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.

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.

[edit] Urban organization

[edit] Metropolitan areas

As of 2001 Census, Portugal had two significant agglomerations: Lisbon Metropolitan Region and Northern Littoral Urban-Metropolitan Region (or Porto Metropolitan Agglomeration).^[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

[edit] Largest cities

Portugal has 151 localities with city (cidade) status. 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]

[edit] Largest urban areas

When considering the number of inhabitants in consistent single urban area, de facto cities in mainland Portugal, 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]

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

[edit] 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.

[edit] People

Main article: Portuguese people

[edit] Nationality

noun: Portuguese (singular and plural)

adjective: Portuguese

[edit] Languages

Main article: Portuguese language

Also Mirandês (Mirandese language) in the area of Miranda do Douro.

[edit] Immigration

Main article: Immigration to Portugal

Foreign-born naturalised citizens in Portugal by 2001.

In 1992, 1.3% of the population was foreigner, in 2007 the number had grown to 4.1% or 435,736 people^[4] this number excludes a significant size of illegal immigrants with unknown number.

Since the independence of the former African colonies that 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]

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.

[edit] 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. 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.

[edit] Ethnic groups

According to the 2000 Portugal cesus by the world statesmen the population of Portugal was composed of these ethnic groups:^[6]

[edit] Sexual Orientation

Homosexuality was decriminalized in 1982. Same-sex civil unions with limited partner rights were introduced in Portugal in 15 March 2001. 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 if the present Government wins the next elections.

[edit] Religion

Main article: Religion in Portugal

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.

[edit] Literacy

definition:age 15 and over can read and write

total population: 93.3%

male: 95.5%

female: 91.3% (2003 est.)

[edit] CIA World Factbook demographic statistics

Portugal population 1961-2003, Number of inhabitants in thousands, (2005 Data from FAO)

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook.

[edit] 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.)

[edit] 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.)

[edit] 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.)

[edit] Birth rate

11.49 births/1,000 population (2000 est.)

11.45 births/1,000 population (2003 est.)

10.9 births/1,000 population (2004 est.)

10.82 births/1,000 population (2005 est.)

10.72 births/1,000 population (2006 est.)

10.59 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)

[edit] 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.)

[edit] 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.)

[edit] 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.)

[edit] 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.)

[edit] Life expectancy at birth

total population: 77.87 years

male: 74.6 years

female: 81.36 years (2007 est.)

[edit] 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.)

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Portugal