Marriage with Immigrants in Portugal

Marriage with Immigrants in Portugal

Madalena Ramos

ISCTE-IUL, CIES-IUL, Portugal

Ana Cristina Ferreira

ISCTE-IUL, DINÂMIA/CET-IUL, Portugal

August 2011

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IUSSP Seminar on Global Perspectives on Marriage and International Migration, 2011, Seoul

Marriage with Immigrants in Portugal / Ramos and Ferreira 294

Abstract

Throughout its history Portugal has gone through different cycles of migration:

from an emigration country has changed to an immigration one. The growing weight of

immigrant communities, especially after the Revolution of April seventy four and in the

nineties, is accompanied by a new phenomenon – intermarriage or mixed marriages. In

Portugal, in a context where the numbers of marriage have declined, the relative

importance of these marriages has grown. Given the importance that mixed marriages

may have as an engine to social changes, the analysis of its patterns and trends is

particularly important. In this paper we present the evolution of marriages occurring in

Portugal, where the husband and/or the wife were born in another country. The data for

our study are taken from national official statistics: the marriage micro data from 2001

and 2009. It is intended to design the overall profile of these mixed marriages and of the

individuals involved in them. We will also answer to questions like: Do immigrants

marry mostly within their group (endogamy)? Are there different levels of exogamy

between men and women? Is there a tendency for “marriages between equals”, whether

in terms of age or in terms of educational resources?

Introduction

Portugal has been an emigration country for several centuries; however, in the last

quarter of the 20th

century, the immigration phenomenon became increasingly important

here, especially during the period after the April 1974 Revolution. One of the effects of

this military coup was the end of the Portuguese empire and the independence of what

are now referred to as PALOPs (Portuguese-Speaking African Countries – Angola,

Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique and São Tomé and Príncipe), which in turn

led hundreds of thousands of Portuguese citizens to come to Portugal from the former

colonies. During the first decade of the 21st century, the Brazilian community increased

its presence in Portugal, and at the same time a new migratory flow from Eastern

Europe emerged. According to the Immigration and Borders Service (SEF), the number

of foreign residents in Portugal increased from 50,750 in 1980 to 454,191 in 2009.



As in many other countries, in Portugal this relatively new phenomenon is being

accompanied by a growing interest in the issue of immigrant integration on the part of

the scientific community.

This is a topic that has warranted the attention of European researchers since the

final decades of the last century. Their various studies have particularly focused on a

number of major themes: i) the question of the integration of immigrants into the labour

market and its relationship with the questions of employment and wages (Zimmermann,

2005; Furtado and Theodoropoulos, 2009); ii) the problems derived from

residential/spatial segregation, particularly with regard to its consequences in terms of

immigrants’ education and cultural integration (Schonwalder, 2007); iii) the

demographic changes derived from the integration of immigrants, in terms of both the

birth rate (Andersson and Scott, 2005) and health (McGee et al, 1999; Lindstrom et al,

2001, Sundquist, 2001); and iv) more recently, mixed marriages between immigrants

and people who were born in the host country as an indicator of those immigrants’

integration into European societies (Meng and Gregory, 2005; Furtado, 2006; Furtado

and Theodoropoulos, 2008; Dribe and Lundh, 2008; Muttarak and Heath, 2010).

From a sociological standpoint we can see the marriage patterns in a given society as

indicators of the patterns of social interaction in that society. A high level of mixed

marriages indicates the existence of cross-border interactions (national, cultural,

linguistic, economic…) and a society that is characterised by openness to the exterior.

On the other hand, a low level of mixed marriages tends to show that the society is a

closed one. (Alba and Golden, 1986; Kalmijn, 1998; Lieberson and Waters, 1986;

Pagnini and Morgan, 1990). However, besides being a yardstick for the integration of

immigrants into the host society, mixed marriages are also a factor that enhances

interactions and can indeed influence that integration itself (Lieberson and Waters,

1986; Kantarevic 2004; Meng and Gregory, 2005).

Many of the studies that address the questions linked to the integration of immigrants

and the associated transformations – namely mixed marriages – originated in countries

that have traditionally been destinations for immigration, such as the United States and

Canada (Blau et al, 1982; Anderson and Saenz, 1994; Hwang et al, 1997; Pagnini and

Morgan, 1990; Qian and Lichter, 2001; Jacobs and Labov, 2002; Lichter et al, 2007, to

mention only a few). In Europe, and especially in countries like Portugal and Spain,



which have traditionally been emigration countries and where the phenomenon of

immigration is characterised by its relative newness, this topic has not been as widely

addressed. A variety of authors have already shown that the patterns of immigration and

immigrant integration in the USA and Europe are different (see Rotte and Stein, 2002;

Zimmermann, 2005); this means that drawing conclusions about the impact of the

integration of immigrants in Europe from American results can be at least questionable,

and the need for studies centred on the European reality is clear.

Given that integration is a process that takes place throughout a country’s history,

its analysis cannot be limited to a moment in time. The analysis of change over time is

crucial. In this paper we will thus offer a quantitative analysis of intermarriage based on

the data for 2001/2009 available from Statistics Portugal (INE). The objectives of this

research are to determine the characteristics of immigrants who married in Portugal in

that period, as well as the characteristics of their marriages.

