Immigration in Portugal: A Positive Balance

According to recent data, the number of immigrants in Portugal has significantly increased. This includes both the number of immigrant people as well as their contribution to Portuguese Social Security. The observatory for migrations has tracked that in 2022, there were 782,000 immigrants in Portugal who contributed 1,861 million euros to social security while receiving 257 thousand euros in social support. This results in a positive balance of 1,604 million euros.

According to recent data, the UK nationals are the second-largest community of immigrants in Portugal, comprising 45,218 people. If you're interested in joining this community and living in a safe and wonderful country, there are several options available. You can learn about how to move to Portugal after Brexit. Alternatively, if you're already a part of this community and need assistance with the next steps, you can explore how to obtain Portuguese citizenship.

In the first paragraph, we mentioned some gross numbers related to immigration in Portugal. If we express those numbers in percentages, immigrants represent 7.5% of the Portuguese population and contribute 13.5% to the Portuguese Social Security. These numbers indicate that immigration in Portugal is characterized by a working population but with some differences. For instance, immigrants from the European Union community are characterized by an older population, similar to the Portuguese population, which contrasts with immigration from outside the European Union.

Foreigners account for 16.7% of all births in Portugal, which is a positive trend as it counters the ageing population, a tendency that has been seen for a long time in Portugal and Europe in general.

From a percentage point of view, in geographical matters, the region of Portugal with the highest percentage of immigrants is the Algarve. Within this region, Vila do Bispo has the highest percentage of foreigners, making up 42.2% of the total population. This is almost half of the population. Lisbon is the region of Portugal that hosts the majority of foreigners who live in Portugal, 41% of all foreigners live in Lisboa.

In terms of political participation, the foreign population have low rates, only 7.4% of them are voter registration.

After analysing the data, we can confidently state that immigrants have a positive impact on society. They contribute to the economic growth of the welcoming country, provide a renewal of the population, and perform certain job roles that locals are unwilling to take up. To ensure that this "new" global trend of population movement has a positive impact, it is essential to establish good policies and laws for immigration.

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