Immigration it is the process of an individual's entry into a territory other than the one of origin, which term is more commonly used for international migrations. Several causes can be associated with these displacements, such as the search for work, better job placement and better living conditions; natural disasters and extreme weather situations; political and socioeconomic crises; and ethnic and religious persecution.
Developed countries are those that receive the largest number of immigrants. At the Brazil, the flows are mostly derived from Latin American and African countries. According to the UN, the world today has more than 280 million immigrants.
Read too: Growth and distribution of world population
What is immigration?
The term immigration refers to entry of individuals or groups of individuals into a given territory. In this sense, it is important to emphasize that the population that immigrates aim to settle in another location, that is, it is not a short-term process like tourism, for example. Furthermore, these people have different motivations that can trigger their spontaneous or forced change.
Those who make this type of displacement are called immigrants. The immigration process commonly involves two different countries, and, for this reason, both in textbooks and in official documents, it may appear referred to as international migration, external migration or migration transnational.
In some cases, the movement of people that takes place within the borders of the same country, like from one state to another, is also called immigration. However, the use of this term is more common to refer to international movements between two nations. For changes in the same territory, we use the expression inward migration.
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What are the types and causes of immigration?
immigrations can happen spontaneously or be forced for some reason that goes beyond individual will and planning. In both cases, behind one or a set of reasons of a different nature that promote the displacement of people through geographic space.
Let's see what the main causes of immigration are:
economic
Relates to the search for job offers, better salaries and better living conditions than those that the person finds in their place of origin. The so-called brain migration, which consists of the entry of highly qualified professionals in other countries that migrated in search of greater professional recognition.
In specific cases, immigration is encouraged as a way to expand the labor supply in the country, especially in those that are sparsely populated or where there is an advanced process of population-ageing, gradual decrease of economically active population and increased dependency rates, as is the case in Portugal.
Weather conditions and natural disasters
At extreme weather conditions in some areas of the globe and theoccurrence of environmental disasters linked to atmospheric conditions or not, like the earthquakes and tsunamis, can motivate the search for new places to live. In the recent period, we can mention the Haitian immigration to Brazil, which was caused by the intense earthquake that devastated the Central American country in 2010.
Wars, conflicts and political or socioeconomic crises
These causes, which may have both structural and cyclical origin, have been shown to be increasingly common for displacements of people today. We observe the large number of Venezuelans who entered Brazil, to flee in the situation of crisis in your country, as an example.
religious persecutions, it'stnunique and cultural
Certain religious and ethnic groups suffer from persecution to the point that they have to leave their homes and their countries looking for a place that offers them greater security and freedom to get on with their lives. It should be noted, however, that, although it is common to refer to those who enter other territories under these conditions as immigrants, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) established the job of refugee term as the most appropriate.
"The official definition of a refugee emphasizes the impossibility of an individual or group returning to their country of origin for fear of persecution and violence that can affect them depending on their race, religion, nationality, belonging to a particular social group or political position.”
![Refugees are people who have left their country of origin and are seeking asylum in other territories.[1]](/f/5195d2744f20a0643d71221a2b8fcdff.jpg)
These are just some of the most common causes for the occurrence of immigration. It can also occur for reasons of studies in other countries, family reunions and several other reasons that were left out of this scope. Furthermore, it is necessary to point out that, depending on factors such as their own motivations, individual socioeconomic issues and the bureaucratic complexity and normative, illegal immigration becomes the only alternative for those who need or want to leave their country, which, in itself, is already a great factor in risk.
Read too: Causes and consequences of the refugee crisis
Immigration in the world
Immigration is a process that has always existed in the history of civilizations. The improvement of transport from the 16th century, as well as navigation techniques, made the movement of people in space to gain new dimensions.
The technological modernization that emerged with industrialization from the 18th century onwards, and accelerated from mid-twentieth century (when the process of globalization with the development of new means of information and communication), transformed the migratory profile around the world and expanded the scale of displacement. Consequently, there was an intensification of immigration flows in several countries, departing mainly from underdeveloped nations towards developed nations.
The annual immigration report released by United Nations (UN) in 2020 indicates that countries where well-paid activities are concentrated are receiving larger and growing number of immigrants in the last 20 years, amounting to almost 80% of the world total, which is currently 280,598,105 immigrants. In this context, you European countries are those who received the largest number of immigrants in the last year, with a figure of 87 million. Highlights:
Germany
Russia
UK
France
Spain
THE North America it is the second continent that received the most immigrants in the year, most of them having the U.S as a destination.
It is also worth emphasizing the large influx of migrants in countries such as Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, which is attributed to the incentive to migration to work, given the low labor supply present in these countries|1|.
