The latest Eurostat data, as of 1 January 2026, show that the country had an estimated resident population of 11,424,031, an increase of 36,809 people (+0.32%) compared with the same period in 2025, confirming the growth trend previously signalled by the INE at the end of the prior year.

The growth observed in Portugal mirrors the overall dynamics of the EU bloc, whose total population reached 452 million at the start of 2026—an increase of 706,000 people over the previous year.

This result marks the fifth consecutive year of demographic expansion in the EU, consolidating a recovery trajectory that began after the widespread decline seen in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, the European landscape remains characterised by significant asymmetry and high concentration: the five most populous Member States—Germany (83.5 million), France, Italy, Spain, and Poland—together account for approximately two-thirds of the entire EU population.

Eurostat's geographical analysis reveals that the population increased in 16 of the bloc's 27 countries between 2025 and 2026. Malta topped the list for proportional growth with a rate of +24.1 per thousand inhabitants, followed by Cyprus (+13.7) and Luxembourg (+13.1).

Conversely, the most severe demographic contractions were recorded in Latvia (-8.3 per thousand inhabitants), Estonia (-6.8 per thousand inhabitants), and Hungary (-5.4 per thousand inhabitants). From a long-term historical perspective, European indicators show that the EU has gained 16 million residents over the last twenty years (compared to 2006) and nearly 100 million since 1960, when the bloc had a population of 354.5 million.

However, analysts highlight a marked structural slowdown in the rate of gross growth: the average growth in the 1960s stood at three million people per year—a figure that fell to around 600,000 annually during the 2010s.