A large part of the Portuguese population is concentrated along the coast. Porto and Lisbon sometimes achieve figures of 700 people per square kilometre in land occupation.
The population begins to thin out from west to east and from north to south, while the interior areas (Trás-os-Montes, Beiras, Alentejo and Serra Algarvia) register low rates of occupation. The Alentejo is an extreme example as its populated centres are very small and far away from each other.
Traditionally a country of emigration (about 5 million people of Portuguese origin live outside Portugal), Portugal has received many immigrants from Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe, Angola, Mozambique, Ukraine, Brazil and India in the last few decades.