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.

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±%
1422^1	1,043,274	—
1527^1	1,262,376	+21.0%
1636^1	1,100,000	−12.9%
1736	2,143,368	+94.9%
1770	2,850,444	+33.0%
1776	3,352,310	+17.6%
1801	2,931,930	−12.5%
1811	2,876,602	−1.9%
1838	3,200,000	+11.2%
1849	3,411,454	+6.6%
1864	4,188,419	+22.8%
1878	4,550,699	+8.6%
1890	5,049,729	+11.0%
1900	5,423,132	+7.4%
1911	5,969,056	+10.1%
1920	6,032,991	+1.1%
1930	6,825,883	+13.1%
1940	7,722,152	+13.1%
1950	8,510,240	+10.2%
1960	8,851,240	+4.0%
1970	8,648,369	−2.3%
1981	9,833,041	+13.7%
1991	9,862,540	+0.3%
2001	10,356,117	+5.0%
2011	10,562,178	+2.0%
2019*	10,295,909	−2.5%
Source: INE 2011[1][2][3] *Estimate; ^1Adult male population

In 2010 Portugal had 10,572,721 inhabitants.

Portugal is a fairly linguistically and religiously homogeneous country. Ethnically the Portuguese people form 95% of the total population in Portugal. The Portuguese people are mainly a combination of ancient paleolithic populations, and the proto-Celtic, Celtic and Iberian tribes, para-Celtic Lusitanians. Some other groups, like the Romans, Germanic (Visigoths, Suevi, Buri, Alans and Vandals) and later the Moorish (Berber), Sephardic Jewish, and the French also passed through the country.

Today, Ukrainians, Moldovans, Romanians, Russians, Bulgarians, Brazilians, Venezuelans and members of PALOP countries (Portuguese-speaking African countries) are the immigrants and form the major foreign communities in the country.[4] Portuguese is spoken throughout the country, with only the villages of Miranda do Douro's Mirandese language recognised as a locally co-official language.

Total fertility rate from 1850 to 1899

The total fertility rate is the number of children born per woman. It is based on fairly good data for the entire period. Sources: Our World In Data and Gapminder Foundation.[5]

Years	1850	1851	1852	1853	1854	1855	1856	1857	1858	1859	1860[5]
Total Fertility Rate in Portugal	4.5	4.47	4.44	4.41	4.38	4.35	4.33	4.3	4.27	4.24	4.21

Years	1861	1862	1863	1864	1865	1866	1867	1868	1869	1870[5]
Total Fertility Rate in Portugal	4.18	4.15	4.12	4.09	4.1	4.11	4.12	4.14	4.15	4.16

Years	1871	1872	1873	1874	1875	1876	1877	1878	1879	1880[5]
Total Fertility Rate in Portugal	4.17	4.18	4.19	4.2	4.21	4.22	4.23	4.24	4.23	4.22

Years	1881	1882	1883	1884	1885	1886	1887	1888	1889	1890[5]
Total Fertility Rate in Portugal	4.91	4.19	4.18	4.17	4.16	4.15	4.38	4.3	4.38	4.24

Years	1891	1892	1893	1894	1895	1896	1897	1898	1899[5]
Total Fertility Rate in Portugal	4.16	4.06	4.15	3.86	3.9	3.9	3.95	3.93	3.89

