A demografia na construção de uma visão temporal e territorial de Portugal

Abstract

Population growth is a central issue when dealing with the challenges of development. Demographic issues are today frequently associated to the social and economic crisis of European countries. However, as Julio Pérez Díaz (2011) argues, it seems premature to talk of a demographic crisis and an endangered country. It is not a crisis, because crises are usually contingent and cyclical. It is rather a structural issue. It seems also that we are not dealing with an endangered country either. At the beginning of the 20th century, the population in Portugal stood at about 5 million, whereas in 2011, it was over 10 million. This paper intends to deconstruct simplistic and generalist views of population growth and to draw attention to the territorial dimension.