In 2023

Foreign resident population in the Autonomous Region of Madeira reached once again a record high

The foreign population residing in the Autonomous Region of Madeira (ARM) as of December 31, 2023, totalled 14,060 persons. This marked the highest number since 2008, which was the first year for which data was available. This figure represents a 19.2% increase compared to 2022, with an additional 2,267 persons.

The foreign population accounted for 5.5% of the total resident population in the Region in 2023, which amounted to 256,622 persons.

The nationals of Venezuela (15.5%), the United Kingdom (10.3%), Brazil (10.3%), Germany (10.0%) and Italy (5.2%) continued to be the main foreign communities residing in the region. Among these five nationalities, it is noteworthy that the Brazilian nationality saw the highest growth, with 370 more persons (a 34.3% increase) holding residence permits (from 1,080 in 2022 to 1,450 in 2023). Furthermore, persons of Brazilian nationality were the primary contributors to the increase in the foreign population in the region between 2022 and 2023, accounting for a 3.1 percentage point (pp) increase out of the aforementioned 19.2%. Following them were nationals from Germany, Russia, and the United States of America, contributing 2.6 pp, 1.7 pp, and 1.4 pp, respectively, to the same increase. Conversely, the number of Venezuelan nationals decreased by 6.1% between 2022 and 2023, from 2,323 to 2,182, respectively.

The majority of the foreign population is concentrated in Funchal (52.6% of the total in the region), followed by Santa Cruz (13.0%) and Calheta (9.4%). In terms of gender, there is a slight predominance of males (50.9%) over females (49.1%).

The municipalities with the highest proportion of foreign residents compared to their total population were Calheta (11.9%), Porto Santo (10.0%), Ponta do Sol (6.9%), and Funchal (6.9%).

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