The foreign population residing in Portugal increased in 2022 for the seventh consecutive year, totalling 781,915 citizens, according to SEF.

“In 2022, for the seventh consecutive year, there was an increase in the resident foreign population, with an increase of 11.9% compared to 2021, totalling 781,915 foreign citizens holding a residence permit”, says the Immigration, Borders and Asylum Report (RIFA).

According to SEF, Brazilians remain the main foreign community residing in the country, representing last year 30.7% of the total, and it was also the community from Brazil that grew the most in 2022 (17.1%) compared to 2021, totalling 239,744.


British residents

RIFA specifies that the United Kingdom maintains its position in relation to 2021 with a growth of 5.8%, being the second most representative foreign nationality in Portugal.

“The sustained growth of foreign citizens from European Union countries confirms the particular impact of the attractiveness factors already mentioned in previous years, such as the perception of Portugal as a safe country, as well as the tax advantages arising from the regime for non-residents”, specifies the report, which highlights immigrants from Angola, who rise three positions now occupying sixth place with a rise of 23.1%, and India, which is now the fourth most representative community.

Romania and China left the group of the ten most representative nationalities in Portugal.

At the end of 2022, 239,744 Brazilians lived in Portugal, followed by citizens of the United Kingdom (45,218), Cape Verde (36,748), India (35,416), Italy (34,039), Angola (31,761), France (27,512), Ukraine ( 25,445), Nepal (23,839) and Guinea-Bissau (23,737).

SEF also reports that Portugal, in 2022, was the country of destination for 44,519 Ukrainian citizens fleeing the war and to whom the Portuguese State granted temporary protection.


Living on the coast

Immigrants live mainly on the coast, with around 65% registered in the districts of Lisbon, Faro and Setúbal, totalling 512,141 resident citizens, while in 2021 there were 466,779.

The report highlights the increases for the districts of Bragança, which had been decreasing since 2020, and Viana do Castelo, specifying that seven of the ten municipalities with the highest number of registered foreign citizens belong to the Lisbon metropolitan area.