“Portugal has the highest immigration rates in Europe and one of the highest in the world.” Notes espresso As an introduction to an article dedicated to this demographic constant. From the title of one of its issues issued on Friday, January 12, the weekly magazine announces this “30% of young people born in Portugal currently live outside the country,” Or 850,000 people between the ages of 15 and 39. Because 70% of Portuguese who immigrate are under the age of forty.
These figures, which appear in the soon-to-be-released Atlas of Portuguese Migration, were determined based on data provided by the countries in which the Lusitanian diaspora settled. We learned that between 2001 and 2020, more than 1.5 million Portuguese left their country, or 15% of the population. 2.3 million people now live abroad, 70% of whom are under the age of 40.
Another important fact is highlighted espresso : Nearly a third of women of childbearing age have also emigrated – so much so that Portuguese mothers give birth abroad “It is already equivalent to about 20% of births in Portugal,” “This is a huge problem,” explains Rui Peña Perez, scientific coordinator of the Migration Observatory, who is concerned about the consequences of this displacement on fertility.
“Expectations have dropped to nothing.”
“Immigration has not received the attention it deserves, which demonstrates the country’s inability to retain its population.” María denounces Filomena Méndez. The former president of the Portuguese Demographic Association also fears this“brutal effect” About this constant departure, which she tries to put into context in the weekly magazine's columns:
“Successive economic crises reduced the expectations of young people who were not treated well at home and only found future projects abroad, like other generations that preceded them.”
José Carlos Márquez, a sociologist specializing in migration, believes that the Portuguese state should intervene “In terms of employment and wages, because many young graduates in Portugal earn just over the minimum wage.” Jorge Malheiros, a geographer specializing in migration, agrees with him, but stresses that Portugal will remain, no matter what, a land of migration:
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