Vital statistics since 1900

[6][7][8][9]	Average population	Live births	Deaths	Natural change	Crude birth rate (per 1000)	Crude death rate (per 1000)	Natural change (per 1000)	Total fertility rates[fn 1][5][10][11][12]
1900	5,410,000	165,245	110,330	54,915	30.5	20.3	10.2	3.96
1901	5,460,000	170,773	114,130	56,643	31.3	20.9	10.4	4.07
1902	5,490,000	176,029	108,378	67,651	32.0	19.7	12.4	4.16
1903	5,560,000	183,138	111,685	71,453	33.0	20.1	12.8	4.29
1904	5,600,000	176,726	105,572	71,154	31.6	18.9	12.7	4.11
1905	5,660,000	179,746	112,756	66,990	31.8	20.0	11.8	4.13
1906	5,690,000	182,920	125,243	57,677	32.1	22.0	10.2	4.17
1907	5,730,000	176,417	113,254	63,163	30.7	19.7	11.0	3.99
1908	5,790,000	175,268	115,876	59,392	30.3	20.0	10.2	3.94
1909	5,850,000	174,753	112,421	62,332	29.9	19.2	10.8	3.89
1910	5,890,000	186,953	113,161	73,792	31.7	19.2	12.6	4.12
1911	5,960,000	230,033	130,900	99,133	38.6	22.0	16.6	5.02
1912	5,960,000	207,870	119,578	88,292	34.9	20.1	14.8	4.54
1913	5,970,000	193,906	123,054	70,852	32.5	20.6	11.9	4.22
1914	5,980,000	188,479	115,526	72,953	31.5	19.3	12.0	4.09
1915	5,990,000	195,225	122,513	72,712	32.6	20.5	12.0	4.24
1916	6,000,000	192,780	129,389	63,391	32.1	21.6	10.7	4.17
1917	6,000,000	188,391	134,082	54,309	31.4	22.3	9.0	4.08
1918	6,020,000	178,687	248,978	-70,291	29.7	41.4	-11.6	3.86
1919	6,020,000	166,162	152,856	13,306	27.6	25.4	2.2	3.59
1920	6,040,000	202,908	142,862	60,046	33.6	23.7	9.9	4.37
1921	6,070,000	197,022	126,316	70,706	32.4	20.8	11.7	4.21
1922	6,170,000	203,727	125,747	77,980	33.1	20.4	12.6	4.3
1923	6,240,000	207,172	141,775	65,397	33.2	22.7	10.4	4.32
1924	6,310,000	207,440	126,052	81,388	32.8	20.0	12.8	4.26
1925	6,370,000	208,434	117,413	91,021	32.6	18.4	14.3	4.24
1926	6,470,000	214,633	127,959	86,674	33.5	19.8	13.8	4.36
1927	6,550,000	199,399	123,382	76,017	31.0	18.8	12.2	4.03
1928	6,620,000	211,314	124,088	87,226	31.9	18.7	13.1	4.15
1929	6,720,000	200,874	118,824	82,050	29.9	17.7	12.2	3.89
1930	6,804,000	202,529	116,352	86,177	29.7	17.1	12.8	3.86
1931	6,860,000	204,120	115,225	88,895	29.7	16.8	13.0	3.86
1932	6,968,000	208,062	118,895	89,167	29.9	17.1	12.8	3.89
1933	7,057,000	204,315	120,996	83,319	28.9	17.2	11.8	3.88
1934	7,147,000	203,158	118,539	84,619	28.4	16.6	11.8	3.74
1935	7,237,000	203,943	123,051	80,892	28.2	17.0	11.2	3.59
1936	7,326,000	205,615	119,003	86,612	28.1	16.2	11.8	3.45
1937	7,416,000	198,217	117,291	80,926	26.7	15.8	10.9	3.39
1938	7,506,000	199,467	115,331	84,136	26.6	15.4	11.2	3.34
1939	7,595,000	198,888	116,075	82,813	26.2	15.3	10.9	3.28
1940	7,696,000	187,892	120,486	67,406	24.4	15.7	8.8	3.22
1941	7,750,000	184,336	134,937	49,399	23.8	17.4	6.4	3.12
1942	7,810,000	187,503	126,531	60,972	24.0	16.1	7.8	3.14
1943	7,890,000	198,101	121,887	76,214	25.1	15.3	9.7	3.27
1944	7,960,000	201,373	119,275	82,098	25.3	14.8	10.3	3.28
1945	8,040,000	209,131	115,596	93,535	26.0	14.2	11.6	3.39
1946	8,100,000	205,825	120,800	85,025	25.4	14.9	10.5	3.29
1947	8,180,000	200,488	110,437	90,051	24.5	13.5	11.0	3.14
1948	8,262,000	220,981	107,576	113,405	26.7	13.0	13.7	3.42
1949	8,333,000	212,260	117,499	94,761	25.5	14.1	11.4	3.23
1950	8,405,000	205,163	102,798	102,365	24.4	12.2	12.2	3.1
1951	8,459,000	207,870	105,473	102,397	24.6	12.5	12.1	3.1
1952	8,496,000	211,213	100,486	110,727	24.9	11.8	13.0	3.1
1953	8,534,000	202,135	97,460	104,675	23.7	11.4	12.3	3.1
1954	8,570,000	197,536	95,088	102,448	23.0	11.1	12.0	3.1
1955	8,610,000	209,790	99,472	110,318	24.4	11.6	12.8	3.1
1956	8,647,000	202,667	106,919	95,748	23.4	12.4	11.1	3.11
1957	8,680,000	211,494	101,784	109,710	24.4	11.7	12.6	3.12
