The number of young people in Portugal has decreased by about 500,000 in the last decade, this is in a country with a population of 10.5 million.
The National Institute of Statistics states that in 302 of the 308 municipalities in Portugal there has been a decrease in the number of young people between 2001 and 2011, a figure that dramatically has increased in the past three years of the economic crisis.
Only six municipalities in Portugal had more young people in 2011 than ten years earlier, including fun-loving Albufeira and Lagos in the Algarve.
The worst hit areas have been the rural heartland of the country - the interior and the lower Alentejo - where in many cases the number of young people has halved leaving almost deserted villages inhabited by elderly, or very elderly residents often cut off from main stream public transport and living on breadline pensions.
In these regions, particularly in the interior and south of the country, the number of young people almost halved (46% less).
The INE stated that this decrease is "an indicator of the ageing phenomenon that is affecting the Portuguese population and reflects the continued reduction in the number of births recorded in Portugal," i.e. people are living longer and not enough children are being born.
The institute recognised that emigration has played a huge part in the decline of youth in Portugal due to the economic decline of the country, especially during the recession.
In 2012 an estimated 26,000 young people left the country permanently, plus 27,000 temporary emigrants.
Despite a general increased in qualifications, linguistic skills and computer literacy, the economic situation has crushed opportunity for young people in the labour market and the youth unemployment rate (26.3%) is almost double the overall unemployment rate.
The young that have stayed behind are reluctant to have children with many remaining at home, living with parents especially in the high property price areas of Oporto, Lisbon and the Algarve.
Two councils in the south have reacted to these demographic realities, one offering grants for young people to do up and live in old housing (Monchique) and the other offering a nappy grant covering baby related purchases by young mothers (Alcoutim).
These attempts to attract and reverse the flow are a good start as any form of sensible national legislation for business start ups to encourage young entrepreneurs is not even in the planning stage.
The government appears unconcerned and busies itself offering Golden Visas and tax incentives to foreign retirees while waving good bye to the nation's youth.