The paper has been divided into five parts. The first deals with some theoretical

issues concerning assimilation. Part two describes the research questions. In section

three there is a description of data and methods. The fourth section presents the results,

by describing the profile of the marriages in which immigrants are involved and

answering the research questions. The last part presents and discusses the major

conclusions.

1. Some Theoretical Issues

As we said earlier, immigration has increased, and with it the number of studies

related to the integration of immigrants. The theory of assimilation has been the

preferred framework for explaining integration and the possible incorporation (taken as

the maximum degree of integration) of immigrants into host societies (Alba and Golden,

1986; Alba and Nee, 2003; Lieberson and Waters, 1988; Pagnini and Morgan, 1990).

According to this theory, the cultural and socioeconomic aspects that characterise

immigrants and constitute potential barriers to mixed marriages gradually diminish over

the course of the integration process, which includes not only the adoption of the host

group’s cultural patterns (acculturation), but also the acquisition of a socioeconomic

status comparable to that of that group (structural integration). Gordon (1964) says that



the process is complete when there are no longer any perceived differences between the

immigrant group and the group that hosts it. Inasmuch as integration favours contacts

with other groups, it enhances the propensity towards exogamic marriage, which is thus

seen as a logical result of the integration process.

If integration is a process, the time immigrants take to adapt plays a key role in

this assimilation model. The basic idea is that over time individual characteristics

diminish, because individuals gradually acquire competencies (particularly linguistic

ones), knowledge and codes of conduct that belong to the host country and enable them

to integrate into the labour and housing markets. The more similar immigrants are in

terms of socioeconomic status and income to the majority group, the greater the

probability that mixed marriages will occur. So mixed marriages become more likely,

the longer the immigrant group stays in the host country.

By promoting universal, democratic norms for both natives and immigrants,

within this process the education system functions as a factor that promotes the

breakdown of barriers (Gordon, 1964; Lieberson and Waters, 1988: Kalmijn, 1998;

Hwang et al, 1997). At the same time, by exposing immigrants to different cultures and

promoting interaction with other groups (Furtado, 2006; Furtado and Theodoropoulos,

2008), it also forms a space for the operation of the marriage market, in which young

people from different ethnic backgrounds meet (Blau, 1977; Blau and Schwartz, 1984;

Gullickson, 2006; Gullickson, 2006a).

The classical assimilationist perspective was successively criticised and

"reformulated" by Sandberg (1974) and Massey (1985), and there subsequently

appeared a variation on the original theory – the theory of segmented assimilation.

According to the latter, modern societies are diverse and segmented (see among others,

Gonsoulin and Fu, 2010, Lucassen and Laarman, 2009, Portes, et al, 2005; Furtado,

2006, Portes and Zhou, 1993; Zhou, 1997). The presence of different paths and

trajectories has led various authors to conclude that far from being able to be seen as a

uniform process, assimilation must be thought of as resulting from socioeconomic

difficulties which immigrants and their descendants come up against and which can be

dealt with by means of a number of different, coexistent strategies for adapting to the

host society. The choice of strategy depends on individual (e.g. education, aspirations,

or age on arrival) and structural (such as racial status, family socioeconomic context, or



place of residence) factors. Massey (1985) says that within this process, one of the more

important influences on the integration of foreigners is their spatial and residential

segregation. The new theory suggests that the process does not take the form of a single

path to total assimilation followed by all immigrants – some are totally assimilated,

others only partially, while others are never assimilated at all.

There is also differentiation with regard to the various components of

assimilation: cultural, structural, and conjugal. The new theory says that the way in

which immigrants integrate into and adjust to the host society depends on three types of

conditioning factor: individual preferences, opportunities for contacts, and the factors

that influence the other two types (Dribe and Lundh, 2008; Chiswick and Houseworth,

2010). In short, this is a vision of assimilation as a segmented process.

According to this model, the integration of immigrants who reached a host

country earlier on goes a long way to explaining whether more recent immigrants are

able to marry members of the receiving society.

Portes and Rumbaut (2001) argue that the United States offers a segmented

assimilation, and analyse the factors that determine whether immigrants are accepted by

American society: (a) the history of the first generation of immigrants; (b) the rate of

acculturation among parents and children and its influence on integration with regard to

the society’s norms; (c) the cultural and economic barriers that second-generation youth

come up against in their search for successful adaptation; and (d) the resources that are

available to the family and the community when they face those barriers.

It is thus thought that support networks based on family, friends or cultural

identity are an important mediator between immigrants’ cultural differences and the

host society. Contrary to the classical theory of assimilation, the new theory thus

postulates that the fact that immigrants are close to groups which belong to their

original cultural environment is not necessarily prejudicial, and can even play an

important supporting role, particularly as social capital that helps to change

socioeconomic conditions.

However, while the existence of networks that are close to immigrants from a

cultural point of view and already possess different levels of integration into the

receiving society is beneficial, the existence of spatial segregation in the sense of a high

concentration of immigrants with the same ethnic origin in the same territory is not.



Such segregation leads to lower rates of exogamy, a higher likelihood that the difference

between the society of origin and the host society will be perpetuated, and the

appearance of situations of disrespect and conflict (Palriwala and Uberoi, 2008).