1958	8,725,000	212,467	91,891	120,576	24.4	10.5	13.8	3.13
1959	8,826,000	213,062	97,754	115,308	24.3	11.1	13.1	3.15
1960	8,865,000	213,895	95,007	118,888	23.9	10.6	13.3	3.16
1961	8,929,000	217,516	99,590	117,926	24.3	11.1	13.2	3.18
1962	8,994,000	220,200	96,864	123,336	24.4	10.7	13.7	3.18
1963	9,031,000	212,152	98,011	114,141	23.4	10.8	12.6	3.19
1964	9,034,000	217,136	96,878	120,258	23.8	10.6	13.2	3.19
1965	8,999,000	210,299	95,187	115,112	23.0	10.4	12.6	3.18
1966	8,931,000	206,940	100,088	106,852	22.7	11.0	11.7	3.16
1967	8,875,000	202,061	95,816	106,245	22.2	10.5	11.7	3.13
1968	8,837,000	194,962	94,661	100,301	21.4	10.4	11.0	3.09
1969	8,758,000	189,739	101,088	88,651	20.9	11.1	9.7	3.05
1970	8,663,000	180,690	93,093	87,597	20.4	10.5	9.9	2.99
1971	8,624,000	181,243	98,688	82,555	21.0	11.4	9.6	2.94
1972	8,637,000	174,685	90,315	84,370	20.2	10.5	9.8	2.88
1973	8,630,000	172,324	95,435	76,889	20.0	11.1	8.9	2.83
1974	8,879,000	171,979	96,928	75,051	19.6	11.1	8.6	2.77
1975	9,308,000	179,648	97,936	81,712	19.8	10.8	9.0	2.71
1976	9,404,000	186,712	102,027	84,685	20.0	10.9	9.1	2.65
1977	9,508,000	181,064	96,111	84,953	19.2	10.2	9.0	2.57
1978	9,609,000	167,467	96,194	71,273	17.5	10.1	7.5	2.48
1979	9,714,000	160,311	92,732	67,579	16.6	9.6	7.0	2.39
1980	9,819,000	158,352	94,971	63,381	16.2	9.7	6.5	2.29
1981	9,884,000	152,102	95,892	56,210	15.4	9.7	5.7	2.18
1982	9,940,000	151,029	92,551	58,478	15.3	9.4	5.9	2.07
1983	9,976,000	144,327	96,367	47,960	14.6	9.7	4.9	1.97
1984	10,017,000	142,805	97,227	45,578	14.4	9.8	4.6	1.87
1985	10,031,000	130,492	97,339	33,153	13.2	9.8	3.3	1.78
1986	10,035,000	126,748	95,828	30,920	12.7	9.6	3.1	1.71
1987	10,025,000	123,218	95,423	27,795	12.3	9.5	2.8	1.65
1988	10,014,000	122,121	98,236	23,885	12.3	9.9	2.4	1.60
1989	9,996,000	118,560	96,220	22,340	11.9	9.7	2.2	1.53
1990	9,983,000	116,383	103,115	13,268	11.8	10.4	1.3	1.51
1991	9,950,000	116,415	104,361	12,054	11.7	10.5	1.2	1.43
1992	9,955,000	115,018	101,161	13,857	11.5	10.2	1.4	1.49
1993	9,974,000	114,030	106,384	7,646	11.4	10.7	0.8	1.54
1994	10,009,000	109,287	99,621	9,666	10.9	10.0	1.0	1.42
1995	10,044,000	107,184	103,939	3,245	10.7	10.4	0.3	1.37
1996	10,084,000	110,363	107,259	3,104	11.0	10.7	0.3	1.45
1997	10,134,000	113,047	105,157	7,890	11.2	10.4	0.8	1.48
1998	10,187,000	113,510	106,574	6,936	11.2	10.5	0.7	1.48
1999	10,249,000	116,038	108,268	7,770	11.4	10.7	0.8	1.49
2000	10,331,000	120,071	105,813	14,258	11.8	10.4	1.4	1.57
2001	10,395,000	112,825	105,582	7,243	11.0	10.3	0.7	1.45
2002	10,445,000	114,456	106,690	7,766	11.0	10.3	0.7	1.47
2003	10,473,000	112,589	109,148	3,441	10.8	10.5	0.3	1.44
2004	10,495,000	109,356	102,371	6,985	10.4	9.7	0.7	1.40
2005	10,512,000	109,457	107,839	1,618	10.4	10.2	0.2	1.40
2006	10,533,000	105,514	102,362	3,152	10.0	9.7	0.3	1.36
2007	10,553,000	102,567	103,888	-1,321	9.7	9.8	-0.1	1.33
2008	10,563,000	104,594	104,280	314	9.8	9.8	0.0	1.37
2009	10,573,000	99,491	104,434	-4,943	9.4	9.8	-0.4	1.32
2010	10,573,000	101,381	105,954	-4,573	9.5	10.0	-0.5	1.37
2011	10,542,000	97,000	102,500	-5,500	9.2	9.7	-0.5	1.30
2012	10,487,000	90,026	107,598	-17,572	8.5	10.2	-1.7	1.28
2013	10,427,000	82,787	106,543	-23,756	7.9	10.2	-2.3	1.21
2014	10,375,000	82,367	104,790	-22,423	7.9	10.1	-2.2	1.23
2015	10,341,000	85,500	108,511	-23,011	8.2	10.5	-2.3	1.30
2016	10,309,000	87,126	110,535	-23,409	8.5	10.7	-2.2	1.36
2017	10,291,000	86,154	109,758	-23,604	8.4	10.7	-2.3	1.37
2018	10,277,000	87,020	113,051	-26,031	8.5	11.0	-2.5	1.41
2019	10,296,000	86,579	111,793	-25,214	8.4	10.9	-2.5	1.42

