One in four Lisbon residents is a foreign national

A quarter of Lisbon’s residents hold a foreign passport. It’s Tuesday, 20 October. Twenty-three degrees. Air quality: 18 (Good). Here’s what you need to know.

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ONE IN FOUR LISBON RESIDENTS IS A FOREIGN NATIONAL

In 101 of Portugal’s 308 municipalities, almost one in three, at least 10% of residents now hold foreign nationality. That’s according to figures from INE, the national statistics institute, analysed by the newspaper Jornal de Notícias. Nationally, Portugal had around 1.6 million foreign residents at the end of 2025, about 14% of the population.

Lisbon is well above that average, with 25.64% of residents holding foreign nationality, roughly one in four. In Porto, it’s more than 22%.

The highest shares are in the south. Odemira, in the Alentejo, is now the only municipality where foreign nationals are in the majority, at 52.06%. Several Algarve municipalities follow: Vila do Bispo at 41.73%, Aljezur at 40.50%, Albufeira at 38.79% and Lagos at 35.92%, with Loulé and Tavira both just over 30%.

Some inland areas have high shares too. Foreign nationals make up 20.8% of residents in Pedrógão Grande, in the Leiria district, and more than 13% in Oliveira de Frades, Idanha-a-Nova and Vila Velha de Ródão. The lowest shares are in the north, with 1.31% in Resende, in the Viseu district, and 1.38% in Vinhais.

What this means in practice: depending on where you live, foreign residents are either a big part of the local community or barely present. In Lisbon, roughly one in four of your neighbours holds a foreign passport; in much of the Algarve, it’s one in three or more. Councils, schools and health centres plan around who lives in their area, and figures like these also feed into the national debate on immigration, which has brought tighter rules on residence and citizenship this year. The numbers count nationality, not place of birth, so foreign-born residents who have become Portuguese citizens aren’t included.

Bottom line: Portugal’s foreign population is spread very unevenly, from a majority in Odemira and a quarter of Lisbon to barely one in a hundred in parts of the north.

⚡ QUICK HITS

The health service’s computer systems crashed for much of Monday, the second big outage since June. From about 10am, doctors at health centres and hospitals around the country couldn’t issue electronic prescriptions or see patients’ records, and some people were unable to go ahead with appointments or vaccinations. Pharmacies were hit too, although repeat prescriptions for long-term medication were protected. SPMS, the health ministry’s IT agency, blamed a power cut at its northern data centre, and said almost all services were back by 3pm. It says the cause was different from the 12 June outage, and that a new backup system, funded by the EU recovery plan, will be in place by the end of the year so the main systems can keep running if one site fails. The doctors’ federation FNAM called the outage proof of the health ministry’s “lack of competence”.

The housing camp in Rossio is still going, despite a police warning, and the Socialists have put forward their own housing plan. Around a hundred tents were still up yesterday, the camp’s third day. In the early hours of Monday, the PSP, the national police, told organisers the tents will have to go, although it set no date and said it wants to avoid using force. Protesters were due to decide at an assembly last night whether to stay. Meanwhile, Socialist Party (PS) leader José Luís Carneiro has proposed a three-year emergency scheme: no capital gains tax when people sell an existing home for up to €300,000 to someone buying it to live in, reduced tax on sales up to €500,000, and no stamp duty on those purchases or their mortgages. He also wants optional five-year leases, with rental income taxed at just 5% and a state guarantee for landlords if tenants don’t pay. It follows Chega’s emergency housing package at the weekend.

Hundreds of bottles returned through the Volta deposit scheme have been found dumped in woodland in Odivelas, and restaurants say the scheme isn’t working for them. The bags of crushed bottles and cans had already gone through Volta’s collection machines and were meant to end up at sorting centres. SDR Portugal, which runs the scheme, called it “absolutely unacceptable” and is investigating possible fraud. Dumping waste in woodland can bring fines of up to €37,500 for individuals and €2.5 million for companies. Separately, AHRESP, the hotel and restaurant association, says there are too few collection points that take large quantities, so many cafés end up feeding bottles into supermarket machines one by one. Free collection from their premises requires at least four 240-litre bags, which small cafés struggle to store, and there’s app registration and paperwork on top. Their deposits are also tied up until the empties go back. SDR Portugal says improvements are needed.

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🍽️ SPOT OF THE DAY

CROQUETERIA (CAMPO DE OURIQUE)

Croqueteria began in 2012 as a neighbourhood kitchen project in Alvalade, born of a conversation between friends. In 2014, it won a Time Out competition for a counter at the Time Out Market, later opened a shop back in Alvalade, and this month arrived on Rua Saraiva de Carvalho in Campo de Ourique. The croquettes are baked in the oven rather than fried. The best-seller is the traditional croquette, made to a family recipe with a kick of mustard, but the kitchen goes further than most: it shreds partridge by hand and makes its own cozido, the classic Portuguese meat and vegetable stew, just to turn it into croquettes. Other flavours include alheira sausage, cuttlefish, goat’s cheese, pata negra ham and a vegetarian chickpea and peanut curry.

Every croquette costs €2.05, and a draught beer is €2, which makes it an easy stop for a quick lunch, or a couple of croquettes and a beer on the way home. There are also sourdough sandwiches made with The Millstone bakery, bite-sized “croquette popcorn” and the brand’s own house wine, and most people spend €10 to €20 a head.

Worth knowing before you go: there are 24 seats inside and 12 on the terrace, plus a takeaway window onto the street. Downstairs, there’s a small games room with board games and a TV for watching sport, which you can book for a match. It’s open every day from 10am to 10pm.

→ Find them here ←

Insider tip: if you’re hosting, Croqueteria also sells its croquettes frozen through its website, with delivery within Lisbon, ready to go straight into your oven.

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