There are thus basically three forms of integration: the assimilation of the

minority group by the majority one; a union of minority groups, with separation from

the host society; and finally, refusal to integrate into the host society, and preservation

of the minority community’s values and attitudes. These different forms of integration

are naturally reflected in marriage strategies. Immigrants can choose a partner from the

host society, another immigrant community, or their own group.

Equally important to an analysis of mixed marriages is the exchange theory

(Merton, 1941; Kalmijn, 1998), according to which it is economic reasons that are the

basis of the choice of a partner. Marriage is an exchange (of emotional, symbolic and

material resources), and one that is decided following a rational evaluation of

advantages and disadvantages. So, individuals from minority groups can use their

socioeconomic status (e.g. education) as an exchange item with which to compensate

for possible disadvantages derived from their racial or ethnic origin. While some studies

have been providing empirical data that support this theory, particularly with regard to

marriages between black and white individuals in the USA (Kalmijn, 1993; Qian, 1997;

Gullickson, 2006), studies with other ethnic groups – Asian, for example – have led to

different conclusions (Hwang et al, 1995; Qian et al, 1999; Jacobs and Labov, 2002).

According to the theory of social stratification, it is also necessary to bear in mind

the demographic and socioeconomic structure when analysing mixed marriages. The

size of the minority group, the availability of partners within the group, and the degree

of racial, socioeconomic and residential heterogeneity are likely to be factors that

should be considered in an analysis of the propensity for exogamy (Blau, 1977; Blau et

al, 1982; South and Messner, 1986, Rytina et al, 1988).

According to Kalmijn (1998), despite their differences, all studies about

immigration and marriage share one common theme: exogamy (or intermarriage) as an

indicator of the interaction between different social groups and an indicator of social

acceptance of the difference. Homogamy, on the other hand, can be seen as a way of

closing the group to the outside.



We will now postulate that: i) one of the components required for a complete

assimilation, as defined by Gordon (1964) – marital assimilation – is present in

Portugal; and ii) while intermarriage is often analysed and discussed using cases that

can be described as integration through marriage, in Portugal there are situations where

the immigrants are already settled inhabitants, who don’t need to marry to enable their

migration; in such cases intermarriage is thus not a bridge to integration, but more likely

a reflection of that integration.

2. Research Questions

We conducted a quantitative analysis of marriage, focusing on the cases in which

at least one of the spouses was born outside Portugal. The purpose of the present paper

is to determine the overall profile of these marriages and the individuals involved in

them, in an attempt to answer the following questions:

1) Do immigrants in Portugal marry mostly within their group (endogamy)? This

question is particularly relevant, inasmuch as migration literature has considered

the levels of exogamy to be both an indicator of the degree of immigrant

integration and a mechanism for that integration (Alba and Golden, 1986;

Lieberson and Waters, 1986; Kalmijn, 1998; Pagnini and Morgan, 1990;

Kantarevic 2004; Meng and Gregory, 2005).

2) Is there any evidence to suggest that the majority of marriages with a Portuguese

partner can be a bridge to acquiring Portuguese nationality and the consequent

entry into Europe? Does this idea, which is very commonplace among the

Portuguese population, find any basis in the analysis of the data on these

marriages?

3) Can we say that there is a prevalence of educational (equality of education levels

between spouses) and age (same age group) homogamy in marriages involving

immigrants? Is there a tendency towards “marriages of equals”, be it in age or in

terms of educational resources, as some studies show (Mare, 1991; Blackwell,

1998); or, on the contrary, do individuals from minority groups use education or

age as an exchange resource, as suggested by the exchange theory (Merton,



1941; Kalmijn, 1998)?

4) Are there different levels of exogamy for men and women? Gender differences

in exogamic marriage have been documented in several studies (Qian et al,

2001; Jacobs and Labov, 2002). These studies reveal that men tend to marry

outside their minority group more often than women. Is this also true in

Portugal?

These questions lead to another:

Do different communities marry in different ways, in terms of the characteristics

of the individuals involved and the profile of the marriages?

3. Data and Methods

The data for our study are taken from national official statistics (Statistics

Portugal – INE): the Demographic Statistics for 2001 and 2009 and the marriage micro

data for the same period.

A quantitative analysis of marriages occurring in Portugal in which at least one of

the participants was not Portuguese enables us to analyse a structured set of their

protagonists’ sociographic characteristics, which can be a key to explaining different

patterns of conjugality and different levels of exogamy among the communities of

immigrants living in Portugal.

A descriptive analysis of the marriage micro data for 2001 and 2009 not only

enables us to outline the overall profile of theses marriages (in which at least one of the

spouses wasn´t born in Portugal), but also the evolution of this kind of marriage.

In order to answer our questions, we will begin by describing the profile of the

marriages in which at least one of the spouses was not born in Portugal, together with

the characteristics of the bride and the groom, taking the country of birth of the

immigrant partner into account. The wide diversity of the countries led us to classify

them into five main groups: Brazilian, Eastern Europeans, other Europeans, PALOP,

and others.

In order to see the evolution and changes that occurred between 2001 and 2009,

all the analyses were performed for both years.



