Demographics ofPortugal
Population pyramid of Portugal as of 2023
Population	10,749,635 (2024)
Density	116.6/km2 (302/sq mi) (2024)
Growth rate	1.0% (2024)
Birth rate	7.9 births/1,000 population (2024)
Death rate	11.1 deaths/1,000 population (2024)
Life expectancy	82.7 years (2024)[1]
• male	79.8 years (2024)[1]
• female	85.4 years (2024)[1]
Fertility rate	1.40 children (2024)
Infant mortality rate	3.0 deaths/1,000 live births (2024)
Net migration rate	13.4 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2024)
Age structure
0–14 years	12.7% (2024)
15–64 years	63.0% (2024)
65 and over	24.3% (2024)
Sex ratio
Total	0.9 male(s)/female (2024)
At birth	1.05 male(s)/female
Under 15	1.05 male(s)/female
15–64 years	0.97 male(s)/female
65 and over	0.66 male(s)/female
Nationality
Nationality	Portuguese citizen
Major ethnic	Portuguese
Minor ethnic	Afro-Portuguese Others
Language
Official	Portuguese
Spoken	Languages of Portugal

Demographic features of the population ofPortugal includepopulation density,ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status,religious affiliations and other aspects of the population. As of 2024, Portugal had an estimated population of 10,749,635 inhabitants.^[2] Its population density, at 116.6 inhabitants per square kilometre (302/sq mi), is slightly higher than that of mostEU countries, moderately surpassing the EU average of 105.4 inhabitants per square kilometre (273/sq mi).^[3][4]

High fertility and birth rates persisted until the 1980s, after which they started to dramatically decline, leading to rapid population aging. At the end of the first decade of the 21st century, almost one in fivePortuguese was over 65 years old.^[5] Lately, Portugal has been experiencing a short growth in birth rates. The total fertility rate has climbed from an all-time low of 1.21 children per woman in 2013 to 1.43 in 2022, still well belowreplacement level.

Portugal is a fairly linguistically and religiously homogeneous country. Ethnically, the Portuguese people form a big majority of the total population in Portugal. ThePortuguese people are mainly a combination of ancient paleolithic populations, and theproto-Celtic,Celtic, and the para-CelticLusitanians. Some other groups, like theRomans,Germanic (Visigoths,Suevi,Buri,Alans andVandals) and later theMoorish (Arabs andBerber),Sephardic Jewish, and theFrench also passed through the country.

Today,Brazilians, Britons,Indians, Italians, French,Ukrainians,Nepalis andcountries members of PALOP (Portuguese-speaking African countries) are the main immigrants and form the major foreign communities in the country.^[6][7]

Portuguese is spoken throughout the country, with only some villages near the northern municipality ofMiranda do Douro speakingMirandese, locally recognised as a co-official language.

Due to a decrease inemigration and an increase inimmigration during the late 1990s and early 2000s, Portugal's population grew steadily, reaching a peak of 10,573,479 in December 2009. However, following the 2008 financial crisis, emigration surged and immigration declined, and these trends, combined with persistently low birth rates and an aging population, led to a gradual population decline. By 2018, the population had decreased by about 2.27% from its 2009 peak. From then onwards, however, net migration became positive again, supported by a renewed influx of immigrants and a slight rise in birth rates.^[8][9] As a result, Portugal's population resumed growth and, by 2023, had already surpassed the 2009 peak.

The distribution of the population is widely uneven; the most densely populated areas are theLisbon metropolitan area (which contains well above a quarter of the country's population), the metropolitan areas ofPorto and theAtlantic coast, while other vast areas are very sparsely populated, like the plateaus ofAlentejo, theTrás-os-Montes andSerra da Estrela highlands, and the lesser islands of theAzores archipelago.

Note: Crude migration change (per 1000) is a trend analysis, an extrapolation based average population change (current year minus previous) minus natural change of the current year (see table vital statistics). As average population is an estimate of the population in the middle of the year and not end of the year.

