“The Azores have always been a land of migrants. We came to these islands almost 600 years ago, and more than 400 years ago we left here to create a tenth island in the Americas. Initially, we went to Brazil, from Maranhão to Rio Grande do Sul. And we even reached Uruguay. Then we went to Bermuda and the United States of America, from New England to California. And we reached Hawaii. Finally, we went to Canada, also from coast to coast, from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

Today, in North America, Portugal is spelled “with the word AZORES.”AZORES.” There are 240,000 inhabitants on the nine islands and millions of Azoreans and, above all, descendants of Azoreans in our diaspora. That is why the Azores are only complete with their tenth island. The Azores begin in Santa Maria, cross the Americas, and only end in Hawaii.

In the early centuries, we were a “departure point.” In recent years, we have been a “safe haven.”

The improvement in living conditions in half a century of political autonomy has discouraged systematic emigration and attracted a growing number of immigrant citizens who help develop our land—socially, economically, and culturally. Socially, they compensate for the natural demographic balance. Economically, they overcome the shortage of local labor. Culturally, they add to a multicultural society. In other words, they come to the Azores to do what the Azoreans did in their countries of emigration.

For this very reason, we, who have always been an emigrant people, well received and well integrated in other lands, have an obligation to welcome and integrate immigrants well in our land as well.

The AIMA report released last October, covering 2024, shows a 30% increase in immigration to the Azores compared to the previous year. In recent years, the increases have been even greater: In 2021, we had 4,480 immigrants. In 2022, we recorded a 14% increase to more than 5,000 immigrants. In 2023, we recorded a 22% increase to more than 6,000 immigrants. In 2024, we recorded a 30% increase to more than 8,000 immigrants

In the Autonomous Region of the Azores, we already have 8,197 immigrant citizens, about 3.5% of the Azorean population. Even so, we are still proportionally far behind the rest of the country: In the Autonomous Region of Madeira, there are 18,944 immigrant citizens, about 7.5% of the Madeiran population. Throughout Portugal, there are 1,543,697 immigrant citizens, about 14.5% of the Portuguese population. And Portugal is only the 18th-largest country in the European Union in terms of immigrants.

In the Azores, half of the immigrants are concentrated on the island of São Miguel, but the islands with the highest percentages of foreign population are Faial (8.2%), Pico (7.7%), and Flores (6%). Here, on the island of São Miguel, there are 4,050 immigrants—1,056 more than in the previous year—corresponding to 3.2% of the population of São Miguel.

The distribution by municipality in 2024 is not yet known, but the trend from the previous year is likely to continue, with Ponta Delgada accounting for half of the island’s immigrants.

In 2023, the figures were as follows: Ponta Delgada – 2,037 immigrants; Ribeira Grande – 387; Lagoa – 227; Vila Franca do Campo – 138; Povoação – 110; and Nordeste – 95.

The approximately 8,000 immigrants registered in the Azores in 2024 come from 100 different countries. The most representative immigrant community, in line with the national trend, is from Brazil, accounting for almost 20%. This is followed by Germany, the United States, Spain, China, Cape Verde, Italy, and the United Kingdom.

They are all welcome! We need immigrants.

Even if we want to look at immigration from a purely economic perspective, we have to conclude that immigrants actually make Portugal money.

A 2023 study by the Migration Observatory reports that, in the previous year, immigrants contributed €1.604 billion more to Social Security than they received. And this contribution has been steadily increasing: € 802 million in 2020; €967 million in 2021; €1.604 billion in 2022…with a tendency to continue growing in the following years.

Let’s return to the Azores.

More recent data, from 2025, points to 1,341 foreign students in public schools, including, in particular, 338 Brazilian students. There are also 197 foreign students enrolled in vocational schools, including, in particular, 98 Cape Verdean students.

But all these numbers represent people. People who add value to our society.

A society that increasingly wants to be welcoming, respectful, inclusive, and appreciative of interculturality.

Between Europe and America, the Azores are at the center of the world!”

José Andrade

Regional Director of Communities

Initial speech at the conference promoted by the Azores Delegation of the Order of Economists, on Development, Entrepreneurship, and Migration, this Friday in Vale das Furnas

Translated into English as a community outreach program by the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department (MCLL), in collaboration with Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance) at California State University, Fresno. PBBI thanks Luso Financial for sponsoring NOVIDADES.