50 years later, Portugal is home to more than 1.6 million inhabitants and diverse families.

The population grew, families changed, fewer children were born, according to statistics that show that 50 years after April 25, Portugal is nothing like the country that experienced the revolution.

In 1974, Portugal’s population was 8.8 million, but in 2022 it was around 10.4 million and more cosmopolitan, including 7.5% foreigners.

The number of foreigners “increased 24-fold” between 1974 and 2022, rising from 32,057 to 781,247, according to Pordata, a statistical database of the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation.

The demographic profile of the population has also changed: there are now 45% fewer people under the age of 15 and three times as many people over 64.

Children and young people under 14 made up 28% of the population in 1974 (13% in 2022), with 62% aged 15 to 64 (63%) and 10% over 65 (24%) .

“Over five decades, Portugal has been the country in the European Union with the largest increase in the number of older people and the third country with the largest loss of children and young people.” In 1974, there were 35 older people for every 100 young people, and 185 older people for every 100 young people in 2022, thus becoming the country “that has changed the position of its aging index the most”, moving from 1st place to fewer older people. young people are in 2nd place, with young people outnumbering older people.

The fact that there are fewer children and that a 65-year-old can now expect to live on average 20 years longer (seven years more than 50 years ago) also explains demographic aging.

On the other hand, “increasing education, greater participation of women in the labor market and widespread access to contraceptive methods have contributed to the delay of maternity projects and the ‘shrinking of families’,” Pordata explains.

Five decades later, women are having their first child on average seven years later, and the number of births is now almost half as high (84,000 versus 172,000) as the number of marriages (36,952 versus 81,724). The secularization of society may explain the significant decline in Catholic marriages (81% in 1974 and 27% in 2022).

Instead, de facto unions grew and the rate of divorce (which became legal for Catholic marriages in 1975) increased 24-fold.

The number of children born out of wedlock has also increased, now accounting for six out of every 10, compared with just 7% of births 50 years ago, with the average number of children per woman falling from 2.75 to 1.43.

As for families, in 1970 they averaged 3.7 people, and now they are 2.5. The share of households with five or more members fell by 22 percentage points (from 28% to 6%), while the share of people living alone increased from 10 to 25%. Two-person families increased by 11 percentage points over the same period, and three- and four-person families, which accounted for 40%, now make up 36%.

PAL // ZO

Lusa/end