A quarter of foreigners in Portugal are living in poverty – and the employment rate between men and women is more unequal than in the Portuguese population.
These are the starkest conclusions of a study released today in the context of World Migrants Day by statistical portal Pordata.
“More than one in four foreigners residing in Portugal (28.9%) are in a situation of poverty or social exclusion, almost 10% points above the Portuguese population (19.2%) in this situation,” although below the situation of immigrants in the EU (around 40%), indicates a detailed portrait of foreigners in Portugal, in matters of employment, education, migratory flows and attributions of nationality.
In Portugal, “gender inequalities in the labour market are more pronounced than in the population with Portuguese nationality”, with many more foreign men working than women (86.4% among men and 68.5% among women) – a difference that is not as pronounced among Portuguese citizens (84.7% among men and 79.3% among women).
“Regarding the unemployment rate, among the foreign population, men register 8.3% and women 14.6%, while among the population with Portuguese nationality the percentage is 4.8% for men and 5.3% for women,” states the report.
There are more foreigners than Portuguese in the labour market (88.2% and 86.9%, respectively), but the data changes when analysing the percentage of people who are looking for work (11.5% among foreigners and 5% among Portuguese), which shows more difficulties in access for those who are not national citizens.
“It is among the female population that there are the greatest differences between foreign residents and those of Portuguese nationality – both in the unemployment rate, which is 9.3 percentage points higher for foreign women, and in the employment rate, which is 11 percentage points lower than that of women with Portuguese nationality,” states Pordata.
The increased presence of foreigners – 1,543,697 residents in Portugal by the end of 2024 – has also transformed the education system, with the number of students with at least one parent of foreign nationality increasing by 58% between 2020 and 2023, reaching 206,011 cases.
With regard to the granting of nationality, there was a 21% increase between 2023 and 2024, involving 20,624 citizens residing in Portugal. The majority of Portuguese nationality was granted to residents abroad, with 26,216 granted in 2024 – “81% of which were to foreigners of Portuguese Sephardic Jewish descent”.
Regarding migration flows, in 2024, 177,557 people, both nationals and foreigners, moved to Portugal, and in the same period, “33,916 people (of Portuguese or foreign nationality) emigrated permanently, resulting in a positive migration balance of 143,641, slightly lower than in 2023 (155,701)”.
Between 2009 and 2018, the country had more Portuguese immigrants than foreign immigrants, with the balance reversing in recent years – but with regard to emigration the balance has always been very significant, with 80% of the people who have left the country being of Portuguese nationality.
Among emigrants, “young people between the ages of 20 and 34 have been the most prevalent group, almost always representing more than 50% and reaching a peak of 57% in 2024,” the report states.
“Between 2016 and 2023, the entry of immigrants of foreign nationality grew at an average annual rate of 37%, the highest in the EU27,” the Pordata analysis adds.
Source: LUSA
