According to the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA), in six years, the number of legal foreigners in Portugal more than doubled, rising from 480,300 in 2017 to over one million last year.

The year 2023 was also the period in which the population grew the most, corresponding to one-third, according to the same document.

The report “is an essential instrument for characterising migration dynamics and processes in Portugal, an essential piece of public information that is owed by the Administration”, writes Pedro Portugal Gaspar, president of AIMA, in the document.

In addition to this number, there are thousands of foreign citizens awaiting regularisation. According to the authorities, there were 400,000 pending processes under these conditions at the end of 2023.