Live births in Portugal in 2013 fell by half compared to records 40 years ago. In the same year, 128,000 Portuguese emigrated, the equivalent of the population of a city like Braga, the country’s fifth largest, the newspaper Correio da Manhã reported.
The exact number of births in 2013 was 82,787, which represents a decrease of 7.9% compared to 2012 (89,841). This is why the newspaper writes that today are born only about half the number of babies recorded in 1973.
Forty-one years ago, 172,000 children were born, of whom 12,332 to unmarried parents. Reflecting the growth of immorality, in 40 years the number of births out of wedlock more than tripled: 39,434 in 2013, i.e., 48% of the total!
Since the number of deaths reached 106,543, the population deficit caused by the drop in the birth rate totaled -23,756.
Portugal lost 60,000 inhabitants in 2013. In addition to the reduced birth rate, the other factor was an increase in emigration.
According to Portugal’s National Institute of Statistics, last year 53,000 citizens emigrated permanently, while another 74,000 left for a period of less than one year, totaling 128,000. This is as if the whole population of the country’s fifth largest city – Braga (136,000 inhabitants) had left Portugal.
Over 350,000 Portuguese have emigrated since 2011.
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“Flag of Portugal” by Sébastien Bertrand is licensed under CC BY 2.0.