This also stands at 28,072 higher than the figure for 2011, the first year for which statistics are available.


However, in terms of the numbers of permanent Portuguese emigrants, that total came in at 49,572 at the end of 2014 and for the first time countering a rise that had otherwise dated back to 2009.


The institute’s figures demonstrate how the numbers of permanent emigrants had hitherto risen from 2009 when there were 16,899 registered permanent emigrants to total 53,786 persons in 2013 in a peak that reaches back to 2004 before falling back by 4,214 emigrants to 49,572 in 2014.


As regards permanently settling immigrants, they were up in total from 17,554 to 19,516 between 2013 and 2014 but still far off the numbers seen in 2009 when Portugal welcomed 32,307 new immigrants although numbers have been rising ever since 2012 when there were 14,606 immigrant arrivals.


The institute’s report concluded that in 2014, Portugal’s total population fell back by around 52,500 inhabitants due to a natural deficit with deaths outstripping births coupled with emigration running higher than immigration even if down from the decade long peak in population loss that reached 59,988 persons in 2013.