According to the study “What the 2021 Censuses tell us about territorial dynamics”, presented at the National Institute of Statistics (INE), in Lisbon, changes in residence show an increase of 11.7% in territorial mobility compared to 2011.

In Portugal, of the population that changed residence in 2021, compared to December 31, 2019, more than half (51.3%) came from another municipality, while 20.5% changed their residence within the same parish, 17.9 moved from another parish in the same municipality and 10.3% had previously resided abroad.

Odemira was, in 2021, the territory with the highest residential attractiveness for those living abroad a year earlier, with around 5.58% of new inhabitants coming from another country.


Algarve trends


The other territories with the greatest residential attraction capacity for the population that previously lived outside the country were the Algarve municipalities of Aljezur, Vila do Bispo, Lagos, Tavira, Albufeira, Lagoa, Monchique, Portimão, Silves and Loulé, with percentages greater than 2 %.

From the Lisbon Metropolitan Area arise the municipalities of Cascais, Lisbon and Montijo, on the border with the northern region appear Monção, Valença, Melgaço, Montalegre and Vimioso and, in the central region, Sabugal and Penamacor.

According to the study, in 2021, inter-municipal residential mobility represented 7% of the resident population, and, in a set of 22 municipalities, more than 10% of the population had, in the previous year, resided in another municipality.