Foreign population continued to grow in Portugal, but the pace dropped sharply: What do AIMA data say?

The foreign resident population in Portugal reached 1,585,854 people by the end of 2025. According to AIMA's new Relatório de Migrações e Asilo 2025 report, while the foreign population increased by approximately 42 thousand people in one year, the annual growth rate decreased from 18.3% to 2.7%.

This does not mean that the foreign population in Portugal is decreasing.

On the contrary, the total number of foreign residents rose to a new high. What has changed is the pace of increase.

How many foreign residents are there in Portugal?

According to AIMA's 2025 report published on September 22, there were 1,585,854 foreign residents in the country at the end of the year.

The increase compared to 2024 is 42,157 people.

The previous year the increase was much higher: in 2024, the foreign resident population increased by 238,864 people.

Therefore, the annual growth rate decreased from 18.3% in 2024 to 2.7% in 2025.

Why is it misleading to say “Immigration has fallen by 82%”?

In some news, the change in growth rate is expressed as a decrease of approximately 82%.

Mathematically, this is a comparison of the growth rate of 18.3% falling to 2.7%.

However, this figure does not mean that "the number of immigrants coming to Portugal decreased by 82%".

The main indicator that AIMA measures here is the annual change in the foreign resident stock registered in the country.

The number of people entering a country, the first residence permits issued, those leaving the country and the total population registered as residents at the end of the year are different statistics.

Therefore, the growth rate in resident stock is directly related to new immigration. It should not be read as a flow.

The change in the last five years is much greater

Despite the slowdown in 2025, the longer-term picture is different.

According to AIMA data, the foreign resident population in Portugal increased by approximately 871 thousand people between 2021 and 2025 and has more than doubled in four years.

Therefore, the 2025 data does not show that the immigrant population has started to shrink, but rather that the total number of residents is increasing more slowly, following the extraordinarily rapid growth in previous years.

Which is the largest foreign community?

Brazilians remain by far the largest community of foreign residents.

According to AIMA, 493,622 Brazilian citizens were registered as residents in Portugal at the end of 2025.

This is approximately 31.1% of the foreign resident population.

Angola rose to second place with 99,050 people.

Then:

India — 91,405

Ukraine — 84,889

Cabo Verde — 71,005

is coming.

This ranking shows that the migration structure in Portugal continues to change, not only in terms of total numbers but also in terms of source countries.

There is another problem to note in the AIMA data

The data transfer schedule is also important in interpreting migration data.

INE announced that some information from AIMA arrived with a delay in the production of statistics. According to the example given by INE officials, the institution was still receiving some AIMA data for 2025 in May 2026.

This does not invalidate the totals in AIMA's annual report, but It shows that in Portugal, migration and population statistics may not be updated at the same time in different institutions.

Therefore, when comparing foreign population figures published by AIMA, INE or other institutions, the data date and the definition used should be checked.

What does this data say in terms of residents?

The report only asks “How many foreigners are there in Portugal?” It doesn't answer the question.

AIMA attributes this to the immigrant community becoming more permanent in Portugal's economic and social structure.

However, it is not possible to deduce from the total resident growth rate of only 2.7% how much of the slowdown in 2025 is due to the change in new immigration inflows and how much is due to residence processes or other administrative/demographic factors.

Therefore, the safest conclusion of the new report is this:

The number of foreign residents in Portugal continued to increase in 2025; however, the rate of increase has slowed down significantly compared to the previous two years.

Resources

AIMA — Relatório de Migrações e Asilo 2025 announcement, 22 September 2026

https://aima.gov.pt/pt/noticias/um-retrato-das-migracoes-em-portugal-aima-divulga-relatorio-de-migracoes-e-asilo-2025

ECO — Imigração trava e ordens para sair disparam: retrato da immigração em cinco números, 23 September 2026

https://eco.sapo.pt/2026/09/23/imigracao-trava-e-ordens-para-sair-disparam-retrato-da-imigracao-em-cinco-numeros/

Diário de Notícias — Ritmo de crescimento dos imigrantes no país recua 82%, 22 September 2026

https://www.dn.pt/sociedade/ritmo-de-crescimento-dos-imigrantes-no-pas-recua-82

ECO — INE revela dificuldades na transmissão de dados da AIMA, 22 September 2026

https://eco.sapo.pt/2026/09/22/ine-revela-dificuldades-na-transmissao-de-dados-da-aima-em-maio-de-2026-ainda-estava-a-receber-informacao-de-2025/