4. Results 1) Profile of the Marriages

As we said earlier, the foreign population has been growing in Portugal since the

nineteen-sixties, but especially following the Revolution of April Seventy-four, and in

the nineteen-nineties. The growing weight of immigrant communities is being

accompanied by a new phenomenon – intermarriage or mixed marriage. In Portugal, in

a context in which the number of marriages has declined, the relative importance of

these marriages has grown. In 2001, 11,885 such cases represented about 20% of all

marriages in Portugal; in 2009, despite having decreased to 10,624, the number of

marriages dropped further (to 40,391), and therefore the proportion of the total

increased to 26.3%.

In Portugal, in a context where the number of marriages has declined, the relative

importance of these marriages has grown. In 2001 the marriages where at least one of

the spouses was not born in Portugal were 11,885, and represented about 20% of the

58,390 marriages occurred in Portugal in that period. In 2009, despite having fallen to

10,624, the number of marriages dropped further (to 40,391), and therefore its weight

increased to 26.3% (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Trends in intermarriage in Portugal (2001 to 2009)

Source: Demographic Statistics (2001 and 2009), INE (Portugal Statistics)

58,390 56,457 53,735

49,178 48,671 47,857 46,329

40,391

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2009

Total of Marriages (thousands)

Marriages where at least one of the spouses was not born in Portugal (%)

Marriages between a Portuguese born and a foreigner (%)



In this section we examine the profile of these marriages, when at least one of the

individuals was born outside Portugal, beginning with an analysis of that origin. In

2001, the most expressive groups were undoubtedly that which includes the European

Union countries (around 30% for both sexes), and the Portuguese-Speaking African

Countries (PALOPs) group, representing almost 46% of immigrant women marrying in

Portugal and about 49% of the men. Although continuing to represent a significant

proportion of the total of these marriages, both groups experienced a considerable

decrease from 2001 to 2009, especially with regard to PALOP women (a variation of

-54%). On the contrary, in a tendency that is related to the most recent immigration

flows, in 2009 we see the enormous importance of the Brazilian group, particularly in

the case of women (29.5%); and also, albeit to a lesser extent, and again with regard to

women (8.7%), the Eastern European group.

In order to profile the marriages in which at least one of the spouses was not

Portuguese-born, we take the following variables into account: form of marriage,

matrimonial regime, marital status prior to marriage, cohabitation prior to marriage,

existence of common and non-common children prior to marriage.

In 2001, Catholic celebration was the primary form of marriage involving

immigrants (57.6%); however, in 2009 the situation was very different, with only 24.0%

of marriages taking this form. Comparing the different communities marrying in

Portugal, it becomes clear that this distribution and evolution were not the same or even

similar for all of them. Data show the diminishing importance of Catholic celebration

between 2001 and 2009 in almost every community, but to a different extent / in

different ways (Table 1).

Whereas in 2001 marriages involving a spouse born in the European Union (man

or woman) or an immigrant man from a PALOP were mainly celebrated according to

the Catholic rite, the situation in the Brazilian and above all the Eastern European

groups was the opposite. This is not surprising, to the extent that the majority of the

countries in the European Union and PALOP groups are mostly declared Roman

Catholic, whereas Eastern European countries are not; where Brazil is concerned,

although many Brazilians said they were Catholic, there are also many other religious

denominations with lots of followers, and this justifies the proportion of non-Catholic



marriages.

Table 1. Catholic celebration of marriage by gender and country of birth

Gender

Country of birth

2001 2009

Catholic

N % N %

Women EU 1799 71.4 785 50.1

Brazil 146 21.5 81 2.6

PALOP 1196 48.3 33 5.6

Eastern Europe 10 6.3 97 10.5

Other 522 54.7 401 33.8

Men EU 1780 71.3 776 49.1

Brazil 117 32.5 91 6.7

PALOP 1549 52.5 204 12.6

Eastern Europe 9 12.2 8 7.1

Other 459 50.7 292 30.2


Having said this, even in those groups in which Catholic celebration was in the

majority in 2001, the situation in 2009 was very different, with civil marriages generally

predominant. In the case of men, even in the groups in which the Catholic rite had

represented the majority, this was no longer true in 2009; and in the case of women, the

proportion only rose when the immigrant came from Eastern Europe. We should also

note the large rise in civil marriages between spouses from the PALOPs.

This trend among immigrant communities also turns out to be the trend for all

marriages – the overall proportion of civil marriages rose from 37.5% in 2001 to 56.5%

in 2009

In both years, the most important matrimonial regime was that of community

property, which is the standard regime in Portugal when no other is chosen. This regime

represented 85.8% of all marriages in 2001 and 87.3% in 2009, and this distribution is

homogeneous between the different countries of birth.

Generally, for both years, this was the first marriage for the spouses, but this value

did fall (from around 90% in 2001 to near 80% in 2009). At the same time, there was an

increase in the proportion of divorcees between the two years (from 7.3% to 18.1% in

the case of women, and from 9.4% to 22.8% in the case of men).



Along with the increase in the proportion of spouses who had previously

divorced, we can also see that the weight of the different marital statuses was not similar

for all the communities analysed.

In 2001, the proportion of women who were born in the EU, married in Portugal

and had previously divorced was less than 4%, while for the women from the Brazilian

and PALOPS communities this value was around 10%; however, for the same year, the

proportion of women from Eastern Europe who married in Portugal following a

previous divorce exceeded 25%.

