[Editorial] Descendants of immigrants in Portugal

Abstract

Over the last two decades, Portugal has definitely been established as an immigration country, receiving different national groups from both traditional origin (Africa, Brazil) and new origin countries (Ukraine, Russia, China). First generation migrants, once their situation had settled and been legalized, started to build their families or to ask for reunification with those family members they had left behind. This social reality increased the presence of those children who had been born abroad and who had arrived in Portugal in late childhood or early adolescence (1.5 generation), and of those who had actually been born in Portugal (second generation). In the space of a few years, descendants of immigrants became part of Portuguese society, intervening in different structural sectors and boosting new inter- and intra-ethnic social, professional and cultural bonds. In fact, in 2017, from a total of 86,154 newborns in Portugal, 9.6 per cent of them were from foreigner mothers (INE, Pordata 2018), accounting for the growing visibility of this social group in Portugal.