The number of foreign residents in Portugal has surpassed one million.

According to the latest "Immigration and Asylum Report," the foreign population residing in Portugal in 2023 increased by 33.6% compared to the previous year, totaling 1,044,606 foreign citizens with residence permits. Additionally, according to the latest data from the Portuguese National Institute of Statistics (INE), Portugal's total population in 2023 is 10,639,726. On average, one in ten people is a foreigner.

According to data from the Portuguese Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA), the number of legal foreign residents has more than doubled in the past six years, skyrocketing from 480,300 in 2017 to over one million last year. Additionally, 2023 has been marked as the year with the most significant population growth, with an increase of one-third.

Pedro Portugal Gaspar, the director of the Immigration Service, noted in the report that this document is a key tool for understanding the dynamics and processes of immigration in Portugal, while also highlighting gaps in the government’s public information. Furthermore, there are thousands of foreign citizens waiting for their legalization procedures.

Official data predicts that by the end of 2023, the number of individuals awaiting processing will reach 400,000. This means that if those "without status" are included, the total number of immigrants is expected to reach 1.4 million.

A survey released by the Catholic University revealed that most Portuguese people hold negative attitudes towards immigration: 71.7% wish to reduce the number of immigrants, while 81.2% want to decrease emigration. A report from the Lisbon Catholic School of Economics and Business showed that 70.1% of participants are concerned about the current wave of immigration, and 73.1% express worries about the immigration levels. Moreover, 71.7% of respondents hope to see a reduction in immigration flows, while 81.2% believe that out-migration should be curtailed.

These data are based on 997 online surveys conducted in July 2024. The results indicate that concerns among the Portuguese public regarding immigration have intensified compared to the 2017 European Barometer and the 2015 report from the International Organization for Migration. Both studies were completed before the pandemic, when immigration had already become a focal point of public discussion in Portugal.