In 2009, the proportion of divorced women increased in all groups except the

PALOPs, where it fell to just 5.2%. The opposite was true of the Brazilian (about 20%

of newly married women had previously divorced) and Eastern European (about 30%)

groups.

In the case of men, in both years the smallest proportion of divorcees came from

the European Union group (only 3% in 2001, but around 19% in 2009); the

communities where the proportion of divorced men involved in these marriages was the

greatest was the Eastern European group in 2001 (19%), and the PALOP group in 2009

(23.5%).

In general, about 20% and 46% of the marriages that took place in 2001 and 2009

were preceded by cohabitation. However, when marriages involved women born in the

EU, cohabitation before marriage was residual; on the other hand, when the woman was

born in Eastern Europe, cohabitation occurred in about 50% of the cases or more.

For the same year, but for the groom, the situation was similar (although with

lower values): only the marriages where the man was from Eastern Europe were

preceded by cohabitation in more than 50% of cases.

In 2009, in those marriages involving a partner (man or woman) from the

PALOPs or Eastern Europe, prior cohabitation existed in more than 50% of cases; for

the remaining groups the cohabitation phenomenon was more frequent than in 2001, but

not yet the norm.

Usually, none of the spouses had children before this marriage; but when they did,

the most frequent situation was that only one spouse had children – 13.2% in 2001,

rising to 27.6% in 2009. Only in 5.8% (2001) and 10.6% (2009) of cases did the couple

already have children in common.



2) Answering the Research Questions

Question 1: Do immigrants in Portugal marry mostly within their group?

As we have already said, the level of endogamy may indicate the degree to which a

society is open to the outside. A high level of mixed marriages (intermarriage) reveals

the existence of cross-border interactions (national, cultural, linguistic, economic…) and

a society that is characterised by openness to the exterior. On the other hand, a low level

of mixed marriages suggests a closed society. At the same time, mixed marriages are

also a factor that enhances interactions and can itself influence integration. The answer

to this question is thus particularly pertinent.

Data show a tendency to marry outside the group of origin. If we compare the

country of birth of the two spouses, we see that of the 11,885 marriages celebrated in

Portugal in 2001 in which at least one of the partners was not Portuguese, 93% involved

spouses with two different countries of birth. Marriage between partners born in the

same country was residual.

When immigrants marry outside their group, in most cases they marry a

Portuguese-born person. This is not surprising, since this is the host or majority group.

Indeed, in 2001, 85.8% of immigrants married a Portuguese-born spouse, while in 2009

this occurred in 77.3% of the cases.

However, when we consider the weight of exogamous marriage, we must take

into account the number of immigrants and their distribution by sex within each

country, which can be an obstacle to this type of marriage. It thus makes sense to look at

the concept of endogamous marriage in a broader sense, considering the region of origin

(PALOP, EU, Eastern Europe, and Brazil) rather than the country by itself.

Even in this broader sense, marrying a Portuguese-born spouse continues to be the

predominant situation. When the immigrant didn’t marry a Portuguese national, the

numbers for 2001 show that the two spouses tended to belong to the same group, with

special relevance in the case of the PALOP group (above 70% ) and for Brazilian men.

In the latter case, it is significant that there was a large difference between the sexes,

with women being much more exogamic (75.6% of the men and 56% of the women

married within their group).



In 2009, the endogamy level was fairly different; the figure decreased, but

remained high – 85.3% of a total of 10,624 marriages involved partners with different

origins; and once again, as in 2001, when an immigrant married someone who was not

Portuguese, their spouse tended to be from the same group of countries (if not the same

country). The exception was women from Eastern Europe, who married men from the

PALOPs in almost 42% of cases.

However, despite the similarities, there are also some differences: between 2001

and 2009 homogamy (in a broader sense) rose for Brazilian and Eastern European men,

while for the other groups the exogamy level increased considerably. In the case of

women, endogamy only increased for spouses of Brazilian and PALOP origin.

So in answer to the first question, even though there is a slight downward

tendency, when the country of birth is compared directly, marriages are essentially

between partners with different origins. We can thus say that there is a prevalence of

exogamic marriages. However, if we exclude cases of marriage with a Portuguese-born

spouse and compare groups of countries (expected to have some cultural similitude) in a

broader sense, endogamy is a reality – and apparently a growing one.

So, if we consider the level of intermarriage (particularly with a Portuguese

partner) to be an indicator of openness to the exterior and of cross-border interactions,

as several authors (Alba and Golden, 1986; Kalmijn, 1998; Lieberson and Waters, 1986;

Pagnini and Morgan, 1990) argue, Portugal is undoubtedly a country that is open to

difference.

We must ask why the level of intermarriage decreases during this period. Does

this reveal a trend towards closure? Can this be interpreted as an increase in the level of

prejudice, associated with competition in the labour market in a context of economic

crisis, like the one we have been experiencing in Portugal in recent years? More studies

are needed in order to answer these questions.



Question 2: Is there any evidence to suggest that the majority of marriages with a

Portuguese partner can be a bridge to acquiring Portuguese

nationality and the consequent entry into Europe?

