Until the 1970s, the process of internal migration in Brazilian territory had as main destinations the South region and, especially, the Southeast region, because they provide greater employment opportunities, due to the industrialization process developed in the decades above.
However, after the 1970s, with the saturation of the labor market in the Southeast region, there was a diversity of migratory flows in the Brazilian territory.
The expansion of the agricultural frontier and greater investments in infrastructure provided for the strengthening and further expanded the migratory flows to the Midwest region. In recent decades, the region has undergone a series of transformations with considerable impacts on the productive and occupational structure. Government incentives in the 1970s for the occupation of the Center-West reflected in significant migratory movements and large agricultural undertakings in the region.
Another factor that intensified migration to the Center-West region was the construction of Brasília, which was also a form of public policy for the occupation of the western portion of the Brazilian territory. The flow towards the formation of Brasília evidently began with its construction. Between 1960 and 1970, the population of the Federal District almost quadrupled, receiving a migratory flow of approximately 30,000 people per year.
The Brazilian Midwest receives migrants from all over Brazil, with emphasis on mineiros, Maranhão, Bahia and paulistas in the state of Goiás, northeasterners, mineiros and paulistas in the Federal District, southerners in Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do South.
In 1980, approximately 2,359,793 Brazilians from other regions resided in the Center-West region (an increase of 288% in relation to 1960). The highest flows come from the Southeast and Northeast. Currently, around 30% of the population residing in the Midwest is composed of immigrants.
Wagner de Cerqueira and Francisco
Graduated in Geography
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/brasil/populacao-centrooeste-composta-por-migrantes.htm
