Refugee applications up 73% in Brazil in one year
Brazil received 50,355 refugee applications in 2022, as per migration observatory OBmigra, a collaboration started in 2013 between the federal government and the University of Brasília. The number shows a 73 percent increase from 2021 (29,107).
The figures can be found in the eighth edition of the report Refúgio em números (“Refuge in Numbers”), launched during an event marking the National Week of Discussions on Migration, Refuge, and Statelessness. The applications were submitted by people from 139 countries—67 percent of them from Venezuela, 10.9 percent from Cuba, and 6.8 percent from Angola. The three nationalities make up 84.7 percent of the total.
The National Committee for Refugees, linked to the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, considered a total of 41,297 requests in 2022, including submissions from previous years.
According to the data, 57.8 percent of these requests were submitted in Northern states, with the highest volume reported in Roraima (41.6%), followed by Amazonas (11.3%) and Acre (3.3%), likely due to the proximity of the Brazilian border with Venezuela, from where the majority of applicants came.
Out of the applications analyzed, 5,795 individuals had their refugee status recognized in Brazil, with the majority being Venezuelans (77.9%) and Cubans (7.9%). Men totaled 56 percent, while women added up to 44 percent. Most cited serious and widespread human rights violations.
Women and children
The specialists highlight the surge in the number of women and children among refugees in Brazil, a trend that has been gradually growing since 2018.
In 2011, when the current time series began, men represented 66.76 percent of refugee applicants, while women accounted for only 15.84 percent. In 2022, men were 54.58 percent, while women were 45.38 percent.
“We have observed an increase in the arrival of women and children. The data corroborate this statement. Refuge in Brazil is becoming predominantly female, which is different. At the beginning of the decade, we did not observe this phenomenon here. It was a phenomenon of the global North, in Europe, the US, where migration was mostly female,” said Tania Tonhati, researcher at OBmigra.
Another tendency observed is the rising number of refugee applications from children and adolescents.
In 2011, refugee applications from individuals under 15 amounted to less than eight percent. Last year, it rose to 29.96 percent. In 2022, the age groups with the highest number of applications were from those up to 15 years old and individuals aged 25 through 40.
