Could this be the start of a climb back from Portugal’s demographic winter?
For the second year running, more babies are being born in Portugal.
It’s such a welcome piece of news in a country with Europe’s third largest elderly population that one hardly dares ask, could this be a new trend?
The Portuguese Demographics Association thinks not. According to reports today it believes birthrates are unlikely to keeping growing “due to increasing economic difficulties, and the different lifestyles of the Portuguese”.
But the truth is they have grown. And every new citizen shores up the crumbling demographic wall.
This year has seen births increase over the first six months by 6%. In numbers, this means 41,802 babies, 2,400 more than in the same period last year.
After 2021’s “historic fall” in birthrates, seeing less than 80,000 babies born, “there is a recovery”.
The Instituto Ricardo Jorge reports that January was the month in which the most ‘prick tests’ (on babies’ feet) were registered, with Lisbon and Porto being the cities where the highest number of babies were born.
So far, no reports have broken the data down into nationality mixes. Reports in the past have shown how the country is finally growing “thanks to immigrants”, with increasing numbers of incoming residents/ citizens being of child-bearing age.
