Total population | |
---|---|
c. 42 million to 270 million | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Portugal 10,374,822 (2011 population of all residents of Portugal, regardless of ethnicity) | |
Brazil |
5,000,000 (eligible for Portuguese citizenship) 120,000,000 (Portuguese ancestry) |
United States | 1,471,549 (Portuguese ancestry) |
Venezuela | 1,300,000 (Portuguese ancestry) |
France | 1,243,419 (Portuguese ancestry) |
Canada | 429,850 (Portuguese ancestry) |
South Africa | 300,000 |
Angola | 300,000 |
Switzerland | 193,299 |
Germany | 170,000 |
Spain | 126,651 |
United Kingdom | 90,134 |
Luxembourg | 82,363 |
Guyana | 50,000 (Portuguese ancestry) |
Australia | 46,519 |
Mozambique | 40,413 |
Argentina | 40,100 |
Belgium | 38,000 |
Cape Verde (Portuguese ancestry) | 22,318 |
Colombia | 836 |
Trinidad and Tobago | 800 |
30,822 | |
Asia | 30,000 |
Rest of the Americas | 24,776 |
Rest of Africa | 8,965 |
Languages | |
Portuguese, Mirandese, Galician | |
Religion | |
Predominantly Christian-Roman Catholic | |
Related ethnic groups | |
5,000,000 (eligible for Portuguese citizenship)
Portuguese people (Portuguese: os Portugueses) are an ethnic group indigenous to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and their predominant religion is Christianity, mainly Roman Catholicism.
Due to the large historical extent of the Portuguese Empire and the colonization of territories in Asia, Africa and the Americas, as well as historical and recent emigration, Portuguese communities can be found in many diverse regions around the globe, and a large Portuguese diaspora exists.
Portuguese people were a key factor to the Age of Exploration, discovering several lands unknown to the Europeans in the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania, helping to pave the way for Globalization.
There are around 10 million native Portuguese in Portugal, out of a total population of 10.34 million (estimate).
A small minority of about 15,000 speak the Mirandese language, (part of the Asturian-Leonese linguistic group wich includes the Asturian and Leonese minority languages of Northwestern Spain ) in the municipalities of Miranda do Douro, Vimioso and Mogadouro. All of the speakers are bilingual with Portuguese.