This is a list of cities in Portugal. In Portugal, a city (Portuguese: cidade) is an honorific term given to localities that meet several criteria, such as having a minimum number of inhabitants, good infrastructure (schools, medical care, cultural and sports facilities), or major historical importance. The country's demographic expansion in the aftermath of the Carnation Revolution, which brought an end to the Portuguese Colonial War and the arrival of over 500,000 retornados[pt] from Portugal's former colonies in Africa,[1]:258–259 prompted the elevation of several towns to city status. As of 2023,[update] 159 localities in Portugal are considered a city.
In Portugal, the city is not an administrative division, therefore a city generally does not necessarily correspond to a municipality, which is the second-level local government in the country. Some entirely urban municipalities do coincide with cities, such as Lisbon, Porto, Funchal, Amadora, Entroncamento, and São João da Madeira. Conversely, a municipality can contain multiple cities; the municipality of Paredes contains four cities, the most of any municipality in the country.
Until 1910, a locality was proclaimed a city by royal charter (carta régia), which happened 25 times to current Portuguese cities (royal charters were also granted to cities of the Portuguese Empire; for example, São Paulo in 1711). During the Portuguese First Republic, the process was transferred to the parliament, which elevated three towns to the category of city. The dictatorial Estado Novo regime proclaimed seven cities on the Portuguese mainland (as well as some more in the colonies), this time by government decree. After the 1974 Carnation Revolution, proclamation of cities returned to parliament, and 159 localities in the country are considered a city as of 2023[update].[2]
In Portugal, a locality can only be called a city if more than 8,000 inhabitants live in the city's urban area. In addition, at least half of the following infrastructure must be present:[4]
Hospital
Pharmacy
Fire department
Event center and cultural center
Museum and library
Hotel
Primary and secondary school
Pre-school and kindergarten
Public transportation
Garden or public park
Cities being towns
In Portugal there are localities with more than 8,000 inhabitants and with the required infrastructure installed, but not having the designation of "city", but rather as "town", for example:
Just as there are "cities" being "towns", there are also "towns" being "cities", because they have the required infrastructure in place, but have no more than 8,000 inhabitants or because since the locality received the designation "city" it has lost over the years the 8,000 inhabitants, for example:
Portugal's two metropolitan areas, Lisbon with over 2.8 million inhabitants and Porto with over 1.7 million inhabitants, are the largest agglomerations in the country. In the two metropolitan areas, in addition to the large cities of Lisbon and Porto, there are other cities that together form the metropolitan area.
There are also large cities in Portugal that do not belong to any metropolitan area. These cities are mostly capitals of sub-regions that are not considered metropolitan areas because the population is mainly located in the capital of the sub-region.
The city of Braga is the capital of the sub-region of Cávado.
The city of Funchal is the capital of the autonomous region of Madeira.
The following list shows the number of inhabitants and the population density of each respective city. Only the inhabitants living in the urban area are counted, not the inhabitants living in the entire municipality.
In the case of large cities like Vila Nova de Gaia, Braga, Coimbra and Setubal, the inhabitants of the entire municipality are not listed, because the municipality does not only include the city, but also other towns and villages around the city, which nevertheless belong to the municipality, but form a separate parish and therefore do not belong to the respective city.
In the case of large cities like Lisbon, Porto, Amadora and Funchal, the inhabitants of the entire municipality are listed because the city spreads over the entire municipality and the respective parishes within the municipality are seen as "neighborhoods".
Cities with an italic font are capitals of subregions, cities with a bold font are capitals of regions.[5]
↑ Lubkemann, Stephen C. (2005). "Unsettling the Metropole: Race and Settler Reincorporation in Postcolonial Portugal". In Elkins, Caroline; Pedersen, Susan (eds.). Settler Colonialism in the Twentieth Century: Projects, Practices, Legacies. Routledge. pp.257–270. ISBN978-0-203-62104-2.
1 2 "Cidades Portuguesas (2002)"[Portuguese Cities (2002)]. INFOLINE (in European Portuguese). Instituto Nacional de Estatística. 2003. Archived from the original on 2007-05-23.
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