Background information | Brazil | bpb.de

In the 1980s the situation reversed. An estimated three million Brazilians have left their country to date; initially their primary destination was the USA, but increasingly they also aim for Europe and Japan.

Due to the stabilised economic situation of the past decade, Brazil has now become a rewarding destination for migrant workers and refugees. Much of this immigration takes the form of irregular immigration.

Although Brazil is the world´s ninth biggest national economy, the country is marked by greater social inequality than almost any other country in the world: in 2005 the richest 10% of the population earned 48% of the national income while more than 40 million Brazilians had less than two dollars a day on which to live. From the mid 1990s, Brazil's extreme socio-structural division initially slowed down, but since then has picked up pace again. For this reason, many well-educated young Brazilians can see no professional opportunities in their homeland in the immediate future and are leaving the country for the USA, Japan and Europe.