The population of the country almost doubled during the twentieth century (+91%), but the pattern of growth was extremely uneven due to large-scale internal migration from the ruralNorth to the industrial cities of Lisbon and Porto, a phenomenon which happened as a consequence of therobust economic growth and structural modernisation, owing to a liberalisation of the economy of the 1960s.

The following demographic statistics are from theCIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.^[10]

Total population

10,749,635 (2024 officialINE estimate)^[13]

Age structure of the resident population

2024 officialINE estimate:^[15]

• 0-14 years: 12.65% (male 697,309 /female 662,180)
• 15-64 years: 63.02% (male 3,312,757 /female 3,462,045)
• 65 years and over: 24.33% (male 1,130,210/female 1,485,134)

Median age

• total: 47.3 years (2024 officialINE data)^[16][17]
• male: 45.5 years
• female: 48.9 years

Birth rate

7.9 births/1,000 population (2024 officialINE estimate)^[18]

Death rate

11.2 deaths/1,000 population (2024 officialINE estimate)^[19]

Total fertility rate

1.40 children born/woman (2024 officialINE estimate)^[20]

Net migration rate

13.40 net migrant(s)/1,000 population (2024 officialINE estimate)^[21][22]

Population growth rate

+ 1.03 % (2024 officialINE estimate)^[15]

Mother's mean age at first birth

30.3 years (2024 officialINE estimate)^[15]

Life expectancy at birth

Period	Life expectancy in Years	Period	Life expectancy in Years
1950–1955	60.3	1990–1995	74.9
1955–1960	62.4	1995–2000	76.0
1960–1965	64.5	2000–2005	77.6
1965–1970	66.4	2005–2010	79.3
1970–1975	68.3	2010–2015	80.5
1975–1980	70.4	2015–2020	81.1
1980–1985	72.5	2020–2024	82.6
1985–1990	74.0

Source:UN World Population Prospects^[23]

Infant mortality rate

2022 officialINE estimate:^[15]

• total: 2.59 deaths/1,000 live births. Country comparison to the world: 216th
• male: 2.75 deaths/1,000 live births
• female: 2.43 deaths/1,000 live births (2022 officialINE estimate)^[24]

Infant mortality rate

Dependency ratios

2022 officialINE estimate:^[15]

• total dependency ratio: 58.4
• youth dependency ratio: 20.44
• elderly dependency ratio: 37.96
• potential support ratio: 2.63 (2022 INE estimate)

Urbanization

urban population: 73.38% of total population (2020 officialINE estimate^[26])

rate of urbanization: 0.44% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

Sex ratio

2022 officialINE estimate:

• at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female^[27]
• under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female^[28]
• 15–64 years: 0.96 male(s)/female
• 65 years and over: 0.76 male(s)/female
• total population: 0.90 male(s)/female^[29]

Source:^{[30][31][32][33][34]}

Notable events in Portuguese demographics:

• 1910 –5 October 1910 revolution;
• 1914–1919 –World War I;
• 1918–1920 –Spanish flu
• 1961–1974 –Portuguese Colonial War and massive emigration of thousands of Portuguese citizens;^[35]
• 1974–1976 – Arrival of nearly 600,000 Portuguese citizens, calledReturnees, fromAfrican colonies;^[36]
• 2010–2014 –Portuguese financial crisis andbailout, with a surge in emigration of young population;^[37]
• 2020–present – Big population increase due to wave of immigrants;^[38]

According to Statistics Portugal, in the year 2024 56,691 children (67%) were born to Portuguese-born mothers, while 27,951 (33%) were born to foreign-born mothers. Compared to the year 2015, this represents a significant decrease in children born to Portuguese-born mothers (71,462 or 83.6% in 2015) and, conversely, an increase in children born to foreign-born mothers (14,038 or 16.4%), despite the roughly similar overall number of live births (85,500 in 2015 and 84,642 in 2024).^[43]

