Algarve's shrinking population

Paul Rees 08 October 2018

loule1 How many people live in the Algarve? The answer of 450,000 has been fixed in people’s minds for years but the current resident population has been shrinking this total, taken from 2010 figures.

Despite a healthy influx of foreigners, last year alone, the Algarve population declined by 1,852 to give an 11,687 decline in numbers compared to seven years ago.

According to data released by the National Statistics Institute, on December 31st 2017, the population living in the Algarve numbered 439,617 people, with the only municipality gaining in numbers being Albufeira - all the remaining 15 Council areas have fewer residents now than in 2010.

This decline of 11,687 people is the equivalent of losing more than all the residents of São Brás de Alportel (10,459) or those living in Alcoutim, Aljezur and Monchique, which together total about 13 thousand inhabitants.

The other problem is the age profile with the elderly population growing and the younger population declining. The under 15s now number 66,357, the lowest figure in the last ten years.

Conversely, the number of people aged 65 and over has risen to 93,683, the highest figure in recent decades.

Comments

+1 #10 Aidan 2018-10-11 10:08

This is dire news, clearly the locals, especially the youth are abandoning the region for greater prosperity elsewhere to be replaced by foreigners, mostly retirees inflating the property market causing the area to be even less attractive to locals. Why would anybody celebrate this fact? Where do people expect the trainee nurses, doctors, firefighters, lifeguards of the future to come from? Is it any wander that historic buildings are being destroyed to make way for more tourist accommodation?

+1 #9 Kylee 2018-10-10 16:43

Speaking as an Australian, it might be a big country but the vast majority is uninhabitable. Only our First Nations people have the intelligence and historical knowledge to survive in harsh remote areas. It is often the European tourists who head off to the outback and end up dying because they don't know how to survive when their car breaks down.

0 #8 Hans E 2018-10-09 17:42

Very interesting and yet no crematory. By the way dear Ed(itor) - you have forgotten to update on the Socrates case. Is it three that the first hearing has been postponed for six months?

0 #7 AL 2018-10-09 15:18

Quoting Ed:

Quoting AL:
Quoting mj1:
good. on the day the un gives a dire warning on the planet any reduction in population is welcome

The world is not over populated, although it's resources are mismanaged due to greed. Hypothetically you could give 1 square kilometre to each person (7 billion) in the world, and you would only occupy Australia.

Australia's land area is 7,692 million km²
Ed

Oops I meant 1000 square metres per person about a quarter of an acre which is still a considerable amount of space. Or you could say 1000 people per km2.

0 #6 Ed 2018-10-09 13:01

Quoting AL:

Quoting mj1:
good. on the day the un gives a dire warning on the planet any reduction in population is welcome

The world is not over populated, although it's resources are mismanaged due to greed. Hypothetically you could give 1 square kilometre to each person (7 billion) in the world, and you would only occupy Australia.

Australia's land area is 7,692 million km²
Ed

+2 #5 Bee 2018-10-09 09:31

Agree with mj1, good news.

+2 #4 AL 2018-10-09 09:26

Quoting mj1:

good. on the day the un gives a dire warning on the planet any reduction in population is welcome

The world is not over populated, although it's resources are mismanaged due to greed. Hypothetically you could give 1 square kilometre to each person (7 billion) in the world, and you would only occupy Australia.

+1 #3 Ed 2018-10-08 23:19

Quoting Charly:

Dear Ed, can you provide us the full stats for the Algarve or the internet link ? Thanks.

There is some headline data here: https://ine.pt/xportal/xmain?xpid=INE&xpgid=ine_destaques&DESTAQUESdest_boui=315221328&DESTAQUEStema=5414321&DESTAQUESmodo=2

and the source was: https://jornaldoalgarve.pt/algarve-perdeu-cerca-de-12-mil-habitantes-em-sete-anos/

0 #2 mj1 2018-10-08 22:59

good. on the day the un gives a dire warning on the planet any reduction in population is welcome

0 #1 Charly 2018-10-08 19:02

Dear Ed, can you provide us the full stats for the Algarve or the internet link ? Thanks.

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