According to the recently published European Social Survey (ESS), Portugal is one of the countries in which respondents report greater openness to immigrants and which - along with the United Kingdom, Spain and Norway - has seen this trend increase since the year 2000.

Additionally, the perception of immigration as a “threat” from an economic point of view has decreased among the Portuguese. In 2002 the majority classified the “threat” as a level above 6 on a scale of 1 to 10, and now the same figure barely exceeds level 4, falling slightly below the average of the countries studied. 

With regard to immigrants being perceived as a “cultural threat”, Portugal also scores roughly the study average: while in 2002 the relevant score was at level 6, it has now fallen to below level 5. 

This most recent round of the ESS survey saw a total of 1 838 participants from Portugal, and an overall total of 59 685 participants across Europe. Previous rounds of the ESS examined different trends in racism in Portugal.