Although Portugal has been the European Union Member State where the highest percentage of immigrants has entered in recent years, it is far from being the country with the highest percentage of foreign population. Portugal is where the active population is least educated.
Based on statistical data from Eurostat Pordata indicated, this Monday, that Portugal was the European Union (EU) country where the most immigrants entered between 2012 and 2023, “with a average annual growth rate of 34.3% compared to 8.8%” at the European average level.
The country with the second highest rate is Estonia (30.3%), followed by Lithuania (30.2%).
However, despite this increase in the entry of immigrants, Portugal is far from being the country with the highest percentage of resident population.
With 9.6%, Portugal is in the 12th place, very far from Luxembourgwhere about 47.3% of residents are foreigners (and the majority are Portuguese) – the highest rate at EU level.
Second oldest country
When it comes to elderly people, Portugal is, indeed, one of the countries best represented in this type of population.
According to these data, Portugal is the second oldest country in the EU, only surpassed by Italy: there are 53 young people for every 100 elderly people.
Already Ireland, the EU country with the youngest populationthe proportion is significantly higher: there are 122 young people for every 100 elderly people.
In Portugal, according to data from Pordata, only a quarter of households (25.6%) have children“6.8 percentage points less than in 2011”, with Slovakia being the country with the most families with children (35.6%).
Education continues to be flawed
Portugal is also the EU country where the active population is least educated. According to Pordata, four out of every 10 people do not have secondary education in Portugal, well above countries like Poland or Lithuania, where only one person in every 10 did not complete this level of education.
However, in the population between 25 and 34 years old, “Portugal already shows an education level in line with the global EU average (43.2% with higher education compared to 44.1% in the EU)”, says Pordata.
Many people living alone
There are also more and more people living alone in the EU. According to Pordata, between 2011 and 2023, “more than 25 million people started to live alone, an increase of 28%”.
“In Portugal, there were 366 thousand more people, an increase of almost 50%”he points to Pordata.
