Demographics of Portugal
This article is about the demographic features of the population of Portugal, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.
| Population of Portugal (INE, Lisbon) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Total | Change | Year | Total | Change |
| 1864 | 4,188,419 | - | 1950 | 8,510,240 | 10.2% |
| 1890 | 5,049,729 | 20.5% | 1960 | 8,851,240 | 4.0% |
| 1911 | 5,969,056 | 18,2% | 1970 | 8,648,369 | -2.3% |
| 1920 | 6,032,991 | 1,1% | 1981 | 9,833,041 | 13.7% |
| 1930 | 6,825,883 | 13.1% | 1991 | 9,862,540 | 0.3% |
| 1940 | 7,722,152 | 13.1% | 2001 | 10,355,824 | 5.0% |
As of 2007 Portugal had 10,617,575 inhabitants of whom about 332,137 were legal immigrants (51,7% female, 48,3% male).[1]
Portugal is a fairly homogeneous country linguistically and religiously. Ethnically, the Portuguese people are mainly a combination of pre-Roman Iberian Celtic tribes, Lusitanians and others, with a fair amount of Roman, Germanic (Visigoths and Suevi) and some minor elements, essentially Arab-Berbers, and Jews.
Furthermore the demographic development is characterized by three trends: increasing longevity, decreasing birth rates and an increasing percentage of population from foreign extraction.
Today, many Eastern Europeans (especially Ukrainians, Moldovans, Romanians and Russians), as well as Brazilians, are making Portugal their home. Portuguese is spoken throughout the country, with only the villages of Miranda do Douro's Mirandese language recognised as a locally co-official language.
Urban organization
Metropolitan areas
As of 2001 Census, Portugal had two significant agglomerations: Lisbon Metropolitan Region (3.34 million inhabitants) and Northern Littoral Urban-Metropolitan Region (or Porto Metropolitan Agglomeration) with 2.99 million people.[2] 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 58% of the total population.
| Image | City | Agglomeration | Metropolitan area | Core municipality |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Lisbon | 3.34 million[2] | 2,641,006 | 564,657 |
|
Porto | 2.99 million[2] | 1,551,950 | 238,954 |
Largest urban areas
When considering the number of inhabitants in consistent single urban area, de facto cities in mainland Portugal, per the new with increased density of human-created structures, and excluding suburban and rural areas, Portugal had two cities had about one million inhabitants, ten others had more than 50,000 inhabitants and 14 cities had populations between 40 and 20 thousand inhabitants.[2]
- Ten largest urban areas
-
-
-
-
4.Coimbra
100,000 inh. -
5.Funchal
100,000 inh. -
-
-
8.Aveiro
< 100,000 inh. -
-
10.Viseu
< 100,000 inh.
Note: the following table does not include cities in the Portuguese islands of Madeira and Azores in mid-Atlantic. Ocean.
| City | Metropolitan Area | Agglomeration |
|---|---|---|
| Cities with about 50,000 inh. (2001 Census) | ||
| Leiria | Lisbon Metropolitan Region | |
| Portimão | ||
| Faro | ||
| Évora | ||
| Cities with about 40,000 inh. (2001 Census) | ||
| Viana do Castelo | ||
| Covilhã | ||
| Castelo Branco | ||
| Santarém | Lisbon Metropolitan Region | |
| Alverca do Ribatejo | Lisbon Metropolitan Region | |
| Vila Nova de Famalicão | Northern Littoral Urban-Metropolitan Region | |
| Figueira da Foz | ||
| Guarda | ||
| Caldas da Rainha | Lisbon Metropolitan Region | |
| Olhão | ||
| Santo Tirso | Greater Porto | Northern Littoral Urban-Metropolitan Region |
| Vila Real | ||
| Póvoa de Santa Iria | Greater Lisbon | Lisbon Metropolitan Region |
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.[3]
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.
People
Nationality
- noun: Portuguese (singular and plural)
- adjective: Portuguese
Languages
Also Mirandês (Mirandese language) 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[4] 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 labour 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.[5]
Other immigrant nationalites 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. On the other hand, most Spaniards are professionals such as medical doctors, business managers, businesspersons, nurses, etc.