Period	Live births	Deaths	Natural increase
January—September 2024	63,335	89,484	-26,149
January—September 2025	65,227	90,737	-25,510
Difference	+1,892 (+2.99%)	+1,253 (+1.40%)	+639
Source:[44]

Source:^[48]

Thetotal 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 andGapminder Foundation.^[39]

Unemployment, youth ages 15–24

total: 21.8%.Country comparison to the world: 5th

male: 21.2%

female: 22.4% (2024 est.)^[49]

• 
  Population density bymunicipality in Portugal (2020).
• 
  Population by municipality in Portugal (2020).
• 
  Population change by municipality in Portugal between 2001 and 2011.
• 
  Population change by municipality in Portugal between 2011 and 2020.

As of 2024, Portugal had two significant agglomerations: the political metropolitan areas ofLisbon andPorto –Grande Área Metropolitana de Lisboa (3.0 million) andGrande Área Metropolitana do Porto (1.8 million). Together they host 44.87% of the total population.^[50]

Image	City	Metropolitan area	Core municipality
	Lisbon	3,005,119	575,739
	Porto	1,818,217	252,687

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.^[51]

• 
  1.Lisbonand surroundings
  3 million inh. ca.
  Greater Lisbon
• 
  2.Portoand surroundings
  2 million inh. ca.
  Greater Porto
• 
  3.Braga
  204,000 inh.
  
• 
  4.Guimarães
  157,000 inh.
• 
  5.Coimbra
  147,000 inh.
• 
  6.Vila Nova de Famalicão
  137,000 inh.
• 
  7.Leiria
  136,000 inh.
• 
  8.Barcelos
  117,000 inh.
• 
  9.Funchal
  108,000 inh.
• 
  10.Viseu
  104,000 inh.

Portugal has 151 localities with national 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 (e.g. Lisbon), the entire municipality and the city proper cover the same territory.^[52][53][54]

The following table lists the largest Portuguese municipalities by population as of 2024. The land area is expressed in km² and only municipalities with populations of over 100,000 inhabitants are listed.^[3] The 26 listed municipalities account for 46.15% of the country's population and for only 5.14% of its total land area.^[50]

noun: Portuguese (singular and plural)

adjective: Portuguese

In 1992, 1.3% of the population was foreign, by 2024 the number had grown to more than 14% or 1,543,697 people.^[55]

Since the independence of the formerAfrican colonies, Portugal saw a steady immigration from Africa, most notablyCape Verde,Angola andGuinea-Bissau, but alsoSão Tomé and Príncipe,Mozambique and formerPortuguese India inAsia.

Portugal saw migration waves due to labor shortages since 1999, first from Eastern Europe (1999–2002), in two distinctive groups, aSlav (Ukraine,Russia andBulgaria) and anEast Latin (Romania andMoldova), that stopped and started declining as the labour market became saturated.

Since 2003, most of the immigrants came fromBrazil,China and theIndian 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.^[56]

There is also a significant number of elderly Western European residents in search of quality of life, namely from theUnited Kingdom,France,Germany,the Netherlands andBelgium.

More recently, there is significant migration from the former Portuguese colony ofBrazil, as since 2017 more than 30,000 Brazilians immigrate to Portugal annually.

Below is a summary table of the main foreign nationalities present in Portugal according to the latest AIMA data. As of December 31, 2024, there were 1,543,697 legally resident people in Portugal with foreign citizenship (14.36% of the population).^[55] These include both citizens born in Portugal with foreign citizenship and foreign immigrants. Descendants of immigrants are excluded (Portugal, like many European countries, does not collect data on ethnicity) and those who, regardless of place of birth or citizenship at birth, were Portuguese citizens (see alsoPortuguese nationality law). Among the latter are also naturalized citizens whose data are reported in the next table.

