Demographics of Portugal
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As of 2005 Portugal has 10.7 million inhabitants. In the 2001 Census it had 10,356,117 inhabitants (51,7% female).
Portugal is a fairly homogeneous country linguistically and religiously. Ethnically, the Portuguese people is a combination of several ethnicities: pre-Roman Iberian and Celtic tribes with Romans and Germanic tribes.
Today, the Portuguese people is ethnically homogenous. The country is characterized by city, town or village cultural differentiation and there is virtually no regional diferentiation, unlike other European countries. Portuguese is spoken throughout the country, with only the villages of Miranda de Douro's Mirandese dialect recognised as a locally co-official language.
Since the decolonization period, Portugal has received immigrants from the former Indian and African colonies, and from Europe (especially the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Spain - the climate, culture, and relatively low cost of living are the main attractions). Today, many Eastern Europeans (especially Ukrainians, Moldavans, Romanians and Russians), as well as Brazilians, are making Portugal their home in search of a better life. There is a rapidly growing community of Chinese. Portugal, long a country of emigration, has now become a country of immigration.
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. There are also about 1,000 Jews.
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Population:
- 10,048,232 (July 2000 est.)
- 10,102,022 (July 2003 est.)
- 10,524,145 (July 2004 est.)
Age structure:
- 0-14 years: 16.8% (male 874,198; female 825,742)
- 15-64 years: 67.2% (male 3,326,957; female 3,461,425)
- 65 years and over: 16% (male 651,697; female 962,003) (2003 est.)
Population growth rate:
- 0.18% (2000 est.)
- 0.17% (2003 est.)
- 0.41% (2004 est.)
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.)
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.)
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.)
Sex ratio:
- at birth: 1.07 male(s)/female
- under 15 years: 1.09 male(s)/female
- 15-64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female
- 65 years and over: 0.71 male(s)/female
- total population: 0.94 male(s)/female (2004 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.)
Life expectancy at birth:
- total population: 77.35 years (2004 est.)
- male: 74.06 years (2004 est.)
- female: 80.85 years (2004 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.)
Nationality:
- noun: Portuguese (singular and plural)
- adjective: Portuguese
Religions: Roman Catholic 94%, Protestant (1995)
Languages: Portuguese. Also Mirandês (Mirandese language) in the area of Miranda de Douro.
Literacy:
- definition:
- age 15 and over can read and write
- total population: 93.3%
- male: 95.5%
- female: 91.3%
See also: