A drop in births has reportedly also contributed towards the city’s ever-aging population.
For many young adults, looking outside of Lisbon, often on the other side of the Tagus River, is the only way of finding accessibly-priced rental accommodation without having to share.
Places like Almada, Seixal and Montijo are seeing an influx of young adults, many of whom work in the city, but commute the distance to make the most of cheaper house prices and, consequently, a more comfortable quality of life.
At the start of this decade, in the grasp of the economic crisis, the average rent in Lisbon, according to the National Statistics Institute (INE), was around €268.
Real estate consultants CBRE calculated that by 2016 that figure had soared to €830, with the Park of Nations and Avenidas Novas areas being the most expensive in the city, at €1,080 and €998 respectively.
However, and notwithstanding the high rents, researchers studying the city’s demographics believe that a drop in births between 1980 and 1990 and a subsequent aging of the local population also contributed towards a drop in residents aged between 20 and 34.
Provisional estimates from the INE indicate that the number of young adults aged between 20 and 34 who live in Lisbon has dropped from close to 100,000 (95,830), in 2011, to 67,916 in 2016 – a drop of almost 29 percent in five years.
Of all municipalities in the country, Lisbon was the one where this age group shrank the most significantly, followed by Porto. An identical scenario was found throughout metropolitan Lisbon, but it is in the heart of the capital where it was most noticeable.
The INE explained that these figures “are calculated on the basis of registered live-births and estimated deaths and migratory flow figures”.
Other European capitals are experiencing a similar trend. Data from Eurostat and national statistical institutes indicate that Riga, Madrid, Paris, Dublin and London have also lost young adults in recent years, whereas in Oslo, Copenhagen, Rome, Helsinki, Stockholm and Berlin, the number of people between the ages of 20 and 34 increased.
But, two researchers at Lisbon University’s Centre for Geographical Studies noted, a degree of caution is needed when looking at Portugal’s figures.
They stressed there is a risk that these estimates reflect trends that do not coincide with the actual reality of the country. However, both acknowledged that there is a decrease in the population living in Lisbon within this age group, and highlighted an aging population and declining birth rates as the main causes.
In 1991, Lisbon had 138 elderly people for every 100 young people (from 0 to 14 years old). By 2016, the aging index has risen to 182.