Despite the decline in the number of Venezuelan nationals, they continued to be, in 2022, the most representative foreign population residing in the Autonomous Region of Madeira, surpassing the British, Germans and Brazilians. On December 31st of that year, Madeira had a total of 11,793 people, this being the “highest value since 2008 (first year of the existing time series) – representing an increase of 13.3% compared to 2021 (+1,388 people)”, informs today DREM.
According to the Regional Directorate of Statistics, “the foreign population represented 4.7% of the population residing in the Region in 2022 (253,259 people) and was distributed mainly among holders of residence permits (11,792), with only 1 holder being registered long-stay visa”.
Returning to the beginning, “nationals from Venezuela (19.7%), the United Kingdom (11.8%), Germany (9.4%), Brazil (9.2%) and Italy (5.5%) continue to constitute the main foreign communities residing in the Region”, and “of this group of five nationalities, it stands out that the German nationality was the one that registered the greatest increase (218 more people; +24.5%) in the number of foreigners holding residence permits (888 in 2021 to 1,106 in 2022)”, he further reveals.
“In addition, foreigners of German nationality were the main drivers of the increase in the foreign population recorded in the Region between 2021 and 2022, contributing 2.1 percentage points (pp) to the 13.3% increase mentioned above”, in this regard It is a migratory movement with no apparent explanation yet.
“In the following positions, nationals from the United Kingdom, São Tomé and Príncipe and the United States of America appear, who competed with 1.7 pp, 1.3 pp and 1.2 pp, respectively, for that increase”, these here with obvious explanation for anyone who pays attention to the news. “The number of foreigners of Venezuelan nationality fell by 1.3% between 2021 and 2022: from 2,353 to 2,323, respectively”, this is also a phenomenon that will be explained by returning home or leaving for other places in Europe.
As is also natural, “it is in Funchal that the majority of the foreign population is concentrated (51.1% of the Region’s total), followed by Santa Cruz (13.3%) and Calheta (10.0%). gender, there remains a slight preponderance of females (50.4%) over males (49.6%)”, adds the DREM, which ends with this curiosity: “The municipalities where the foreign population has a greater weight in the total its residents are Calheta (10.7%), Porto Santo (8.5%), Ponta do Sol (6.5%) and Funchal (5.7%)”. All above the average for the foreign population in terms of the total resident population.