Medidas de emigración internacional basadas en la información proporcionada por personas que convivieron con los emigrantes: la experiencia brasileña con el censo demográfico de 2010

For the first time in its history, Brazil experienced in the last few decades of the twentieth century a net population loss through emigration to the rest of the world. Although several studies have been devoted to the analysis of international migration into the country, estimating the number of Brazilians who live abroad and assessing their characteristics remain a significant challenge. In order to compile information on these emigrants, the 2010 Demographic Census included for the first time a block of questions designed to inquire into international emigration. This study seeks to analyse the information requested in these questions, showing their methodological specificities and assessing the findings. While the exact number of Brazilians who are resident abroad is still not known, the data obtained provide unprecedented information on international emigration from Brazil, both in terms of the characteristics of the emigrants and the households in which they used to live, and offer a new perspective for the study of contemporary international migratory movements.