Portugal population 1960–2017, Number of inhabitants in millions, (From UN estimates)

Natural increase current

Source:[13]

• Number of births for January - April 2019 = 27,468
• Number of births for January - April 2020 = 27,435
• Number of deaths for January - April 2019 = 42,439
• Number of deaths for January - April 2020 = 42,753
• Natural growth for January - April 2019 = -14,971
• Natural growth for January - April 2020 = -15,318

Other demographic statistics

The following demographic statistics are from the World Population Review.[14]

• One birth every 7 minutes
• One death every 5 minutes
• One net migrant every 160 minutes
• Net loss of one person every 14 minutes

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.[12]

Population

10,355,493 (July 2018 est.)

10,839,514 (July 2017 est.)

Population pyramid of Portugal in 2016

Age structure

0-14 years: 14.01% (male 743,277 /female 707,437)

15-24 years: 10.89% (male 580,709 /female 546,908)

25-54 years: 42.04% (male 2,143,735 /female 2,209,736)

55-64 years: 12.8% (male 605,113 /female 720,192)

65 years and over: 20.26% (male 838,606 /female 1,259,780) (2018 est.)

0-14 years: 15.34% (male 866,004/female 797,004)

15-24 years: 11.36% (male 653,672/female 577,800)

25-54 years: 41.72 (male 2,298,920/female 2,223,184)

55-64 years: 12.18% (male 617,036/female 702,992)

65 years and over: 19.4% (male 861,270/female 1,241,632) (2017 est.)

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.)

Median age

total: 43.7 years. Country comparison to the world: 17th

male: 41.8 years

female: 45.6 years (2018 est.)

total: 42.2 years

male: 40.2 years

female: 44.4 years (2017 est.)

Birth rate

8.2 births/1,000 population (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 220th

9 births/1,000 population (2017 est.)

Death rate

10.6 deaths/1,000 population (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 25th

Total fertility rate

1.39 children born/woman (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 213rd

1.53 children born/woman (2017 est.)

Net migration rate

2.5 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2017 est.) Country comparison to the world: 38th

Population growth rate

-0.2 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 112nd

0.04% (2017 est.)

