Portugal has a history of pragmatic migration policies and positive political narratives around migration, unusual in the European context. These reflect a long-standing agreement among mainstream parties not to politicise immigration, recognising migrants’ key role in filling labour gaps, especially in the context of an ageing and shrinking population. The rise of the far-right party Chega is a concern given their xenophobic rhetoric, though it has not been the primary narrative accompanying the party’s growth.

Migration trends

Portugal has historically been a country of emigration, with many Portuguese settling in the country’s former colonies, high emigration to the US from the mid-19th century and to Europe after the Second World War. From the 1970s immigration increased, with immigrants coming from Portugal’s former colonies and later Eastern Europe, many taking jobs in the construction sector. Asylum applications are low compared to other European countries.

This data shows annual immigration, emigration and net migration figures. Source: Instituto Nacional de Estatistica (n.d.) 'Migration and foreign population' Portugal revised their immigration statistics considerably after their 2011-2020 Census results

Salience

Unlike many other European countries, immigration has not been a particularly salient issue for the Portuguese public in the past two decades. The share of the public considering immigration to be a top issue facing the country has remained extremely low, never passing 5%.

This shows the percentage of people who see immigration as one of the two most important issues facing the country today. Source: Eurobarometer (n.d.) 'Standard Eurobarometer'. Brussels: European Commission. Data shown is taken from Autumn surveys, with the Autumn surveys of 2020/21, 2021/22 and 2022/23 shifting to Winter 2020/21, Winter 2021/22 and Winter 2022/23 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Perceptions

In 2021 only 22% of the public felt that immigration is more of a problem than an opportunity, ranking Portugal as the 4th most positive country out of 27 EU member states on this question.

This shows the percentage of people that think immigration from outside the EU is more of a problem than an opportunity, or more of an opportunity than a problem, or equally a problem and an opportunity. Source: European Commission (2018) 'Special Eurobarometer 469. Integration of immigrants in the European Union'; European Commission (2022) 'Special Eurobarometer 519. Integration of immigrants in the European Union'

Attitudes

Public attitudes towards immigration have been mixed, with positive views on the impact of immigrants on Portugal only surpassing negative attitudes in 2016. However, despite historic scepticism about the benefits of immigration overall, Portuguese citizens generally express openness to having immigrants as friends, neighbours and relatives and declare positive views about migrants’ integration and refugee hosting.

This shows how people have answered the question 'Do immigrants make Portugal a worse or a better place to live.' Those scoring 0-4 are classified as holding 'negative' views, those scoring 5 as 'indecisive' and those scoring 6-10 as holding 'positive' views. Source: European Social Survey (n.d.) 'Portugal.' Electronic Dataset Survey postponed in 2020 due to Covid-19 pandemic.