“The proportion has been increasing successively since 2016, reversing the downward trend recorded between 2011 and 2015”.

According to the same document, the entry of the foreign population in Portugal has contributed to the birth rate in the country.

After a decrease in the last decade, down to a minimum of 8.4% of births to foreign mothers in Portugal in 2015, that percentage has been steadily increasing and, last year, 10,808 children were born to foreign mothers.

Since 2011, the country has lost close to 196,000 people and 2019 and 2020 were the only years in which there was a population increase compared to the previous year: 19,300 more compared to 2018 and 75,700 more in parallel with 2019.

“This population increase was due, above all, to the positive migratory balance”, is underlined in the study, in a reference to the difference between people who immigrated and those who left the country.

In 2021, around 51,000 immigrants entered Portugal, and around 25,000 emigrants left, translating into a positive balance for the country of 26,000 people.