Health Systems in Transition - Portugal

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Health systems in transition Portugal 3
Table 1.1
Trends in population/demographic indicators for Portugal, 1995–2015 (selected years)
1995 2000 2005 2010 2015
Total population (millions) 10.0 10.3 10.5 10.6 10.3
Population aged 0–14 years (% of total) 17.8 16.0 15.4 14.9 14.1
Population aged 65 years and above (% of total) 15.0 16.3 17.2 18.8 20.8
Population density (people per km2) 109.6 112.5 114.8 115.4 113.0
Population growth (annual growth rate) 0.3 0.7 0.2 0.0 –0.5
Fertility rate, total (births per woman)a 1.4 1.6 1.4 1.4 1.3
Urban population (% of total) 51.1 54.4 57.5 60.6 63.5
Source : World Bank, 2016.
Note: a INE, 2016a.
areas of Lisbon and Oporto and the coast between the 2001 and 2011 censuses
(INE, 2011), with the population of the interior decreasing, a trend which has
been accompanied by a gradual ageing of the population due to increasing
life expectancy and the steady decrease of birth rate (see section 1.4). This
situation will pose major challenges to the Portuguese health system in the
coming years.
During the 1990s, Portugal was the destination of regular and irregular
migrants from Brazil and Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the more
traditional migration from the former Portuguese colonies in Africa. According
to 2015 estimates, legal immigrants represent 3.8% of the resident population in
Portugal. Immigrants are mainly concentrated in coastal cities: Lisbon (44.6%),
Faro (15.0%) and Setúbal (9.5%) (SEF, 2016). In 2015, 40.4% of immigrants
with legal status in Portugal came from Europe, 24.4% came from Africa,
23.4% from the Americas and 11.7% from Asia (SEF, 2016). Immigrants from
Europe were mainly Ukrainian (23.0%) and Romanian (19.7%) nationals,
whereas most of the African immigrants came from Portuguese-speaking
countries (91.3%), especially Cape Verde (41.0%). Of immigrants from the
Americas, 89.7% came from Brazil. Around half of the Asian immigrants living
in Portugal were Chinese (46.3%). Immigrant population with legal status in
Portugal has decreased since 2010, mainly due to the economic crisis (see
section 1.2), motivating the emigration of many Portuguese citizens, mainly
to Germany, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
and Switzerland (OECD, 2014; Government of Portugal, 2015a). Since 2010,
more than 400 000 Portuguese are estimated to have left the country, either
permanently or temporarily (Government of Portugal, 2015a).