According to data from the Regional Statistical Yearbooks, with statistical information on a regional and municipal scale for 2019, of the seven NUTS II (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistical Purposes), four showed an increase in the respective resident population, namely the Metropolitan Area of Lisbon (+0.59 percent), the Autonomous Region of Madeira (+0.12 percent), the North (+0.08 percent) and the Centre (+0.03 percent).
On the other hand, Alentejo (-0.13 percent), Algarve (-0.10 percent) and the Autonomous Region of the Azores (-0.02 percent) registered population decreases in 2019 compared to 2018.
On 31 December 2019, the resident population in Portugal was "estimated at 10,295,909 inhabitants, which represents an increase of 0.19 percent compared with the estimated figure for the previous year", INE indicated, revealing that this growth was due to "a positive variation in the migration component (+0.43 percent) - higher than the positive trend of the previous year (+0.11 percent) - mitigated by the decrease in the natural component (-0.25 percent)".
According to the 2019 Regional Statistical Yearbooks, the migration component in overall population growth was recorded in all NUTS II regions, with particular relevance for the Alentejo, Central and Lisbon Metropolitan Area regions, with figures above 0.50 percent.
The lowest, though positive, migration growth was recorded in the NUTS II regions of the Autonomous Region of the Azores (+0.04 percent) and the Algarve (+0.06 percent), according to INE data.
"In the natural component of population growth, the only region with a positive result was the Metropolitan Area of Lisbon (+0.05 percent)", pointed out the statistics institute, noting that the remaining NUTS II regions showed negative growth results, with the largest decreases being the Alentejo (-0.72 percent) and the Centre (-0.55 percent).