Demographics of Portugal

Vital statistics since 1900

JN = 1.1.2016 - 30.11.2016

Natural increase current

Number of births from January–October 2015 = 70,804

Number of births from January–October 2016 = 72,244

Number of deaths from January–October 2015 = 90,819

Number of deaths from January–October 2016 = 89,877

Natural growth from January–October 2015 = -20,015

Natural growth from January–October 2016 = -17,633

Metropolitan areas

At the 2001 census, Portugal had two significant agglomerations: Lisbon Metropolitan Region 2.82 million inhabitants and Porto Metropolitan Agglomeration with 1.68 million people. These broader agglomerations are distinct from the political metropolitan areas of Lisbon and Porto - Grande Área Metropolitana de Lisboa and Grande Área Metropolitana do Porto. Together they hold 43% of the total population.

Largest urban areas

When considering the number of inhabitants in consistent single urban areas, de facto cities in mainland Portugal, per the new with increased density of human-created structures, and excluding suburban and rural areas, Portugal has two cities with about one million inhabitants each (Lisbon and Porto), ten others with more than 50,000 inhabitants and 14 cities with populations between 20,000 and 40,000 inhabitants.

Ten largest urban areas

Note: the following table does not include cities in the Portuguese islands of Madeira and Azores in mid-Atlantic. Ocean.

Largest cities

Portugal has 151 localities with city status (cidade). Every city is included into a municipality (município). This is a list of population by city, which means that it refers to the number of inhabitants in the city proper, excluding inhabitants from the same municipality but living outside the urban area of the city in other civil parishes (freguesias) of the municipality. In some cases, the entire municipality and the city proper cover the same territory.

Largest municipalities by population

Denotes the number of inhabitants in the municipality area; area is in km²; only for populations of over 100,000 inhabitants.

Nationality

noun: Portuguese (singular and plural) adjective: Portuguese

Languages

The main language is Portuguese. Mirandês (the Mirandese language), is also recognised, and has special protection in the area of Miranda do Douro.

Immigration

In 1992, 1.3% of the population was foreign, by 2007 the number had grown to 4.1% or 435,736 people this number excludes an unknown number of illegal immigrants.

Since the independence of the former African colonies, Portugal saw a steady immigration from Africa, most notably Cape Verde, Angola and Guinea-Bissau, but also São Tomé and Príncipe, Mozambique and former Portuguese India in Asia.

Portugal saw migration waves due to labor shortages since 1999, first from Eastern Europe (1999–2002), in two distinctive groups, a Slav (Ukraine, Russia and Bulgaria) and an East Latin (Romania and Moldavia), that stopped and started declining as the labour market became saturated.

Since 2003, most of the immigrants came from Brazil, China and the Indian subcontinent. Family reunification was seen as important for a successful integration in the country, thus the government eased it, and in 2006, more than 6 in 10 new immigrants were family members of legal foreign residents in the country.

Other immigrant nationalities in Portugal such as Croatians, Hungarians, Nigerians, Serbians and Venezuelans are on the rise.

There is also a significant number of Western European residents in search of quality of life, namely British, German, French, and Dutch.

In 2008, SEF, the foreigners and borders bureau, started using a new integrated information system, incompatible with previous statistics. The foreign population grew 1% from 435,736 in 2007 to 440,277. One in four immigrants is Brazilian.

Ethnic minorities and persons with disabilities

Anti-racism laws prohibit and penalize racial discrimination in housing, business, and health services. In 2007 approximately 332,137 legal immigrants live in the country, representing approximately 5% of the population. The country also has a resident Romani (Gypsy) population of approximately 40,000 people.

Discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to health care, or the provision of other state services is illegal. The law mandates access to public buildings and to newly built private buildings for such persons.

Religion

The great majority of the Portuguese population belongs to the Roman Catholic Church. Religious observance remains somewhat strong in northern areas, with the population of Lisbon and southern areas generally less devout. Religious minorities include a little over 300,000 Protestants and Mormons. There are also about 50,000 Muslims and 10,000 Hindus. Most of them came from Goa, a former Portuguese colony on the west coast of India (Some Muslims also came from former Portuguese African colonies with important Muslim minorities: Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, and São Tomé and Príncipe). There are also about 1,000 Jews. Portugal is also home to less than 10,000 Buddhists, mostly Chinese from Macau and a few Indians from Goa.

Literacy

definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 97.0% male: 98.0% female: 96.0% (2011 est.)

CIA World Factbook demographic statistics

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.

Age structure

0-14 years: 16.1% (male 906,062/female 831,992) 15-64 years: 65.7% (male 3,548,140/female 3,538,562). The biggest population age group is 35-39. 65 years and over: 18.1% (male 800,339/female 1,156,361) (2012 est.)

Sex ratio

at birth: 1.07 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.09 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.69 male(s)/female total population: 0.95 male(s)/female (2011 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 81.1 years male: 78.2 years female: 83.9 years (2016)