A total of 100,000 Portuguese emigrated in 2016, down 10,000 from the year before, continuing a slowing down in the loss of Portugal’s citizens that has been going on since 2013.
The Emigration Report for 2016, issued by the Observatory of Emigration, stated that, "the analysis of the new statistics from the Observatory reveals that emigration reached its maximum value this century in 2013, with about 120,000 leaving, since which there has been a downward trajectory in line with the economic recovery in the country, albeit at a slower pace."
The report adds that these levels of emigration are parallel to the population movements of the 1960s and 1970s.
The document also indicated that it is unlikely, in the short term anyway, that there will be a recovery to the lower levels of emigration witnessed before the economic crisis in Portugal which continues to be the European Union country with the most emigrants in proportion to resident population.
"According to the latest estimates by the United Nations, by 2015, the number of migrants that were born in Portugal has exceeded 2.306 million, which means that about 22% of Portuguese live outside the country," reads the report.
Most Portuguese migrants currently live within Europe, rising from 53% in 1990 to 62% in 2015, according to United Nations estimates.
The reduction in outflow in 2016 "is explained more by changes in destination due to an interruption of emigration to Angola and the United Kingdom,” underlined the report, noting the oil price collapse and recession in Angola and Brexit in the UK.
The United Kingdom continues to be the country to which most Portuguese emigrate, with 30,500 leaving home for that cold, wet island in 2016. Other popular destinations are France (18,000 in 2014), Switzerland (10,100 in 2016) and Germany (8,800 in 2016).
Outside of Europe, the main destination countries for Portuguese emigrants are Angola (3,900 in 2016) and Mozambique (1,400 in 2016).
As for total emigrant population, "France continues to be the country where most Portuguese migrants live, with more than 600,000 in 2013.”
There are more than 100,000 Portuguese emigrants in Switzerland 148,000 in the United States, 143,000 in Canada, 138,000 in Brazil, 231,000 in the United Kingdom, 112,000 in Germany and 100,000 in Spain.
