There are more than 2.3 million Portuguese living outside the country. According to data gathered in the most recent report from the Emigration Observatory, Portugal has the second highest emigrated population in the EU, behind Malta.
The loss of Portuguese from their homeland in the past three years finds an equivalent only in the exodus in the 1960s and 1970s as around 110,000 people have been leaving each year to 2015, as the recession continued.
Portugal's emigrants used to prefer to start their new lives in France, but now the UK is the number one choice.
In 2015, the UK took in 32,301 Portuguese, France registered 18,480 followed by Switzerland (12,325) and Germany (9,195).
The first non-European country comes in fifth place: Angola, where 6,715 Portuguese went but this African adventure is an anomaly as according to the study, "the percentage of Portuguese living abroad in Europe rose from 53% in 1990 to 62% in 2015."
Currently, one in five Portuguese lives outside the country. The Spanish, however, are more settled with only 2.7% of its population living elsewhere, compared to Portugal’s 20%
The study notes "the continued growth of emigration to the UK from 2010, the resumption of growth in emigration to Spain (up 12% for the second consecutive year) and, surprisingly, an acceleration of emigration to Angola in 2015, with growth of more than 30% compared to 2014."
