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Definitions
Information on the main indicators used in this website and on the periodic publications of this Observatory: definitions, sources and links. The information is organised by variable and, in each of these, by country of destination.

The Observatory uses, as general definition of emigrant, the one that proposed by the United Nations: every individual who moves to a country other than that of his or her usual residence for a period of at least a year (12 months), so that the country of destination effectively becomes his or her new country of usual residence. As it is a rule nowadays on international organizations, the used indicator to measure the emigrated population is the place of birth, considered as emigrant who resides for at least one year on a different country from the one in which was born. Therefore, Portuguese emigrants are those who reside on a foreign country that were born in Portugal. Not having moved between countries, the children of Portuguese emigrants born in the country where the parents emigrated are not considered as emigrants even when they have Portuguese nationality. The data on Portuguese emigration compiled and disseminated by the Observatory is the data on the Portuguese immigrants in the destination countries produced by the statistical entities of those countries. 

source United Nations Recommendations on International Migration Statistics, Rev. 1

Any mode of becoming a national, i.e., by birth or at any time after birth, automatic or non-automatic, based on attribution, declaration, option or application. +
Number of emigrants entering a foreign country in a given year and worked or lived there for a period of at least 12 months, being accounted in the year of arrival. Strictly speaking, this number refers to the inflow (immigration). In this website and in the periodical publications of the Observatory, the number of Portuguese' entries in foreign countries in a year is the indicator of the number of Portuguese who left Portugal that year to the country of destination (emigration, outflow). +
Citizens residing in a country with a foreign status, ie with a different nationality from the one of country in which they reside, regardless of the country in which they were born. It includes immigrants born abroad who have retained their nationality of origin as well as the children of foreign parents, in the country of residence, who did not acquired the nationality of the country of birth and residence. +
Constituted by those born in a country and residing in a foreign country for a period of at least twelve months, or expected to be at least twelve months, regardless of when they arrived there. Usually referred to as a foreign-born stock, it is the most widely used indicator of the emigrant population. +
National citizens of a given country residing abroad and registered voluntarily at a consular office of the origin country. The registration is a consular act, whereby the identification of the national citizen is inscribed in the archives of the consular office of the area of jurisdiction in which the citizen is resident or lives occasionally. +
Current transfers made by emigrants when they are considered residents in the country in which they live. May be measured in nominal terms, in the currency of the country of destination, or in terms of their economic weight, in particular as a percentage of the GDP of the country of destination of the transfers. +

Observatório da Emigração Centro de Investigação e Estudos de Sociologia
Instituto Universitário de Lisboa

Av. das Forças Armadas,
1649-026 Lisboa, Portugal

T. (+351) 210 464 322

F. (+351) 217 940 074

observatorioemigracao@iscte-iul.pt

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