Terragrado momentum

The fastest-growing towns in Portugal

Which municipalities in Portugal are gaining residents and which are emptying — measured as compound annual population change from the official population register, not from listings or sentiment.

305 municipalities rated · median -0.20 %/yr · 43.9% declining

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Gaining residents fastest

#	Municipality	Province	Population	Change	Measured over	Grade
1	Albufeira	Faro	61,294	+4.00 %/yr Strongly rising	2013–2023	A
2	Portimão	Faro	75,320	+2.95 %/yr Strongly rising	2013–2023	B
3	Loulé	Faro	91,363	+2.74 %/yr Strongly rising	2013–2023	B
4	Vila do Bispo	Faro	6,826	+2.65 %/yr Strongly rising	2013–2023	B
5	Lagos	Faro	40,286	+2.61 %/yr Strongly rising	2013–2023	B
6	Aljezur	Faro	7,304	+2.56 %/yr Strongly rising	2013–2023	B
7	Tavira	Faro	32,825	+2.32 %/yr Strongly rising	2013–2023	B
8	Odivelas	Lisboa	180,033	+2.16 %/yr Strongly rising	2013–2023	B
9	Montijo	Setúbal	64,411	+2.14 %/yr Strongly rising	2013–2023	B
10	Silves	Faro	44,469	+2.00 %/yr Strongly rising	2013–2023	B
11	Lisboa	Lisboa	655,542	+1.92 %/yr Strongly rising	2013–2023	B
12	Faro	Faro	78,780	+1.83 %/yr Strongly rising	2013–2023	B
13	Mafra	Lisboa	93,994	+1.79 %/yr Strongly rising	2013–2023	A
14	Seixal	Setúbal	188,623	+1.66 %/yr Strongly rising	2013–2023	B
15	Vila Real de Santo António	Faro	22,115	+1.62 %/yr Strongly rising	2013–2023	B
16	Porto Santo	Madeira	6,345	+1.56 %/yr Strongly rising	2013–2023	A
17	Arruda dos Vinhos	Lisboa	15,714	+1.56 %/yr Strongly rising	2013–2023	B
18	Rio Maior	Santarém	24,464	+1.52 %/yr Strongly rising	2013–2023	B
19	Cascais	Lisboa	241,537	+1.50 %/yr Strongly rising	2013–2023	B
20	Sines	Setúbal	16,678	+1.49 %/yr Strongly rising	2013–2023	B
21	Sesimbra	Setúbal	58,124	+1.48 %/yr Strongly rising	2013–2023	B
22	Marinha Grande	Leiria	44,616	+1.47 %/yr Strongly rising	2013–2023	A
23	Ferreira do Alentejo	Beja	9,245	+1.42 %/yr Strongly rising	2013–2023	B
24	Sintra	Lisboa	432,915	+1.38 %/yr Strongly rising	2013–2023	B
25	Óbidos	Leiria	13,456	+1.37 %/yr Strongly rising	2013–2023	A

Emptying fastest

#	Municipality	Province	Population	Change	Measured over	Grade
1	Sabugal	Guarda	9,482	-2.53 %/yr Strongly declining	2013–2023	D
2	Pampilhosa da Serra	Coimbra	3,326	-2.48 %/yr Strongly declining	2013–2023	D
3	Tabuaço	Viseu	4,570	-2.42 %/yr Strongly declining	2013–2023	D
4	Almeida	Guarda	5,639	-2.04 %/yr Strongly declining	2013–2023	D
5	Barrancos	Beja	1,429	-2.01 %/yr Strongly declining	2013–2023	D
6	Freixo de Espada À Cinta	Bragança	3,039	-1.91 %/yr Strongly declining	2013–2023	D
7	Melgaço	Viana do Castelo	7,197	-1.91 %/yr Strongly declining	2013–2023	C
8	Penamacor	Castelo Branco	4,340	-1.87 %/yr Strongly declining	2013–2023	D
9	Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo	Guarda	4,968	-1.86 %/yr Strongly declining	2013–2023	D
10	Mesão Frio	Vila Real	3,456	-1.85 %/yr Strongly declining	2013–2023	C
11	Gavião	Portalegre	3,303	-1.77 %/yr Strongly declining	2013–2023	D
12	Oleiros	Castelo Branco	4,468	-1.74 %/yr Strongly declining	2013–2023	D
13	Aguiar da Beira	Guarda	4,813	-1.73 %/yr Strongly declining	2013–2023	D
14	Fornos de Algodres	Guarda	4,162	-1.72 %/yr Strongly declining	2013–2023	D
15	Vila Nova de Foz Côa	Guarda	5,837	-1.72 %/yr Strongly declining	2013–2023	D
16	Torre de Moncorvo	Bragança	6,573	-1.69 %/yr Strongly declining	2013–2023	D
17	Vimioso	Bragança	3,782	-1.69 %/yr Strongly declining	2013–2023	D
18	Nisa	Portalegre	5,924	-1.68 %/yr Strongly declining	2013–2023	D
19	Celorico de Basto	Braga	16,254	-1.66 %/yr Strongly declining	2013–2023	C
20	Penedono	Viseu	2,472	-1.58 %/yr Strongly declining	2013–2023	D
21	Trancoso	Guarda	8,029	-1.55 %/yr Strongly declining	2013–2023	D
22	Vila Nova de Paiva	Viseu	4,305	-1.53 %/yr Strongly declining	2013–2023	D
23	Mora	Évora	4,120	-1.50 %/yr Strongly declining	2013–2023	D
24	Vinhais	Bragança	7,335	-1.47 %/yr Strongly declining	2013–2023	D
25	Miranda do douro	Bragança	6,158	-1.43 %/yr Strongly declining	2013–2023	D

Every figure on this page is measured over 2013–2023, the window this country’s statistics office publishes. Computed from the two published figures at each end of the window — the statistics office publishes no annual series here, so nothing is known about the years in between.

What this number is

Compound annual change in registered residents: the rate that, compounded over the window, gets from the first figure to the last. Annualised on purpose — the four statistics offices publish windows of 10, 5, 6 and 10 years under one label, so comparing their raw percentages would rank countries by how wide a window each happens to publish.

Unlike the A→G grades, this is an absolute rate, not a ranking. Two towns with the same %/yr have the same number wherever they are — within a country. Across countries the windows differ, which is why there is a page per country and no combined league table.

It measures the register, not the people. A purge of non-renewing foreign residents, a change in how registration is enforced, or students registered at their parents’ address all move it without anyone moving house.

Population momentum is not part of any grade shown on this page. The grade column is Terragrado’s usual A→G composite, shown so you can see whether a growing town is also a good one — they are frequently not the same towns.

What this page is holding back

One rated municipality is under 1,000 inhabitants and is not ranked here. Below that size a single housing development, or one purge of the register, dominates the rate. Ungated, this list would open with Corvo — 416 inhabitants, +0.22 %/yr.
2 move faster than ±5 %/yr and are held back. At that scale a municipal boundary change — a merger, or a village splitting off — is a likelier explanation than migration. We hold no per-year boundary vintages, so we cannot tell the two apart, and we would rather leave a row out than headline a redrawn boundary as an exodus.

Both are ranking thresholds, not data limits. Every one of these municipalities still carries its own momentum figure on its own page.

The same ranking elsewhere

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