Mother's mean age at first birth

30.2 years (2015 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

Period	Life expectancy in Years	Period	Life expectancy in Years
1950–1955	60.3	1985–1990	74.0
1955–1960	62.4	1990–1995	74.9
1960–1965	64.5	1995–2000	76.0
1965–1970	66.4	2000–2005	77.6
1970–1975	68.3	2005–2010	79.3
1975–1980	70.4	2010–2015	80.5
1980–1985	72.5	2015-2019	82.0

Source: UN World Population Prospects[15]

Religions

Roman Catholic 81%, other Christian 3.3%, other (includes Jewish, Muslim, other) 0.6%, none 6.8%, unspecified 8.3% note: represents population 15 years of age and older (2011 est.)

Infant mortality rate

total: 4.3 deaths/1,000 live births. Country comparison to the world: 189th

male: 4.8 deaths/1,000 live births

female: 3.9 deaths/1,000 live births (2017 est.)

Infant mortality rate

Year	Deaths/1,000 live births
2000	5.5
2001	5.0
2002	5.0
2003	4.1
2004	3.8
2005	3.5
2006	3.3
2007	3.4
2008	3.3
2009	3.6
2010	2.5
2011
2012	4.6
2017	4.3

Dependency ratios

total dependency ratio: 53.4

youth dependency ratio: 21.6

elderly dependency ratio: 31.8

potential support ratio: 3.1 (2015 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 65.2% of total population (2018)

rate of urbanization: 0.47% annual rate of change (2015-20 est.)

Literacy

definition: age 15 and over can read and write (2015 est.)

total population: 99.9%

male: 100%

female: 99% (2015 est.)

School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)

total: 16 years

male: 16 years

female: 16 years (2016)

Unemployment, youth ages 15–24

total: 23.9%. Country comparison to the world: 51st

male: 22.4%

female: 25.5% (2017 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.)

Urban organization

Metropolitan areas and agglomerations

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, the later with a polycentric nature.[16] These broader agglomerations are distinct from the political metropolitan areas of Lisbon and Porto – Grande Área Metropolitana de Lisboa (2,8 million) and Grande Área Metropolitana do Porto (1,8 million). Together they hold 43% of the total population.

Population density of Portugal, per km²:

  0–49

  50–99

  100–299

  300–599

  600+

Image	City	Metropolitan area	Subregion	Core municipality
	Lisbon	2,846,332[16]	2,042,326	507,220
	Porto	1,758,531[16]	1,401,805	237,559

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.[16]

• Ten largest urban areas
• 
  1.Lisbon and surroundings
  >1 million inh.
  Greater Lisbon
  Lisbon Metropolitan Region
• 
  2.Porto and surroundings
  <1 million inh.
  Greater Porto
  Northern Urban-Metro. Region
• 
  3.Braga
  >100,000 inh.
  Northern Urban-Metro. Region
• 
  4.Coimbra
  100,000 inh.
• 
  5.Funchal
  100,000 inh.
• 
  6.Setúbal
  100,000 inh.
  Greater Lisbon
  Lisbon Metropolitan Region
• 
  7.Póvoa de Varzim-Vila
  < 100,000 inh.
  Greater Porto
  Northern Urban-Metro. Region
• 
  8.Aveiro
  < 100,000 inh.
  Northern Urban-Metro. Region
• 
  9.Guimarães
  < 100,000 inh.
  Northern Urban-Metro. Region
• 
  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
Amora		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.[17]

Rank	City name	Population	Metropolitan area	Subregion
1	Lisbon	547,631	Greater Metropolitan Area of Lisbon	Grande Lisboa
2	Porto	237,584	Greater Metropolitan Area of Porto	Grande Porto
3	Vila Nova de Gaia	186,503	Greater Metropolitan Area of Porto	Grande Porto
4	Amadora	175,135	Greater Metropolitan Area of Lisbon	Grande Lisboa
5	Braga	143,532	Greater Metropolitan Area of Minho	Cávado
6	Funchal	111,892		Madeira
7	Coimbra	102,455	Greater Metropolitan Area of Coimbra	Baixo Mondego
8	Setúbal	90,640	Greater Metropolitan Area of Lisbon	Península de Setúbal
9	Almada	89,533	Greater Metropolitan Area of Lisbon	Península de Setúbal
10	Agualva-Cacém	79,805	Greater Metropolitan Area of Lisbon	Grande Lisboa
11	Queluz	75,179	Greater Metropolitan Area of Lisbon	Grande Lisboa
12	Guimarães	66,912		Ave
13	Viseu	66,143		Dão-Lafões
14	Rio Tinto	64,815	Greater Metropolitan Area of Porto	Grande Porto
15	Aveiro	61,752		Baixo Vouga
16	Odivelas	59,559	Greater Metropolitan Area of Lisbon	Grande Lisboa
17	Matosinhos	49,486	Greater Metropolitan Area of Porto	Grande Porto
18	Amora	48,629	Greater Metropolitan Area of Lisbon	Península de Setúbal
19	Ponta Delgada	46,102		Açores
20	Portimão	45,431		Algarve
21	Faro	44,099		Algarve
22	Leiria	42,745		Pinhal Litoral
23	Póvoa de Varzim	42,396	Greater Metropolitan Area of Porto	Grande Porto
24	Évora	41,159		Alentejo Central
25	Barreiro	40,859	Greater Metropolitan Area of Lisbon	Península de Setúbal
26	Maia	40,134	Greater Metropolitan Area of Porto	Grande Porto
27	Ermesinde	38,798	Greater Metropolitan Area of Porto	Grande Porto
28	Viana do Castelo	38,045		Alto Minho
29	Covilhã	36,226		Cova da Beira
30	Castelo Branco	35,242		Beira Interior Sul

