Immigrant Families Now Deliver 1/4th of Portugal’s Newborns

Moving to Portugal may feel like joining a country in slow demographic motion, yet the latest birth statistics reveal a striking paradox: while the overall number of newborns slipped again in 2024, foreign-born mothers are steadily propping up Portugal’s cradle count.

A gentle rebound loses steam

After a welcome bump in 2023, deliveries registered through the national neonatal screening programme fell by 1,133 last year to 84,631. That is still better than the pandemic low of 2021 but well short of the 120,000 births Portugal celebrated at the turn of the millennium. Demographers point to an economy that has lurched from the euro-zone debt crisis to COVID-19 and now inflationary headwinds, producing a generation that delays parenthood until its mid-30s—or skips it altogether.

Foreign families filling the gap

What is keeping the maternity wards busier than they otherwise would be is immigration. One in four babies born in 2024—26.3 percent—had a mother who does not hold Portuguese nationality. The share soars above 50 percent in a handful of coastal municipalities popular with newcomers: Aljezur, Vila do Bispo and Albufeira in the Algarve; Odemira on the Alentejo coast; and densely populated Amadora on Lisbon’s outskirts. Conversely, the figure barely reaches double digits in many inland districts and on the islands.

Lisbon and the south stand out

INE’s regional breakdown shows the national headline hides sharp contrasts. Greater Lisbon, the Setúbal Peninsula and Madeira eked out modest gains in 2024, thanks largely to an influx of young workers from Brazil, the Cape Verdean archipelago and, more recently, India and Nepal. By contrast, the Azores posted an 8.7 percent plunge, and the northern mainland lost 3.5 percent of its births compared with 2023. Cities such as Porto—long a demographic heavyweight—registered the steepest absolute decline, down 533 babies in a single year.

Mothers are getting older

Delaying childbirth has become the norm. Two decades ago only 14 percent of births involved women aged 35-39; last year the figure reached nearly one quarter. Eight in ten mothers are now between 25 and 39, and fully one-third fall into the 30-34 bracket. At the extreme young end of the spectrum, just twenty births were recorded to girls under 15, underscoring how rare teenage motherhood has become.

Where and how babies arrive

Portugal remains a country of hospital deliveries—98.0 percent in 2024—but the nature of those births has shifted. Instrumental or caesarean procedures accounted for 37 percent of hospital births, up from 27 percent at the turn of the century, reflecting older maternal age and medical practice trends. Home births are still uncommon but climbed to 841, signalling a niche return to more personalised care.

Why the numbers matter for newcomers

For foreign residents, the data tell two stories. On the one hand, Portugal’s economic model increasingly relies on newcomers of reproductive age; on the other, shrinking cohorts of native-born children foreshadow long-term pressure on pension finances, health services and the labour force. Policymakers are weighing tax incentives, housing subsidies and expanded childcare to encourage larger families, yet analysts caution that without sustained immigration the population would already be in contraction.

Looking ahead

Sociologist Maria Filomena Mendes, a former president of the Portuguese Demography Society, doubts the country will return to pre-2000 birth levels. She argues that even aggressive pronatalist policies cannot offset late parenthood, job insecurity and high housing costs. “Retaining young adults and continuing to attract migrants are Portugal’s most realistic levers,” she told local media. For expatriates considering a long-term stay, that translates into a government increasingly eager to make family life—schools, healthcare, residency rules—work smoothly for non-Portuguese nationals.

Whether you are raising children here or thinking about starting a family after relocating, Portugal’s demographic future is likely to be shaped as much by you as by anyone born within its borders.