This is one of the preconceptions that are installed in Portuguese society,

sometimes suggested by the media – that for some immigrant groups, marriage to a

Portuguese national is an open door to the acquisition of Portuguese nationality and the

consequent ease of access to the European area.

In order to answer this question, we analysed the nationality of the immigrants

who married a Portuguese partner, in this period, in Portugal.

In 2001, there were 10,195 marriages between a Portuguese citizen and a national

of another country (6,790 women and 6,785 men). However, of the foreigners, 82.7% of

women and 83.8% of men already held Portuguese nationality (Table 2). Obtaining

Portuguese nationality was thus not a real aim, at least for the majority. This can be at

least partially explained by the importance in 2001 of the PALOP group, in which the

vast majority of people already held Portuguese nationality for historic reasons (these

countries had been Portuguese colonies in the recent past).

In 2001, only the immigrants born in Eastern European countries were

predominantly foreign nationals, and about 50% of Brazilian brides and grooms also fell

into this category. With the exception of these two groups of countries, the marriages

that took place in Portugal in 2001 were thus mostly marriages between two people with

Portuguese nationality, and so marriage cannot be seen as way of obtaining Portuguese

nationality.

Table 2. Nationality of Foreigners by Gender and Year

Nationality

Women Men

2001 2009 2001 2009

N % N % N % N %

Portuguese 5,617 82.7 3,336 45.1 5,683 83.8 3,329 59.1

Foreign 1,173 17.3 4,064 54.9 1,102 16.2 2,302 40.9

Total 6,790 100.0 7,400 100.0 6,785 100.0 5,631 100.0


In 2009, the situation was slightly different: of the 7,400 foreign women who

married in Portugal, the majority (about 55%) held a foreign nationality; among the men



the values, albeit lower, also increased substantially during this period (from 16.2% to

40.9%).

This data should be interpreted in the light of the increase in the number of

marriages involving certain groups of immigrants, notably the Brazilian community (in

2009, this group represented 30% of the women and 13% of the men who married in

Portugal and were born elsewhere). Unlike the communities with the greatest

expression in 2001 (namely the PALOPs), the majority of Brazilians in this situation did

not hold Portuguese nationality (78.5% of Brazilian men and 91% of women were not

Portuguese nationals).

Of the approximately 4,000 women who were not born in Portugal, were foreign

nationals and married in Portugal in 2009, about 3,300 (83%) married a national from a

European country, Portugal or another country in Europe.

In the same year, there were 2,302 registered marriages in which the man was not

born in Portugal and did not hold Portuguese nationality. About seventy per cent

(N=1,597) of the members of this group married a woman with Portuguese or another

European nationality.

But even for this year, foreign nationality was only clearly dominant among

Brazilian women and citizens of the Eastern European countries.

In summary, there is thus some evidence from 2009 pointing to the possibility of

marriage being a bridge to obtaining European nationality for some groups. However,

we should stress that this may also be just a natural consequence of the characteristics of

the predominant groups of immigrants in Portugal at that time. The quantitative data

analysis we performed only allows us to realize that for different groups of immigrants,

there are different levels of exogamy and probably different meanings and motivations

for an exogamic marriage. We can thus only make a few suggestions about the

motivations for exogamic marriage, one of which may be the acquisition of citizenship.



Question 3: Is there a tendency towards “marriages of equals”, be it in age or in

terms of educational resources?

At this point we intend to see whether there is also a tendency in Portugal for

marriage to occur mainly between partners with similar characteristics (age and

education), as shown in some studies concerning other countries (Mare, 1991;

Blackwell, 1998).

Regarding education levels, we find a similar distribution for men and women

(Table 3). Correlations between men and women’s education levels are positive and

significant in both 2001 (r=0.639) and 2009 (r=0.726).

Table 3. Educational Level by Gender (2001 and 2009)

Education level

2001 2009

Female Male Female Male

N % N % N % N %

Up to 4 yrs basic education 654 5.5 856 7.2 492 4.7 740 7.1

6 yrs basic education 1,463 12.3 2,056 17.3 962 9.3 1,310 12.6

9 yrs basic education 2,116 17.8 2,575 21.7 1,959 18.9 2,469 23.8

12 yrs basic education 3,602 30.3 3,411 28.7 3,668 35.3 3,532 34.0

Higher education 4,050 34.1 2,987 25.1 3,309 31.8 2,344 22.5

Total 11,885 100.0 11,885 100.0 10,390a 100.0 10,395

a 100.0


It must be stressed that the lowest levels are the least represented, and that the

majority of the immigrants have either 12 years of basic education or higher education

(above 20% for men and 30% for women). Women show a slight tendency towards a

higher level than men.

When we compare the education levels of the two partners (as presented in Table

3), we can see that the partners are at equal levels in more than half the marriages

(53.5% in 2001, and 57.9% in 2009). When this is not the case, women tend to be at

higher levels than men (32.1% of marriages in 2001, and 29.9% in 2009, were in this

situation).

Going a little deeper into this issue, we tried to see if the gap between women’s

and men’s qualifications was even greater among non-Portuguese nationals – something

that might suggest that education was being used as an element of exchange to



compensate for the disadvantage of not possessing Portuguese (or European)

citizenship. This hypothesis (dear to the exchange theory) was not, however, supported

by the reality: the highest percentage of immigrant women who were more qualified

than their husbands is found among those who already had Portuguese nationality.

