Geography
People
Communications
Transportation

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Geography

Location: Southwestern Europe, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, west of Spain

Geographic coordinates: 39 30 N, 8 00 W

Map references: Europe

Area:
total: 92,391 sq km
land: 91,951 sq km
water: 440 sq km
note: includes Azores and Madeira Islands

Area - comparative: slightly smaller than Indiana

Land boundaries:
total: 1,214 km
border countries: Spain 1,214 km

Coastline: 1,793 km

Maritime claims:
continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
territorial sea: 12 nm

Climate: maritime temperate; cool and rainy in north, warmer and drier in south

Terrain: mountainous north of the Tagus River, rolling plains in south

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point: Ponta do Pico (Pico or Pico Alto) on Ilha do Pico in the Azores 2,351 m

Natural resources: fish, forests (cork), tungsten, iron ore, uranium ore, marble, arable land, hydro power

Land use:
arable land: 26%
permanent crops: 9%
permanent pastures: 9%
forests and woodland: 36%
other: 20% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 6,300 sq km (1993 est.)

Natural hazards: Azores subject to severe earthquakes

Environment - current issues: soil erosion; air pollution caused by industrial and vehicle emissions; water pollution, especially in coastal areas

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Air Pollution, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Environmental Modification, Nuclear Test Ban

Geography - note: Azores and Madeira Islands occupy strategic locations along western sea approaches to Strait of Gibraltar

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People

Population: 10,048,232 (July 2000 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 17% (male 880,501; female 834,062)
15-64 years: 68% (male 3,319,143; female 3,468,009)
65 years and over: 15% (male 628,101; female 918,416) (2000 est.)

Population growth rate: 0.18% (2000 est.)

Birth rate: 11.49 births/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Death rate: 10.2 deaths/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Net migration rate: 0.5 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.96 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.68 male(s)/female
total population: 0.92 male(s)/female (2000 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 6.05 deaths/1,000 live births (2000 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 75.75 years
male: 72.24 years
female: 79.49 years (2000 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.47 children born/woman (2000 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Portuguese (singular and plural)
adjective: Portuguese

Ethnic groups: homogeneous Mediterranean stock; citizens of black African descent who immigrated to mainland during decolonization number less than 100,000

Religions: Roman Catholic 94%, Protestant (1995)

Languages: Portuguese

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 87.4%
male: NA%
female: NA%

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Communications

Telephones - main lines in use: 3.724 million (1996)

Telephones - mobile cellular: 887,216 (1999)

Telephone system:
domestic: generally adequate integrated network of coaxial cables, open wire, microwave radio relay, and domestic satellite earth stations
international: 6 submarine cables; satellite earth stations - 3 Intelsat (2 Atlantic Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean), NA Eutelsat; tropospheric scatter to Azores; note - an earth station for Inmarsat (Atlantic Ocean region) is planned

Radio broadcast stations: AM 47, FM 172 (many are repeaters), shortwave 2 (1998)

Radios: 3.02 million (1997)

Television broadcast stations: 36 (plus 62 repeaters) (1997)

Televisions: 3.31 million (1997)

Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 20 (1999)

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Transportation

Railways:
total: 2,850 km
broad gauge: 2,576 km 1.668-m gauge (623 km electrified; 426 km double track)
narrow gauge: 274 km 1.000-m gauge (1998)

Highways:
total: 68,732 km
paved: 59,110 km (including 797 km of expressways)
unpaved: 9,622 km (1999 est.)

Waterways: 820 km navigable; relatively unimportant to national economy, used by shallow-draft craft limited to 300 metric-ton or less cargo capacity

Pipelines: crude oil 22 km; petroleum products 58 km; natural gas 700 km
note: the secondary lines for the natural gas pipeline that will be 300 km long have not yet been built

Ports and harbors: Aveiro, Funchal (Madeira Islands), Horta (Azores), Leixoes, Lisbon, Porto, Ponta Delgada (Azores), Praia da Vitoria (Azores), Setubal, Viana do Castelo

Merchant marine:
total: 151 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 1,061,202 GRT/1,601,267 DWT
ships by type: bulk 13, cargo 80, chemical tanker 14, container 8, liquified gas 8, multi-functional large load carrier 1, petroleum tanker 10, refrigerated cargo 1, roll-on/roll-off 6, short-sea passenger 5, vehicle carrier 5 (1999 est.)
note: Portugal has created a captive register on Madeira for Portuguese-owned ships; ships on the Madeira Register (MAR) will have taxation and crewing benefits of a flag of convenience (1998 est.)

Airports: 66 (1999 est.)

Airports - with paved runways:
total: 40
over 3,047 m: 5
2,438 to 3,047 m: 8
1,524 to 2,437 m: 4
914 to 1,523 m: 18
under 914 m: 5 (1999 est.)

Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 26
914 to 1,523 m: 1
under 914 m: 25 (1999 est.)