Cape Verdean Diaspora Sends Record €52 Million Home From Portugal in 2025

The Portugal-based Cape Verdean community has just sent a record-breaking €52M back to the archipelago in 2025, marking a 53% surge over the prior year—the steepest annual climb in a decade. For an economy where remittances account for roughly 12% of GDP, this influx translates directly into food, school fees, medical care, and housing for tens of thousands of families across the islands.

Why This Matters

• Economic lifeline: Cape Verde's residents depend on diaspora members worldwide; remittances represent a crucial income source for many families.

• Portugal's role: The 65,507 Cape Verdeans living in Portugal now represent the fifth-largest foreign nationality in the country, outpacing every group except Brazilians, Indians, Angolans, and Ukrainians.

• Decade of stability: Transfers from Portugal have remained largely consistent since 2015, with notable dips only during 2016's fiscal-adjustment period and 2020's pandemic lockdowns, making the latest jump particularly significant.

What Drives the €52M Milestone

Portugal's Banco de Portugal published the final tally, confirming that money-transfer platforms—Western Union, MoneyGram, Money Exchange—plus traditional bank wire services moved €52M to Cape Verde last year. That is up from €34M in 2024 and €28.5M in 2023, a near-doubling in just three years.

The surge reflects multiple factors: stable employment in Portugal's hospitality, construction, and care sectors where many Cape Verdeans work, combined with post-pandemic wage recovery that freed up disposable income for family support. The steady reopening of labor markets since 2022 and the absence of major economic shocks appear to have sustained confidence among senders.

Portugal's Position in the Global Remittance Landscape

Cape Verde's remittance flows come from multiple countries, with Portugal emerging as a significant contributor. Historically, the country has competed with the United States as a major source of diaspora transfers, with both nations maintaining substantial Cape Verdean communities. France also plays a notable role in sending remittances to the islands.

The geographic proximity, shared language, and simpler visa pathways between Portugal and Cape Verde have consolidated diaspora networks in Lisbon, Setúbal, and the Algarve, where families cluster and remittance habits become routine.

What This Means for Cape Verdean Families

For many Cape Verdean households, remittances serve as a critical income source for rent, utilities, groceries, and children's school supplies. When drought strikes—a recurring challenge on the arid islands—or when medical emergencies arise, remittances act as an essential safety net, often arriving within hours via money-transfer platforms.

Cape Verde's government has worked to facilitate diaspora investment and engagement, recognizing the importance of these flows for national development. The country has established frameworks to support diaspora members interested in investment opportunities and maintaining connections to their homeland.

A Decade of Resilience

Since 2015, the Portugal–Cape Verde remittance corridor has demonstrated remarkable stability. The 12% contraction in 2016 coincided with Portugal's own fiscal-adjustment period and sluggish wage growth. The 5% dip in 2020 mirrored pandemic lockdowns that furloughed thousands of hospitality workers in Lisbon and Porto. Every other year recorded gains, culminating in the 2025 surge.

Cape Verde's political stability—regular multi-party elections and peaceful democratic transitions since independence in 1975—has provided a consistent institutional framework supporting diaspora engagement. Portugal's integration frameworks have also supported formalization of remittance flows through official banking channels.

Impact on Residents and Expats in Portugal

For the 65,507 Cape Verdeans living in Portugal, the remittance habit is both a financial obligation and a cultural tradition. Extended families pool resources: one sibling in Lisbon supports a parent's healthcare needs in Cape Verde, while another supports a cousin's education. The practice reinforces transnational family networks and sustains Cape Verdean cultural associations, radio stations, and festivals across Portuguese municipalities.

Non-Cape Verdean residents in Portugal encounter this phenomenon through money-transfer kiosks in shopping districts across major cities, often staffed by multilingual agents serving Lusophone African and Brazilian communities. The high volume keeps fees relatively competitive—typically 3% to 5% per transaction.

The Portuguese government treats diaspora remittances as a normal feature of an open economy. The Banco de Portugal publishes quarterly balance-of-payments data that includes remittance flows, helping macroeconomic planning: Cape Verde's central bank can project foreign-exchange reserves and adjust monetary policy when remittance inflows change.

Looking Ahead: Sustainability and Opportunity

The €52M record offers optimism for Cape Verdean families and policymakers. It confirms that the diaspora remains deeply engaged, that Portugal's labor market continues to absorb and integrate Cape Verdean workers, and that digital infrastructure is making transfers faster and cheaper. For a small island nation three time zones west of Lisbon, those euros landing in mobile wallets and bank accounts represent proof that distance cannot sever the bonds of family and homeland.