Country · Europe
Portugal
Portuguese Republic
Portugal is a country in Southern Europe. Its capital city is Lisbon. About 10.3 million people live there, in an area of 92 090 square kilometres.
Picture credit: Diego Delso (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Diego Delso (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Diego Delso (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Jakub Hałun (CC BY 4.0) · Jakub Hałun (CC BY 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Portugal?
Portugal lies in Southern Europe, on the continent of Europe.
It sits in the northern half of the world, roughly 4 397 km from the equator.
Its coastline is about 1 793 km long.
It shares a border with 1 country: Spain.
How big is Portugal?
Portugal covers 92 090 square kilometres.
That is about 2.2 times the size of Switzerland.
Among the world's countries that makes it the 109th largest.
If everybody spread out evenly, there would be about 111.7 people on every square kilometre.
Who lives in Portugal?
About 10.3 million people live in Portugal.
That is the 87th biggest population in the world.
People here speak Portuguese.
They pay with the Euro (€).
On average, people born here can expect to live about 76 years.
The land of Portugal
The land in Portugal sits on average 372 metres above sea level.
Its coast runs for about 1 793 km. Walking it end to end, at twenty kilometres a day, would take roughly 90 days.
It lies between the tropics and the poles, which is the single biggest reason its weather is the way it is.
What makes Portugal different?
A dish the country is known for: Bacalhau.
Websites from here often end in .pt.
Portugal and the rest of the world
Out of every thousand people alive on Earth, about 1 live in Portugal.
It takes up about 0.07 % of all the land that countries stand on.
Within Europe it is the 18th largest of 45 countries, and the 14th most populated.
That is busier than the world average of roughly 60 people per square kilometre.
Portugal and its neighbours
Spain, its largest neighbour, is about 5.5 times bigger.
Spain has more people: 46.8 million against 10.3 million.
Nature and animals
Of the animals on this site, 2 live wild in Portugal: European rabbit and Sperm whale.
Photographs from Wikimedia Commons under free licences — every credit is on the page itself and in the picture credits.
Questions children ask
What is the capital of Portugal?
The capital of Portugal is Lisbon. It is the city where the country's government works from.
How many people live in Portugal?
About 10.3 million people live in Portugal, which makes it the 87th most populated country in the world. (Source: World Bank, 2018.)
Which countries border Portugal?
Portugal borders Spain — 1 neighbour in total.
How big is Portugal?
Portugal covers 92 090 square kilometres, making it the 109th largest country in the world. That is about 2.2 times the size of Switzerland.
Which continent is Portugal in?
Portugal is in Europe, in the part called Southern Europe.
Where these numbers come from
Borders and outlines: Natural Earth. Names, capitals, areas, languages and currencies: ISO 3166 data (world-countries). Population: World Bank, 2018. Every derived figure on this page (ranks, density, distance from the equator) is calculated from those values.
Last checked: · How these pages are made