Turning to the spouses’ age at the time of marriage, men were on average older

than women (in both 2001 and 2009) – a finding that is similar to the case for the

generality of marriages in Portugal in that period. Like for marriages in general, data

also show an increase in mean age at marriage between 2001 and 2009 (Table 4).

Despite the mean differences between the age of marriage of both spouses, the

correlation between them is relevant and positive.

Table 4. Age at Marriage

Age at marriage 2001 2009

Mean SD Mean SD

Age of female 27.7 6.6 31.4 8.4

Age of male 29.9 7.6 34.5 9.9

Pearson correlation 0.713* 0.696*

*. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).


When comparing the ages of the spouses, we considered that spouses belonged to

the same age group if the age difference between them was no more than 4 years.

Following this criterion, the spouses belonged to the same age group in the great

majority of cases (64% in 2001 and 56.2% in 2009). When this was not so, men

belonged to an older group than women (27.5% and 33.2% respectively in 2001 and

2009). We should stress that there are no relevant differences according to the spouses’

places of birth.

In summary, in line with other studies (Mare, 1991; Blackwell, 1998), there is a

tendency towards “marriages among equals” – i.e. there is a prevalence of educational

(equality of education levels between spouses) and age (same age group) homogamy in

marriages among immigrants. When this does not happen, men usually have less

educational resources and are older than women. It should also be said that it is most

common for the woman to have higher qualifications than the man when the woman is

the immigrant – a fact that can offer some support for the exchange theory.



Question 4: Are there different levels of exogamy for men and women?

Several studies have documented the existence of gender differences in exogamic

marriage (Qian et al., 2001; Jacobs and Labov, 2002), with men more likely to marry

outside their group. In line with the theory of social stratification, some authors have

argued that variables such as the dimension of the minority group or the availability of

partners within the group must be taken into account in the analysis of exogamic levels

(Blau, 1977; Blau et al, 1982; South and Messner, 1986; Rytina et al, 1988).

There is a historical difference between the sexes in Portuguese immigration, with

a prevalence of men. However, this difference is not the same for all the countries of

birth, but is more accentuated in the case of some countries in the PALOP and Eastern

European groups. Among Brazilians there is an almost balanced situation (slightly more

women). Men from the PALOP and Eastern European groups were therefore expected

to be more exogamic and women from those countries more endogamic, because of the

sex ratio. On the other hand, Brazilian women can be least expected to marry within

their group of origin, for the same reason.

In order to answer this question we compared the country of birth of the spouse,

for women and men born outside Portugal.

In 2001, there was a high and similar level of exogamy for both men and women.

About 88% of women married individuals from a country other than their own. The

men in the same situation did the same (Table 5). In 2009, the situation was slightly

different. In fact, as we have seen before, although exogamy was dominant, the

phenomenon decreased in general. This is especially true for men, where it fell from

around 88% to 72%.

Table 5. Exogamy/Endogamy by Gender and Year

Exogamy/Endogamy

2001 2009

Female Male Female Male

N % N % N % N %

Exogamy (different country of birth) 5,953 87.7 5,948 87.7 5,837 78.9 4,068 72.2

Endogamy (same country of birth) 837 12.3 837 12.3 1,563 21.1 1,563 27.8

Total 6,790 100.0 6,785 100.0 7,400 100.0 5,631 100.0




If we consider the homogamy concept in a broader sense and compare the

situation for men and women by groups of countries, we can see that in 2001 men were

usually more homogamic (except for the PALOPs). This can be explained by the fact

that the most significant difference between genders occurred in the Brazilian group,

and to some extent for the immigrants born in the Eastern European countries (Figure

2).

Figure 2. Homogamy by Sex (2001)


The situation in 2009 was rather different. We can say that men were clearly more

homogamic than women in almost all the groups, and the differences were generally

larger. The immigrants from the Eastern European countries were the only ones –

contrary to what happened in 2001 – for whom the difference between the percentage of

men and women who married outside their group was lower (Figure 3).

Figure 3. Homogamy by Sex (2009)


0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

EU

BRAZIL

PALO

P

EASTERN

EURO

PE

OTH

ER

COUNTRY OF BIRTH

same gr men % same gr women %

0%20%40%60%80%

100%

EU BRAZIL PALOP EASTERN

EUROPE

OTHER

COUNTRY OF BIRTH

same gr men % same gr women %



The Brazilians and the women from the PALOP group were those for whom

marriage outside the group (mostly with a Portuguese partner) was more frequent.

In summary, while in 2001 the general levels of exogamy were equal for men and

women, this situation was different in 2009. Exogamy decreased for both sexes, but

more so for men. So in 2009 women were distinctly more exogamic. Some differences

were also detected when we took the group of origin of the immigrants into account – in

2001, the Eastern European women were the most exogamic, whereas in 2009, it was

those from Brazil and the PALOP group.

These results are not very consistent with the argument that the size of the

minority group or the availability of partners within the group must be taken into

account in the analysis of exogamic levels. Although men from the PALOP and Eastern

European groups were expected to be more exogamic (and women more endogamic)

because of the sex ratio, this was only true for the first of the two groups. On the other

hand, Brazilian women were expected to marry least often within their group of origin

for the same reason, and this was not supported by the data.

