Angelina and I are preparing to move to Portugal to assist in church planting and one of the tasks we are pursuing is gaining Angelina’s portuguese citizenship for which she is eligible through her Portuguese mother. The slide in Portuguese population isn’t a new problem, it’s been slowly eroding as people left and never returned. A new report in The News, an English-speaking Portuguese newspaper states that the Portuguese population is shrinking at an almost unsustainable rate and by the year 2050 will have lost 1/4 of its population. If true, this is a devastating prognosis for the country and the government. In our travels throughout Portugal we have seen the effects of this in large unemployment and a lack of industry or innovation. Whatever the cause, the country and government now faces the tough question of its solvency in the face of a shrinking population. Portugal is not alone, many countries in Europe face similar bleak futures unless birth-rates and immigration increase quickly.

The Guardian wrote this in August 2008:

Europe from space ... a satellite image shows the population hotspots. The EU is currently home to 495 million people.
Photograph: Nasa/Corbis

“From 2015 onwards deaths would outnumber births, and population growth due to natural increase, would cease," says the survey, assuming a net migration inflow to the EU of almost 60 million over the next 50 years. "Positive net migration would be the only population growth factor. However, from 2035 this positive net migration would no longer counterbalance the negative natural change."

Portugal needs people almost as bad as it needs Jesus. If the population ever returns to a sustainable level the question must be asked, what kind of population should return? This is why we’re planting churches because our hope for the people of Portugal is the same hope that we have for ourselves, to know Jesus and be conformed to his image. Plus, we’re hopeful that there’s at least a few people around by the time we get there...

Tags: Portugal