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Portugal Society
Population: Estimated at 10.5 million in 1992;
growth
rate of 0.4 percent in 1992.
Education and Literacy: Primary education (age
six to
twelve) and junior high school (age thirteen to fifteen)
free and
compulsory, but because many children began working at
early age,
primary education was all education many children
received.
Senior high school (age sixteen to seventeen) had academic
and
vocational components. Twelfth grade (age eighteen)
prepared
youths for university and technical college. Estimated
literacy
rate for those over age fifteen in 1990 85 percent.
Health: Uneven provision of health care; health
care
available ranged from high quality to that prevalent in
the Third
World. Many Portuguese, especially those living in rural
areas,
not able to enjoy liberal health benefits provided for in
legislation. Infant mortality rate greatly improved in
last few
decades to estimated rate of 10 per 1,000 in 1992. Life
expectancy seventy-one years for males and seventy-eight
for
females in 1992.
Language: Portuguese
Ethnic Groups: Homogeneous Mediterranean stock
on
mainland, Azores, and Madeira Islands. Less than 100,000
citizens
of black African descent, who immigrated in 1970s to
Portugal
from its former colonies in Africa; small number of
Gypsies;
small Jewish community.
Religion: 97 percent nominally Roman Catholic;
Protestant denominations 1 percent; others 2 percent.
Data as of January 1993
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