Largest groups of foreign residents as of 01.01.2025

Nationality	Population[55]
Brazil	484,596
India	98,616
Angola	92,348
Ukraine	79,232
Cape Verde	65,507
Nepal	58,086
Bangladesh	55,199
United Kingdom	48,238
Guinea-Bissau	47,252
Pakistan	41,508
São Tomé and Príncipe	40,112
Italy	40,021
China	30,734
France	29,009
Germany	24,868
Spain	22,130
United States	19,258
Romania	18,595
Russia	18,509
Venezuela	16,167
Netherlands	15,039
Algeria	13,829
Mozambique	13,704
Morocco	12,460
Colombia	11,979
Other countries(below 10,000)	146,701

Below is a summary table of Portuguese citizenship acquisitions by foreigners residing in the country recorded between 2008 and 2023 for countries having recorded at least 1,000 naturalizations during the given timespan. During this period, 359,378 people (3.34% of the current Portuguese population) obtained Portuguese citizenship according to the latest Eurostat data. These people are not counted among foreigners (see above table) as they are Portuguese citizens in all respects.^[57]

Nationality	Acquisitions of Citizenship (2008–2023)[58][59]
Brazil	95,186
Cape Verde	56,648
Ukraine	34,163
Guinea-Bissau	27,902
Angola	27,092
Moldova	19,346
São Tomé and Príncipe	15,521
India	12,917
Nepal	7,622
Romania	7,164
Russia	5,652
Pakistan	5,627
Bangladesh	5,461
Other countries(below 5,000)	39,077

Portugal does not collect ethnicity or racial data of its population.^[61]

Anti-racism laws prohibit and penalize racial discrimination inhousing, business, and health services.

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

The main language spoken as first language by the overwhelming majority of the population isPortuguese.^[62] Other autochthonous languages spoken include:

• Caló (see alsoCaló language), the language of thePortuguese-Romani community. There are about 52,000 Romani people in Portugal.^[63]
• Mirandês (see alsoMirandese language), officially recognised as an official language.^[64] It enjoys special protection in the area ofMiranda do Douro. As of today, there are about 15,000 people who speak the language (0.14%).^[65][66][67]
• Barranquenhu (see alsoBarranquenho), spoken in the town ofBarrancos (in the border betweenExtremadura,Andalusia andPortugal). As of today, there are about 3,000 speakers of the language (0.03%).^[68]
• Minderico – asociolect orargot spoken inMinde, practically extinct. There are about 150 speakers left^[69][70]
• Portuguese Sign Language, the official language for the deaf community in Portugal. There are about 30,000 deaf people (0.29%) in Portugal who use the language.^[71] Interestingly, the firstteacher ofdeaf-mutes inFrance was Portuguese-JewJacob Rodrigues Pereira.

The great majority of the Portuguese population belongs to theCatholic Church. Religious observance remains strong in northern areas, while the population of Lisbon and southern areas are generally less devout.

Religious minorities include a little over 400,000Protestants andMormons^[73][74][75] (3.84% of the total population).

There are also about 100,000Muslims^[76] (1%) and 45,000Hindus^[77][78][79] (0.43%), most of whom came fromGoa, a formerPortuguese colony on the west coast of India (Some Muslims also came from former two Portuguese African colonies with important Muslim minorities:Guinea-Bissau andMozambique).

There are also about 1,500Jews,^[80] 2,000 Baha'i^[81] and 35,000Sikhs^[77] (0.34%).

Portugal is also home to about 17,000Buddhists,^[82] mostlyChinese fromMacau and a fewIndians from Goa.

As of 2018^[update], Portugal is one of the most religious countries in Europe; most Portuguese believe with certainty in theexistence of God, and religion plays animportant role in the life of most Portuguese.^[83][84] According to the Pew Research Center, 40% of Portuguese Catholics pray daily.^[85]

Religion by municipality according with the 2021 Census.

Percentage of Catholics bymunicipality.

Percentage of Other Christians by municipality.

Percentage of Other religions (Non-Christians) by municipality.

Percentage of non religious by municipality.

definition: age 15 and over can read and write (2021 official INE estimate)^[86]

total population: 96.92%

male: 97.90%

female: 96.04%

School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)

total: 17 years

male: 17 years

female: 17 years (2020)

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