There are more than 4.4 million Brazilians living outside the country. This number was disclosed in the report “Brazilian Community Abroad,” a document that gathers the most recent data – collected in 2021 – on the distribution and location of Brazilians who left the country. The study was conducted by the Department of Consular Affairs, Cooperation, and Culture of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The North America region hosts the largest Brazilian community outside Brazil. There are just over 2 million Brazilians, or 46.9% of the total, divided among the United States, Canada, and Mexico. It is also in this region that three of the five Brazilian consulates-general with the largest jurisdictions are located – New York, Miami, Boston, in addition to London and Lisbon – which together are responsible for more than 1.75 million citizens.
In second place is Europe, home to 30.8% of Brazilians living abroad, and in third is South America, with 13.5% of this community. Asia, Oceania, the Middle East, Africa, Central America, and the Caribbean together host the remaining less than 10% of Brazilians residing abroad.
Since 2016, the Brazilian population abroad has been growing. Although there are no official data for the years 2017 and 2019, since 2016, this community has grown from about 2.7 million to 4.4 million, nearly doubling.
The United States is home to the majority of Brazilians
There are about 1.9 million Brazilians in the United States alone. In the consular jurisdiction of New York, which includes the states of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Bermuda, there are 500,000 Brazilians. In the consular jurisdiction of Miami, 475,000 Brazilians live.
The second country with the largest Brazilian community is Portugal. The consular jurisdiction of Lisbon is responsible for about 275,000 residents. Next is Japan, which currently hosts about 206,000 Brazilians.
It is important to highlight, however, that these numbers are not a 100% accurate reflection of the number of Brazilians abroad because there are many people who remain in irregular immigration status, and their presence often goes unregistered even by Brazilian authorities. This means that the number of Brazilians living abroad may be even greater than what is presented in this document.