Migration fields in Brazil: 1986-1991 and 1995-2000

Jose-Irineu Rigotti, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais

Given the broad context of fertility decay in Brazil, the impact of migration on the spatial redistribution of the Brazilian population tends to acquire more and more relevance. Thus, the general aim of this paper is evaluate the changes in the structure of the migration system in Brazil, between 1986-1991 and 1995-2000. The geographic units of analysis are 137 “mesorregiões” (MRs) created by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistic (IBGE). The migrants were disaggregated in “total population” (all migrants considered) and “population 15 years of schooling and over”, and to assess the interrelationship among areas, the Factor Analysis technique was applied. A basic remark on these results is that core regions are always essential to understanding the spatial redistribution of Brazilian population, although the proportion of the capitals in the whole population has been practically constant during the periods studied.