The nations already mentioned join with the Canada, a Australia and Spain and make up the list of 10 countries that concentrate the largest share of total immigrants in the world today. On the other hand, the main issuing nations are, in that order:
India
Mexico
Russia
China
Syria
Bangladesh
Pakistan
Ukraine
Philippines
Afghanistan
Immigration in Brazil
Just as it happened on an international scale, when we stick to immigration in Brazil, we can see the significant transformation in flows, both with regard to their origin and with regard to their intensity.
The composition of the national territory and Brazilian history took place from a sequence immigration cycles that began in the 16th century, with the arrival of the European colonizers and, soon after, with the forced coming of enslaved Africans for work in the sugarcane fields. During this same period, several other European peoples arrived in the country.
Over time, especially from the beginning of the 19th century, a great migratory current from European countries such as Germany and Italy, and also from Ukraine, Hungary, Japan and others, became part of the immigrant population that lived in Brazil.
The 20th century presented a reorientation of flows, which started to originate, for the most part, in the countries of the South, as the closest Latin American nations. This trend was pointed out by the Observatory of International Migration of the Brazilian Ministry of Justice, in an annual report published in 2020.
In the last decade, Brazil received 1,085,673 immigrants, of which about 60.8% resided or reside in the country for a period exceeding one year. The main countries of origin are the Haiti, located in Central America, and the Venezuela, which borders Brazil. In addition to these, the increase of international migrants in the national territory occurred with the arrivals of people from African countries, like Angola, Senegal and Congo.
The same document also highlights the growth in the number of immigrants in the formal labor market, especially in the states of Sao Paulo and of the South region. With regard to refugees, this group now comprises 363,676 people in Brazil, according to the UN report.
Read too: What are the most populous countries in the world?
What are the differences between migration, immigration and emigration?
Migration is any movement of people carried out on the earth's surface, which can be within the limits of a territory or outside, thus characterizing internal and external or international migration, respectively. These movements can be analyzed based on their starting and originating locations.
Thus, immigration is about arrival of a person or a group of people to a particular location. THE emigration, in turn, refers to the opposite process, that of exit from a location.
solved exercises
Question 1 - (Enem) Transnational migrations, intensified and widespread in the last decades of the 20th century express particularly important aspects of the racial problem, seen as a dilemma also worldwide. Individuals, families and communities move to places near and far, involving more or less drastic changes in living and working conditions, in sociocultural standards and values. They move to similar or radically different societies, sometimes comprising cultures or even totally different civilizations.
(IANNI, O. the era of globalism. Rio de Janeiro: Brazilian Civilization, 1996.)
Population mobility in the second half of the 20th century played an important role in the social and economic formation of several national states. A reason for migratory movements in recent decades and a current migration policy of developed countries are
A) the search for work opportunities and the increase of barriers against immigration.
B) the need for professional qualification and the opening of borders for immigrants.
C) the development of research projects and the safeguarding of immigrants' assets.
D) the expansion of the agricultural frontier and the expulsion of skilled immigrants.
E) the flight resulting from political conflicts and the strengthening of social policies.
Resolution
Alternative A. The search for better living conditions and work opportunities is among the main causes of international migration in the current period. The receiving countries, however, respond to the intensification of this demand with new regulatory and even physical barriers, aimed at preventing immigration.
Question 2 - (UERJ) MEDITERRANEAN IS THE BIGGEST CEMETERY IN EUROPE TODAY
This is a serious problem: the European Union's own laws and international conventions state that rescued fugitives cannot be taken back to the port of embarkation from where they escaped war, terrorism and hunger. But still, every day, dozens of people die while trying to reach Europe. Today, the Mediterranean has become the largest cemetery in Europe. We only know the number of victims that were registered through photos, position and date. However, for every officially reported victim, there is one dead person who doesn't even appear in the statistics. We live in an absurd situation. Africa is plundered by Western countries, which then do not want to see the effect of their policy up close. European countries close their borders and ignore that these victims are going to die just trying to escape the situation they created.
CLAUS PETER REISCH
Adapted from gazetaonline.com.br, July/2018.
In July 2018, Claus Peter Reisch, captain of the Lifeline vessel, spent seven days in the Mediterranean Sea with 233 migrants on board awaiting authorization to disembark in European countries.
With regard to the relations between African countries and European governments, Reisch's assessment of the current migratory crisis expresses the contradiction between the following factors:
A) global integration and ethnic localism.
B) imperialist heritage and xenophobic nationalism.
C) demographic crisis and economic modernization.
D) commercial dynamization and job disqualification.
Resolution
Alternative B. The text makes a direct reference to the imperialism European in African continent when he mentions looting promoted by Western countries, as well as highlighting the measures implemented in order to prevent the entry of immigrants and refugees based on nationalist ideals, highlighting the prejudice against these people (xenophobia).
Note
|1| SENE, Eustachius de. geography gGeneral and Brazil, 8th year: elementary school, final years. São Paulo: Scipione, 2018.
Image credit
[1] Huseyin Aldemir / Shutterstock
By Paloma Guitarrara
Geography teacher
