Cape Verde Launches Global Survey to Map Diaspora in Over 40 Countries

The Government of Cape Verde kicked off this Thursday the main survey of the Mapping of the Diaspora in the World, an unprecedented operation aimed at gaining a better understanding of Cape Verdean emigrants spread over more than 42 countries, by collecting statistical information.

Over the next 90 days, the Executive will work in person and online to contact first to fourth generation Cape Verdeans on all continents. The official launch took place in Luanda, the capital of Angola, a country that is home to one of the largest Cape Verdean communities in Africa.

Other countries with a strong emigrant presence include the United States, Portugal, France, Netherlands and Luxembourg.

According to the minister of Health, Jorge Figueiredo, who represented the government at the ceremony, the aim is to create more effective and inclusive public policies, strengthen the dialogue with host countries and value the contributions of the diaspora - economic, social, cultural and human - in the development of the archipelago.

This is the first time that Cape Verde has carried out a global and systematic statistical operation of this scope, with support from the World Bank and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The project will be carried out by the National Statistics Institute (INE) and should be completed by 2026.

It is estimated that there are 1.5 million Cape Verdeans and their descendants living outside the country - about triple the resident population, which is approximately 500 thousand people. In 2024, the remittances from the diaspora reached a record of 30.6 billion Cape Verdean escudos (around 278 million euros), highlighting the economic impact of the emigrant community.