 15-20 years

Question 10

How many migrants are there living in Brazil than at the start of the century?

Answer 10

80,000

Question 11

How has emigration in Brazil increased?

Answer 11

In 2013, 1.77 million Brazilians lived abroad compared with 0.98 million in 2000. The USA has Brazil’s largest population overseas mainly for economic reasons. Many Brazilians of Japanese descent, having strong cultural links, have emigrated to Japan, encouraged by the employment opportunities.

Question 12

What are the three most common countries of birth for Brazilian immigrants?

Answer 12

Portugal, Japan, Paraguay

Question 13

What are the three most popular countries of destination for Brazilian emigrants?

Answer 13

USA, Japan, Portugal

Question 14

What is the relationship between Brazil and Portugal like?

Answer 14

Brazil and Portugal have a long-standing bilateral relationship on a political, social and economic basis. Brazil was a former colony of Portugal.

Question 15

What is the migration relationship between Brazil and Portugal like?

Answer 15

The Portuguese government still gives special status to Brazilian migrants. For economic migrants, Portugal has become a gateway for entry to the EU. The shared language, ancestry and family ties contribute to the ease with which migrants in both countries can be integrated.
Reciprocal migration is supported by the well-developed social diaspora networks in both countries. Meanwhile migrant remittances are an important economic factor for many families.

Question 16

What is the migration relationship between the USA and Brazil?

Answer 16

The links between the USA and Brazil are important in political, socio-economic and environmental terms. The many thousands of low-skilled economic migrants working in the USA are able to remit significant monies, while returning migrants having acquired skills and knowledge are able to contribute to Brazilian development. Highly skilled Brazilians are increasingly finding opportunities to work in the USA especially in the service sector. There are strong links in education and teacher training.

Question 17

What agreements do the USA and Brazil have?

Answer 17

The USA has negotiated agreements with Brazil regarding agriculture, trade, finance, education and defence.

In addition USAID gives support to Brazil in many environmental projects. These range from practical help such as training Xavante indigenous people to protect their tribal lands from forest fire, to assisting the Brazilian government in designing and implementing laws concerning forest governance and sustainable forest management.

Question 18

What relationship do Brazil and Haiti have?

Answer 18

Brazil has developed a political, economic and humanitarian relationship with Haiti. The National Immigration Council for Brazil enables Haitian immigrants to obtain visas relatively easily in Haiti and thereby reduce their vulnerability to trafficking networks. This is of great benefit to Haitians who have found it difficult to recover from the devastating earthquake of 2010, which displaced 1.5 million, and the effects of Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

Question 19

What migration relationship do Brazil and Haiti have?

Answer 19

The number of immigrants grew from 1681 in 2010 to 11,072 in 2013 and this continues to rise as Haitians attempt to escape the political instability, unemployment, poverty, poor access to education and the country’s appalling human rights record, especially gender-based violence. Many intend to join friends and relatives in the southeast of Brazil where low-skilled jobs are available in agriculture and the factories of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina.

Question 20

How has migration aided economic development in Brazil?

Answer 20

• Waves of immigration in different periods from Japan, Portugal and other European countries including Italy, Spain and Germany have contributed to the growth in agriculture and manufacturing sectors.
• Recent arrivals of highly skilled professionals with employment contracts have contributed to entrepreneurship, innovation and reducing gaps in the labour market.
• Emigration to the USA, Japan, Portugal and other European countries has resulted in migrant remittances to Brazil, used by families in housing improvements, education and general consumption, which has contributed to development at all scales.

Question 21

How much money did Brazil receive from migrant remittances in 2014?

Answer 21

US$2.4 billion, 2014 - 0.1 per cent of GDP.

Question 22

How has Brazil’s political stability encouraged migration?

Answer 22

• Brazil has a stable and democratic political system; it is also a leading member of Mercosur, an important member of G20 and OECD, and is one of the so-called BRICS group of emerging economies.
• Membership of Mercosur, primarily a trading bloc in which there is free flow of trade, capital and labour migration, has helped South American integration and promotion of political stability.
• There are stable political relationships between Brazil and the countries with which it has significant bilateral migrant flows, especially USA, Japan and Portugal.

Question 23

How does Brazil receive refugees?

Answer 23

Brazil is an important receiver of environmental and political refugees and as a stable government accepts responsibility for their welfare and employment prospects by providing visas and work permits.

Question 24

What social inequalities are there in Brazil?

Answer 24

• According to UNESCO, there are inequalities in Brazilian society between different ethnic groups. Inequalities exist in housing provision, access to services, educational attainment and income; Brazilians of African descent are most affected.
• Inequalities have a spatial perspective with poverty concentrated in rural areas or in the favelas to which the poor migrate.
• There is prejudice and discrimination in the labour market, especially against black and indigenous populations, and this impedes their full economic, political and social development.