Demographics: Government estimates that two million Cape Verdeans live in the diaspora

The Minister for Communities, Jorge Santos, estimated today that two million of Cape Verde's population live in the diaspora, spread over the American, European, African continents and the rest of the world.

This estimate was made to the press by Minister Jorge Santos on the sidelines of an international round table, which includes the participation of INE officials from Angola, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe and Guinea Bissau, countries that host an important Cape Verdean community. .

The Praia meeting aims to discuss the possibility of the National Statistical System starting to produce statistics on the Cape Verdean diaspora, promoted by INE, in partnership with the Ministry of Communities and the World Bank-.

According to Jorge Santos, of the 850,000 Cape Verdeans living on the American continent, most live in the United States of America.

With regard to the European continent, the data indicate that around 450,000 Cape Verdeans are based there, mainly in countries such as Portugal, the Netherlands, France, among others. Africa is home to 250,000 Cape Verdeans, according to data provided by the Minister for Communities.

Therefore, Jorge Santos considered that it is “important” to produce statistics to know about the Cape Verdean diaspora, where they are, how many there are, their potential, whether Cape Verdeans of origin or descendants so that they can invest and participate in the project. development of Cape Verde.

“The big question is how best to integrate these communities of ours and all the potential that exists to add value to the development process. Therefore, the best way is to carry out this statistical production with the support and cooperation of partners and the Cape Verdean diaspora to know and organize it”, added the minister.