Largest municipalities by population

The 20 most and the 20 least populated municipalities of Portugal. The metropolitan areas of Lisbon, Porto, Minho and Coimbra are visible.

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

Rank	Municipality	Population	Land Area	Density	Metropolitan area
1	Lisbon	547,631	84.8	6,458	Greater Metropolitan Area of Lisbon
2	Sintra	377,837	319.2	1,184	Greater Metropolitan Area of Lisbon
3	Vila Nova de Gaia	302,296	170.8	1,770	Greater Metropolitan Area of Porto
4	Porto	237,584	41.3	5,753	Greater Metropolitan Area of Porto
5	Cascais	206,429	97.4	2,119	Greater Metropolitan Area of Lisbon
6	Loures	205,054	169.3	1,211	Greater Metropolitan Area of Lisbon
7	Braga	181,474	183.2	991
9	Matosinhos	175,478	62.2	2,821	Greater Metropolitan Area of Porto
9	Amadora	175,135	23.8	7,359	Greater Metropolitan Area of Lisbon
10	Almada	174,030	70.0	2,486	Greater Metropolitan Area of Lisbon
11	Oeiras	172,120	45.7	3,766	Greater Metropolitan Area of Lisbon
12	Gondomar	168,027	133.3	1,261	Greater Metropolitan Area of Porto
13	Seixal	158,269	95.5	1,657	Greater Metropolitan Area of Lisbon
14	Guimarães	158,124	241.3	655
15	Odivelas	144,549	26.4	5,475	Greater Metropolitan Area of Lisbon
16	Coimbra	143,396	319.0	450
17	Santa Maria da Feira	139,312	215.1	648	Greater Metropolitan Area of Porto
18	Vila Franca de Xira	136,886	317.7	431	Greater Metropolitan Area of Lisbon
19	Maia	135,306	83.7	1,617	Greater Metropolitan Area of Porto
20	Vila Nova de Famalicão	133,832	201.7	664
21	Leiria	126,879	564.7	225
22	Setúbal	121,185	171.9	705	Greater Metropolitan Area of Lisbon
23	Barcelos	120,391	378.9	318
24	Funchal	111,892	75.7	1,478

People

Main article: Portuguese people

Nationality

noun: Portuguese (singular and plural)

adjective: Portuguese

Languages

Main article: Portuguese language

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

Immigration

Main article: Immigration to Portugal

Foreign-born naturalised citizens in Portugal by 2001.

In 1992, 1.3% of the population was foreign, by 2007 the number had grown to 4.1% or 435,736 people.[18]

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.[19]

There is also a significant number of elderly Western European residents in search of quality of life, namely from France, German, the Netherlands and United Kingdom.

