The Lusophone Migratory System: Patterns and Trends

Portugal, like all the other EU countries, belongs to several migratory systems. This paper describes and characterizes one of the migratory systems to which Portugal belongs, the Lusophone migratory system. The system approach was chosen because it implies a dynamic perspective which is the most adequate to capture the changing trends and patterns of international migration between a group of countries. The author argument is that historically, this migratory system has existed for a very long time, although at the beginning it was formed by only two countries, Portugal and Brazil. The system was enlarged to the PALOP in the aftermath of the Portuguese Revolution of 1974 and the subsequent independence of the Portuguese colonies in Africa.