Amadora

Camara Municipal da Amadora the Local Authority that governs the city of Amadora. A city in the outskirts of Lisbon that has increased its population from 2000 inhabitants in 1901 to 171000 in 2001 and possibly near 190000 in 2007. Immigration has built this city. Firstly from the inner regions of Portugal (1950-1970), then with refugees from Portuguese former colonies independences and immigration from those new countries (since 1974). More recently, eastern Europeans and Brasilians, join the Portuguese born, the Capeverdians and other African immigrants. This historical way has created a city with many contrasts and disruptive in both the social and urban meanings. Thus, several pockets of poverty and deprived areas co-exist in the city with modern quarters. As a City Council, CMA rules the city with an elected local government, and its responsible by territory management, urban growth and renewal, social housing, Educational infrastructures, Social Care and other social businesses. It has a proactive posture on its role in the city. Therefore, municipal action tackles the cities matters in an holistic approach, with active policies in terms of training, employment, social integration, health, education, youth, and others.

Lisbon Metropolitan Area (LMA), to which the municipality of Amadora belongs, is the main region of immigration in Portugal. According to official statistical sources, in 2006 there were 409 185 immigrants in Portugal, 232 149 of them in LMA (57%). The city of Amadora had, according to the last Census in 2001, 174,135 inhabitants, 13,444 of which were foreigners, representing 8% of the local population, a rate twice as high as the national average

According to a survey carried out in the municipality in 2002, most of the immigrants in the city are from Cape Verde (64%) followed by Angolans (11%) and Guineans, from Guinea-Bissau (12%).The other groups (Brazilian, EU and non-EU countries and others) are much smaller and scattered. A small Roma community, no more than 400 people, with Portuguese citizenship, also lives in Amadora.

In Amadora this labour immigration is relatively old. It is an immigration that reached a high degree of sedentarization, including a large “second generation” of youngsters and children

A more recent migration wave, starting in 2001, brought a large number of new Brazilians to Portugal (they are now the largest immigrant community) and many people from Ukraine, Romania, Belarus and Russia, which represents a completely new phenomena. In more recent years immigration seems to be slowing down due to a relatively high unemployment among other reasons.