Portugal

B

Political Divisions

Mainland Portugal is divided into 18 districts for administrative purposes: Aveiro, Beja, Braga, Bragança, Castelo Branco, Coimbra, Évora, Faro, Guarda, Leiria, Lisbon, Portalegre, Porto, Santarém, Setúbal, Viana do Castelo, Vila Real, and Viseu. The Azores and Madeira each constitute an autonomous region.

C

Principal Cities

Lisbon (population, 2003 estimate, 1,962,000) is the capital, largest city, and leading seaport of Portugal. Other important cities include Porto (263,131, 2001), the second-largest city and seaport; Coimbra (148,474, 2001), an industrial centre; and Vila Nova de Gaia (288,749, 2001).

D

Religion

Roman Catholicism is the faith of 97 per cent of the Portuguese people. The constitution guarantees freedom of religion, and some Protestant churches have been established.

E

Language

The official language is Portuguese, which is spoken by virtually the whole population. Five other languages are mother tongues for minorities, including Galician, Miranda Do Douro, and Caló, all of which are Romance languages like Portuguese.

F

Education

Education is free and compulsory between the ages of 6 and 15. Higher education is voluntary. In 1994 Portugal had about 13,260 primary schools annually attended by some 929,400 pupils and staffed by more than 71,400 teachers. The country’s 877 secondary schools have about 940,000 students. Adult literacy (2005) is 94 per cent. In 2002–2003, 5.9 per cent of the country’s gross national product (GNP) was spent on education.

Some 125,480 students attended Portugal’s institutions of higher education in the 1994-1995 academic year. The University of Coimbra (1290) and the University of Lisbon (1290) were both founded in the 13th century. Other university-level institutions include the University of Algarve (1979), the University of Aveiro (1973), the University of the Azores (1976), the University of Beira Interior (1973), the University of Evora (1559), the University of Porto (1911), the University of Minho (1973), and the University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (1973).