Discerning foreigners have been moving to the south and the north with the districts of Faro and Oporto showing the biggest increase in registrations between 2015 and 2016.
The districts of Faro, covering the Algarve, increased its registered foreign intake by 9% in a year, with the north in second place with a 5% boost.
The figures are from the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF), so show only those registering their presence.
The latest SEF report on the Resident Alien Population in Portugal indicates that in 2016 the district of Faro went from 58,246 to 63,481 foreign residents, and Oporto went from 22,972 to 24,092 foreigners.
These are the only two districts in the country that show any increase at all over 1,000 people.
As for those moving out, the two Portuguese districts with the largest drop in the resident foreign population between 2016 and 2015 were Setúbal, with 819 fewer, and Lisbon with 403 fewer at 173,118 registrations.
Most registered foreigners living in the south come from the United Kingdom (10,938), Brazil (7,850) and Romania (7,419), while in the Oporto district the majority are of Brazilian nationality (8,035), followed by Ukrainian (2,219) and Chinese (2,207).
Braga, Bragança, Castelo Branco, Viana do Castelo, Coimbra, Leiria, Guarda, Évora, Beja, Madeira and the Azores also registered residual increases, with a few hundred more foreign residents in each.