5. Conclusion

This study set out to determine first of all the overall profile of marriages which

occurred in Portugal in 2001 and 2009 and in which at least one of the partners wasn’t

born here, and to analyse its evolution between those two years.

To summarise, quantitative analysis of the marriage micro data from 2001 and

2009 enables us to conclude that marriages occurring in Portugal, in which the husband

and/or the wife were born in another country, were mostly between people for whom

this was the first marriage (although there was an increase in the proportion of divorcees

over this period). Cohabitation prior to marriage and children in common were not

frequent. The existence of children from only one of the spouses was a more common

situation, and increased between 2001 and 2009. Catholic celebration was the rule for

these marriages in 2001, but the situation changed and in 2009 the majority of the

marriages were not Catholic. The most important matrimonial regime for both years

was that of community property.

The majority of the immigrants (men and women) who married in Portugal in

2001 were born in Portuguese-Speaking African Countries, although there was already



a substantial presence from the French and Brazilian communities. In 2009, the

situation was quite different, with a significant increase in spouses from the Brazilian

community, especially women.

Returning to the question we posed at the beginning of this study – “Do

immigrants in Portugal marry mostly within their group?” – we can now say that there

was clearly a prevalence of exogamic marriage in both 2001 and 2009, but there was

also a slight tendency to a rise in marriage between partners from the same country

during this period, at least for some of the groups that were analysed.

If the search for partners outside the group of origin (in particular marriage with a

Portuguese partner) is an indicator of the degree of integration into the host society, it

was to be expected that exogamic levels would be higher in 2001 than in 2009, since the

weight of the groups corresponding to the oldest flow of immigration (those who are

theoretically more integrated into the host country and its social networks) was greater

in the earlier year. The data seems to corroborate this idea.

Nevertheless, more recent groups, like Brazilians and immigrants from Eastern

European countries, also display a propensity towards this kind of marriage, especially

in the case of women. It seems that exogamic marriage is also proactively sought by the

most recent groups. These findings suggest that exogamy can be seen not only as an

indicator of integration (for the oldest flows of immigrants), but also as a bridge for

integration (for the more recent ones).

The data we analysed don’t allow us to determine whether a complete assimilation

of immigrant communities (as defined by Gordon) exists in Portugal. However, one

component – marital assimilation – is clearly present. Having said this, different

matrimonial strategies do seem to coexist, and this lends some support to the theory of

segmented assimilation. The fact that the majority of these mixed marriages involved an

immigrant and a Portuguese partner leads us on to our second question – can this be a

strategy for acquiring Portuguese nationality and an easier way of entering Europe?

The results of this investigation show that in 2001, the great majority of

immigrants involved in these marriages (more than 80%) already held Portuguese

nationality. In these cases we thus cannot talk about marriage as a way of achieving

Portuguese nationality. However, in 2009 the situation was different: more than 50% of

the women and 40% of the men were foreign nationals. We must remember that



different migratory flows had occurred in Portugal, and this can at least partially explain

this difference. It may be that in the most recent immigrant communities, marrying a

Portuguese national is a bridge to integration into the host country and simultaneously

an open door for the acquisition of Portuguese nationality. As we said earlier, the

current study was unable to analyse the motivations underlying the marriages. Further

work needs to be done to establish whether marrying a Portuguese partner is a bridge to

acquisition of a European nationality or not.

This study also provides the answers to the question about age and educational

homogamy. Like Mare (1991) and Blackwell (1998), we found evidence of both these

situations; most individuals marry within the group that possesses equal educational

levels. When this does not happen, men usually have less educational resources than

women. This is particularly relevant when the immigrant is the woman. In terms of age,

the couples also tend to be in the same age group, although men are nevertheless

generally older than women.

One implication of these results is the possibility that, as suggested by the

exchange theory, age and qualifications may be being used (by some individuals) as an

exchange element to compensate for a possible racial or ethnic disadvantage. This is

another issue that cannot be answered by these quantitative data analyses.

Turning to the question about a hypothetic relationship between exogamy and

gender, the results of this investigation show that men and women displayed a high and

similar level of exogamy in 2001. However, the situation changed and in 2009 exogamy

decreased for both sexes, albeit women remained distinctly more exogamic.

We would like to conclude by mentioning that one of the more significant

findings to emerge from this work may be that there is not one, but several types of

marriage in Portugal among immigrants to Portugal. The country – or more precisely

the region, given that the countries were generally organized into large regions – of

birth can introduce differences, not only in terms of demographic characteristics of the

spouses, but also with regard to the characteristics of the wedding itself – form of

celebration, level of exogamy, etc.

This may be due to family or friendship support networks, which can function as

mediators between cultural differences and integration into the host society in the form

of marriage. While on the one hand the existence of proximity networks can be



beneficial in terms of cultural integration and support in the face of the host society,

they can also lead to lower rates of exogamy and a greater propensity to perpetuate the

gap between the society of origin and the host society, as advocated by Palriwala and

Uberoi (2008).

These findings offer several insights for future research. In the more immediate

future we intend to include the most recent data (2010) in the analysis and continue to

seek answers to the questions that remain open.

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Marriage with Immigrants in Portugal

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