Portugal is the only country in Troika bailout land that will exit the crisis with a lower population than when it first applied for and received Troika aid.
The emigration of able bodied and skilled workers seeking jobs outside the country, coupled with a sharp drop in the number of births back home are the two factors that have contributed most to the decline in Portugal’s population and hence in the number of taxpayers left to foot the bill.
According to today’s Público newspaper, citing forecasts from the European Commission, among the countries that received Troika help Portugal is the only one to show a reduction of its resident population between the onset of the financial crisis and 2015 when the crisis allegedly will be over.
According to Brussels this reduction represents 1.3% of the population, or about 130,000 people in a country of ten million.
In the European Union 7 other countries experienced a decline in their populations, although their percentages are not as high as that of Portugal.
They are Latvia, Estonia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Lithuania, Hungary and Romania. Greece and Ireland have increased by 0.4 % and 5% respectively.
Regarding the impact that this may have for the country this of course depends on the profile of those leaving. If the most qualified leave then the country's ability to be productive, competitive and innovative will be lost.
