Portugal needs 75,000 immigrants-a-year to boost working population

Portugal’s Prime Minister, António Costa, says the country needs more immigrants to thwart a predicted demographic breakdown caused by an ever-ageing population.

According to figures from a 2017 study by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation, the country needs a minimum 50,000 foreigners per year to start to restore the balance between the working and non-working sectors of the population.

To fulfill the objective to get enough people of working age into the country, the Government really needs to attract 75,000 immigrants per year.

At a time when European countries are increasingly clamping down on immigrants, Portugal could emerge as a country that is open to foreigners. In 2016, the country took in more than 61,000 new residents, the highest number since 2009, states the report.

The Government is studying new ways to attract new inhabitants to Portugal and is looking at amendments to the current immigration laws to make it easier for foreigners to come and live in Portugal.