Population loss worrying, Portugal needs immigrants
Portugal today has 10,347,892 residents, 214,286 less than in 2011, according to the preliminary results of the 2021 Census.
The Minister of Territorial Cohesion has said that the population loss is worrying and that Portugal will have to work on a very active and welcoming immigration policy.
“As we are in a special period of investment, we are going to need a lot of manpower, a lot of workers. I believe that this can only be achieved with a very active policy of attracting immigrants and treating them well,” Ana Abrunhosa told journalists at the end of the session evocative of the 50th company incubated at the Habitat for Business Innovation in Strategic Sectors (HIESE) in Penela, in Coimbra district on Wednesday.
Statistics Portugal (INE) indicate that in the last decade, between 2011 and 2021, the country recorded a population decrease of 2% and accentuated the pattern of coastal migration and concentration of the population near the capital.
For the Minister of Territorial Cohesion, the preliminary results of the 2021 Census are “not a surprise” and reflect a problem that “is not of today, but of decades, and is not exclusive to Portugal”.
“We lost population, which is worrying, not only in the interior but throughout the country, and we only gained population in two areas. In order to recover the country’s economy, and with the investment we plan to make, a large part of that investment has to be made by people we don’t have”, she stressed.
According to Ana Abrunhosa, “this loss of population cannot and should not mean that the interior regions become deserted”.
“The loss of population cannot mean desertification and the fact that today we have science and technology also means that we can, with fewer people, continue to occupy these regions”, she stressed.
However, she stressed that the country has to be realistic and that “even with active policies to increase the birth rate and attract immigrants, it will be very difficult to recover the population of 100 years ago”.
The problem of desertification “belongs to Europe” and, in Portugal, “requires collective solutions, not only from the Government and local authorities, but also from society.”
Portugal today has 10,347,892 residents, 214,286 less than in 2011, according to the preliminary results of the 2021 Census.
In census terms, the only decade in which there had been a decrease in population had been between 1960 and 1970, INE indicated.
The preliminary data shows that there are 4,917,794 men (48%) and 5,430,098 women (52%) in Portugal.