Largest groups of foreign residents

Nationality	Population (2019)[20]
Brazil	151,304
Cabo Verde	37,436
United Kingdom	34,358
Romania	31,065
Ukraine	29,718
China	27,839
Italy	25,408
France	23,125
Angola	22,691
Guinea-Bissau	18,886
India	17,619
Nepal	16,849
Spain	15,848
Germany	14,669
Sao Tome and Principe	10,241
Netherlands	10,038
Bangladesh	7,964
Bulgaria	6,839
Venezuela	6,551
Pakistan	5,310

Acquisition of portuguese citizenship[21]
Previous citizenship	Number in 2017
Brazil	6,084
Cape Verde	2,591
Ukraine	1,909
Guinea-Bissau	1,226
Angola	1,225
São Tomé and Príncipe	753
India	693
Moldova	453
Romania	412
Nepal	319

Ethnic minorities and persons with disabilities

See also: Immigration to Portugal and Racism in Portugal

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

Main article: Religion in Portugal

Religions in Portugal (Census 2011)[22]

  Catholicism (81.0%)

  Other Christian (3.3%)

  Other religion (0.6%)

  No religion (6.8%)

  No response (8.3%)

The great majority of the Portuguese population belongs to the Roman Catholic Church. Religious observance remains strong in northern areas, with the population of Lisbon and southern areas generally less devout and strongly anticlerical. 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 two Portuguese African colonies with important Muslim minorities: Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique). 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. Portugal is still one of the most religious countries in Europe, most Portuguese believe with certainty in the Existence of God and religion play a big importance in the life of most Portuguese.[23][24] According to the Pew Research Center, 40% of Portuguese Catholics pray daily.[25]

Literacy

definition: age 15 and over can read and write

total population: 99.62%

male: 99.55%

female: 99.63% (2015)[26]

See also

• Portugal census
• Portugal
• Romani people in Portugal

Notes

1. In fertility rates, 2.1 and above is a stable population and has been marked blue, 2 and below leads to an aging population and the result is that the population decreases.

References

1. Nuno Valério (coord.), Estatísticas Históricas Portuguesas, Vol. I, pp. 33, 37 e 51. INE, 2001. (PDF: 4,18 MB)
2. INE, CENSOS 2001 Resultados Definitivos, Informação à Comunicação Social, 21 October 2002.
3. INE, Estimativas de População Residente, Portugal, NUTS II, NUTS III e Municípios – 2006, Informação à Comunicação Social, 3 August 2007.
4. "Portugal Ethnic Groups | Study.com". Study.com. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
5. Max Roser (2014), "Total Fertility Rate around the world over the last centuries", Our World In Data, Gapminder Foundation
6. B.R. Mitchell. European historical statistics, 1750–1975.
7. "United Nations. Demographic Yearbook 1948" (PDF). Unstats.un.org. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
8. "Statistics Portugal". Ine.pt. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
9. "PORDATA – População residente: total e por sexo". Pordata.pt. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
10. "2011 WORLD POPULATION DATA SHEET" (PDF). Prb.org. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
11. "2012 – Negative birth rate decreases further – Portugal – Portuguese American Journal". Portuguese-american-journal.com. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
12. "World Factbook EUROPE : PORTUGAL", The World Factbook, 12 July 2018
13. "Monthly Statistical Bulletin". Instituto Nacional de Estatística. Statistics Portugal. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
14. World Population Review: Portugal Population 2018, 14 June 2018
15. "World Population Prospects – Population Division – United Nations". Retrieved 15 July 2017.
16. Fernando Nunes da Silva (2005), Alta Velocidade em Portugal, Desenvolvimento Regional, CENSUR, IST Archived 24 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine
17. UMA POPULAÇÃO QUE SE URBANIZA, Uma avaliação recente – Cidades, 2004 Archived 6 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine Nuno Pires Soares, Instituto Geográfico Português (Geographic Institute of Portugal)
18. População Estrangeira em Território Nacional (pdf) (in Portuguese), SEF, 2008, retrieved 12 September 2008
19. Imigração: Novos imigrantes legais em Portugal aumentaram 50% em 2006 – OCDE Archived 10 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine – RTP.pt
20. https://sefstat.sef.pt/Docs/Rifa2019.pdf
21. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/-/WDN-20190723-1
22. "Census – Final results : Portugal – 2011". Statistics Portugal. 20 November 2012. Retrieved 21 November 2012.
23. Portugueses são mais cristãos e vão mais à igreja do que o resto da Europa ocidental
24. Portugal é dos países onde mais pessoas garantem que Deus existe
25. Five Centuries After Reformation, Catholic-Protestant Divide in Western Europe Has Faded Pew Research Center.
26. "Portugal". Uis.unesco.org. Retrieved 3 October 2017.