Portugal

The Portuguese Republic (Portuguese: República Portuguesa) is a democratic republic located on the west and southwest parts of the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe, and is the westernmost country in continental Europe. Portugal is bordered by Spain to the north and east and by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south. In addition, Portugal includes two archipelagos in the Atlantic, Azores (Açores) and Madeira Islands.

Demographics

Portugal is a fairly homogeneous country linguistically and religiously. Ethnically, the Portuguese people are a combination of several ethnicities: pre-Roman Iberian and Celtic tribes with Romans and Germanic tribes. Moors became a reduced influence, as essentialy they were expelled during the Reconquista.

Related Topics:
Portuguese people - Iberian - Celtic - Romans - Germanic tribes - Moors - Reconquista

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Portugal's biggest metropolitan cities are Lisbon, Porto, Braga, Aveiro, and Coimbra.

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The first census in Portugal dates from 1864. But, in the 16th century, John III called for a population count in continental Portugal and between 1527 and 1532 there was a population of 1 to 1.4 million. In 1801, there were 2,913,000 inhabitants.

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Between 1960 and 1970, more than one million Portuguese emigrated, mostly to other European countries, resulting in a negative population growth. Previously, Brazil has been the destination of many, especially since the 18th century. Since mid 1970s major changes started to influence the country's demographics as life expectancy went up; the infant mortality rate and the fertility rate broadly declined; and, with the decolonisation, many Portuguese returned from Africa.

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In the 2001 Census, Portugal had 10,356,117 inhabitants (51,7% female). Currently, there are almost 10.6 million inhabitants. By the end of 2003, legal immigrants represented 4.2% of the population, and the largest communities were: Ukrainians (15%), Brazilians (14.8%), Cape Verdeans (14.4%), and Angolans (7.9%). There are also a significant number of illegal immigrants.

Related Topics:
Ukrainians - Brazil - Cape Verdeans - Angola - Illegal immigrants

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The great majority of the Portuguese population belongs to the Roman Catholic Church. Religious minorities include a little over 300,000 Protestants. There are also about 50,000 Muslims and 10,000 Hindus (most of whom came from Goa, a former Portuguese colony on the west coast of India). There are also about 1,000 Jews. Atheism and agnosticism are increasing in number. Esoterism is also practised by small minorities as well the oriental philosophies as a modern trend.

Related Topics:
Roman Catholic Church - Protestants - Muslims - Hindu - Goa - Portuguese colony - India - Jews - Atheism - Agnosticism - Esoterism - Trend

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The country is characterized by city, town or village cultural differentiation and there is small or no regional differentiation, unlike what happens in other European countries. Portuguese is spoken throughout the country, some of Terra de Miranda's Mirandese speaking villages and towns being the only linguistic minority.

Related Topics:
Terra de Miranda - Mirandese

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