| The 20 largest legal immigrant communities in 2007 compared with their numbers in 1999 * : European Union citizenship | ||||
| Legal foreign residents | Number in 1999 | Number in 2007 | Growth in percentage | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brazilians | 20,851 | 66,354 | + 218% | |
| Cape Verdeans | 43,951 | 63,925 | + 45% | |
| Ukrainians | 123 | 39,480 | + 31998% | |
| Angolans | 17,721 | 32,728 | + 85% | |
| Guineans | 14,217 | 23,733 | + 67% | |
| British* | 13,335 | 23,608 | + 77% | |
| Romanians* | 224 | 19,155 | + 8451% | |
| Spanish* | 11,122 | 18,030 | + 62% | |
| Germans* | 9,605 | 15,498 | + 61% | |
| Moldavians | 3 | 14,053 | + 468333% | |
| Santomeans | 4,809 | 10,627 | + 121% | |
| French* | 6,499 | 10,556 | + 62% | |
| Chinese | 2,762 | 10,448 | + 278% | |
| US-Americans | 7,975 | 8,264 | + 4% | |
| Dutch* | 3,675 | 6,589 | + 79% | |
| Italians* | 2,700 | 5,985 | + 122% | |
| Mozambicans | 4,502 | 5,681 | + 26% | |
| Russians | 448 | 5,114 | + 1042% | |
| Bulgarians* | 347 | 5,028 | + 1349% | |
| Indians | 1,211 | 4,104 | + 239% | |
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.[6]
| Immigrants | |
| Legal foreign residents | Number in 2008 |
|---|---|
| Brazilians | 106 294 |
| Ukrainians | 53,494 |
| Cape Verdeans | 51,353 |
| Romanians* | 27,769 |
| Angolans | 27 619 |
| Guineans | 24,391 |
| Moldavians | 14,053 |
| Nationality appliance | |
| Previous nationality | Number in 2008 |
|---|---|
| Cape Verdean | 9926 |
| Brazilian | 8391 |
| British | 4589 |
| Angolans | 4463 |
| Moldavians | 4449 |
Ethnic Minorities and persons with disabilities
Anti-racism laws prohibit and penalize racial discrimination in housing, business, and health services. Approximately 332,137 (as of 2007) legal immigrants live in the country, representing approximately 5% of the population. The country also has a resident Roma (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.
Sexual Orientation
Homosexuality was decriminalized in 1982. Same-sex civil unions with limited partner rights were introduced in Portugal in 15 March 2001, greater rights were granted in 2006. Portugal is one of a few countries in the world, and one of the first, with anti-discrimination laws that exist in most fields: in the Constitution (discrimination based on sexual orientation is prohibited by law), in the Penal Code as well as the Labour Code. In spite of this, same-sex marriage with full equal rights as well as adoption by same-sex couples are not allowed. It is possible, however, that these issues will be debated in parliament as the current government when elected in September 2009, promised to legalize same-sex marriage.
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. 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: 93.3%
- male: 95.5%
- female: 91.3% (2003 est.)
CIA World Factbook demographic statistics
The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.
Population
- 10,048,232 (July 2000 est.)
- 10,102,022 (July 2003 est.)
- 10,524,145 (July 2004 est.)
- 10,566,212 (July 2005 est.)
- 10,605,870 (July 2006 est.)
- 10,642,836 (July 2007 est.)
- 10,707,924 (July 2009 est.)
Age structure
- 0-14 years: 16.5% (male 914,480/female 837,525)
- 15-64 years: 66.3% (male 3,501,206/female 3,551,706)
- 65 years and over: 17.3% (male 757,220/female 1,080,699) (2007 est.)
Population growth rate
- 0.18% (2000 est.)
- 0.17% (2003 est.)
- 0.41% (2004 est.)
- 0.39% (2005 est.)
- 0.36% (2006 est.)
- 0.334% (2007 est.)
Death rate
- 10.2 deaths/1,000 population (2000 est.)
- 10.21 deaths/1,000 population (2003 est.)
- 10.37 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.)
- 10.43 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.)
- 10.5 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.)
- 10.56 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Net migration rate
- 0.5 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2000 est.)
- 0.49 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2003 est.)
- 3.57 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2004 est.)
- 3.49 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.)
- 3.4 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.)
- 3.31 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Sex ratio
- at birth: 1.07 male(s)/female
- under 15 years: 1.092 male(s)/female
- 15-64 years: 0.986 male(s)/female
- 65 years and over: 0.701 male(s)/female
- total population: 0.946 male(s)/female (2007 est.)
Infant mortality rate
- 6.05 deaths/1,000 live births (2000 est.)
- 5.73 deaths/1,000 live births (2003 est.)
- 5.13 deaths/1,000 live births (2004 est.)
- 5.05 deaths/1,000 live births (2005 est.)
- 4.98 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.)
- 4.92 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)
Life expectancy at birth
- total population: 77.87 years
- male: 74.6 years
- female: 81.36 years (2007 est.)
Total fertility rate
- 1.47 children born/woman (2000 est.)
- 1.49 children born/woman (2003 est.)
- 1.46 children born/woman (2004 est.)
- 1.47 children born/woman (2005 est.)
- 1.49 children born/woman (2008 est.)
References
- ^ INE, Statistics Portugal
- ^ a b c d Fernando Nunes da Silva (2005), Alta Velocidade em Portugal, Desenvolvimento Regional, CENSUR, IST
- ^ UMA POPULAÇÃO QUE SE URBANIZA, Uma avaliação recente - Cidades, 2004 Nuno Pires Soares, Instituto Geográfico Português (Geographic Institute of Portugal)
- ^ População Estrangeira em Território Nacional (pdf) (in Portuguese), SEF, 2008, retrieved 2008-09-12
- ^ Imigração: Novos imigrantes legais em Portugal aumentaram 50% em 2006 - OCDE - RTP.pt
- ^ Um em cada quatro imigrantes é de nacionalidade brasileira - Diário de Notícias