Lisbon Portugal Demographics
Lisbon is the capital and the largest city in Portugal with a population of almost 550,000 people and covering an area of approximately 33 square kilometers. Lisbon's metropolitan area with a population of just over 3 million people covers around 960 square kilometers. This area is home to around 27 percent of the country's population. The city is the center of tourism, international trade, business, and education in Portugal. Being a center for these activities, as well as a very populous city, Lisbon has had its own share of challenges in planning. Local authorities have had to rethink the education system, transport systems, housing schemes, and manage the huge population.
The main purpose of this essay is to look at the city's demographics, transport system, housing, and education. It will consider the city’s past situations and conditions, its current states, plans, and any probable recommendations.
General Population Demographics
At 2011, Lisbon, the largest urban area in Portugal had a total population of 2.82 million in the metropolitan area. The sub-regions amounted up to 2 million, whereas the core municipal region had 545,245 inhabitants. This figure represents 27% of the population in the country, placing Lisbon as the ninth in the list of popular European Union urban areas. Since 1999, the population in Lisbon has been on a declining trend. While planning for Lisbon services, this decline should be in mind. Having recognized this trend, the likely future patterns can be drawn, and accountability achieved easily (Daggett, 2006).
Some of the problems in Lisbon, with regard to population, are the high unemployment cases, the young population, the poor urban planning in force and the problems existing due to land ownership. These have the effect of lowering the population growth rate and can be solved by the relevant service providers stepping in.
Social change has had the effect of declining the population of Lisbon in the subsequent census conducted. Presently, the population is on the decline and the trend will continue unless measures are put in place to encourage the increase in population. In the future, the position is not clear. The reasoning here is that this will depend on how the problems identified will have been solved. For instance, a reduction in these problems will reflect in the growth of the population. When the problems are not solved and remain on the rise, then the population will decline largely.
For the case of population, the government is a change agent. This is because the government is looked upon to solve most of the problems identified as affecting the population. Organizations in different sectors such as health and education amongst others in Portugal are at stake as well, since they also depend on the population issue.
Education
In Portugal, there is free school education that all students are expected to attend until they complete their 12th grade, mostly at the age of 18years. The literacy rate for males is 97% whereas that for females is 94% and the average rate for all is 95.4%. In reading literacy, mathematics and science knowledge, Portugal is ranked at the same level as the USA, the UK, and Germany amongst others (Hingel, & European Commission, 2008).
In the past, education in Portugal was underdeveloped but presently, since 2000, modernization has occurred, and Portugal has, in turn, reached the position of the most developed countries in the world area. For the future, if these trends remain and improve, Portugal might be the leading country in education. Education in Portugal has, therefore, improved over time. This presents the country with the possibility of an improved economy.
With regard to statistics, 67% of the Portuguese working population acquired basic education, whilst 81% achieved the lower basic education and 12% acquired education up to the intermediate level. These statistics present an overview of the education standard of citizens in Portugal (Hingel, & European Commission, 2008).
The costs of education in Portugal were put upon the National Education Budget set up in 2006. The education sector in Portugal is not without problems. Despite the education is free, there are those that drop out, for reasons other than financing. There are instances of teachers improving their qualifications, thus, reducing the number of teachers among other problems. To ensure that the number of teachers does not reduce too much, more people should be encouraged to join the profession. In turn, those leaving the profession will have an immediate replacement and consequently, the continuity of education will be ensured.
The Ministry of Education and Science is the organ of the state, tasked to regulate and change the education system in Portugal. The Ministry sends their agents who then move down to the learning institutions, which include teachers, lecturers, and tutors, as well. It is for them to ensure that Portugal’s respective educational institutions and schools, the highest available level of education are offered. Through this, education in Portugal is constantly improving
Transport
In Lisbon, transport is very reliable compared to other major urban areas in Portugal. The city is connected using four types of public transport systems. These are buses, the Lisbon Metro, rail, and water transport. The upper and south districts of the city are interconnected with the suburbs using the Lisbon Metro.
Buses, trams, and funiculars form a part of traditional bus transport in Lisbon. Trams are networked in such a way that they have routes covering all parts of the city. This was the reason why Lisbon is being branded as the city of Trams; one will see a tram in every part of the city. This situation made buses inefficient, but a major makeover conducted between the years 2005 and 2008 ensured that the buses’ position stabilized. Now they are covering the entire city along with some suburbs (Tripadvisor.com, 2014).
The Lisbon Metro started its work in the year 1959. This is the quickest transport in Lisbon. Over the last decade, the efficiency of the Lisbon Metro has been improved almost two times. It now covers the entire city. Many train stations, existing in the city have made the rail transport efficient. The train is the main means of public transport from the city to the suburbs since trams and the Lisbon Metro barely cover suburbs.
Water transport is another means of transport used in Lisbon, although it is not popular. Transport in the city is generally cheap, more so when using the Metro. A full-day pass costs 4.6 Euros, allowing a person a full day pass into the Metro and access to Trams. For drivers, gasoline taxes are levied to maintain the transport system.
Air transport is mainly used for traveling out of the city, being served by the Portela Airport. This airport is a hub to eight airlines. In the year 2013, it served over 16 million passengers. However, the Airport is usually congested and there are plans to construct a new Airport, which will be referred to as the New Lisbon Airport.
Housing
Houses in Lisbon were built from as early as the year 711. Most of the housing units in the city are very old. Some of them have been remodeled while others have had their purposes changed. Private and government developers have also constructed several new houses. One of the biggest housing catastrophes in Lisbon was in the year 1755 when more than 85 percent of the houses were destroyed by the devastating earthquake.
Initially, housing in Lisbon was a major concern for the poor. Most of them ended up getting very low-quality apartments or overcrowding in the limited ones that were available. Illegal constructions also increased since the city lacked an elaborate housing policy. With the overcrowding and illegal constructions, the life quality of most people living in Lisbon was at a risk. The government had to conduct an analysis of housing to determine the state on the ground. Then they collaborated with private developers who were responsible for transforming the city's housing. One of the most famous housing projects was the ‘housing machines' where more than 10,000 and 16,000 housing facilities were constructed in Olivais and Chelas respectively (Colvin, 2008).
Since it is becoming hard for the government to ensure quality housing to all city residents, they are opting to facilitate the development of the transport sector. That is why they are improving the coverage of Metro, buses and train transport to the suburbs. If the transport systems are improved, people can live outside the city center.
Conclusion
Lisbon, being the largest city in Portugal, has a number of important indicators that contribute to the viability of the city. Through these indicators discussed under Lisbon, the past, present and future position of the city is identified, and the relevant solutions are identified in the case of problems. The mandatory indicator was population, and this encompasses the population size, the problems, and their subsequent solutions. Education is considered as the factor in improving the levels of literacy in the city. Its ranking is considered, and the likely future depicted. Housing is not left out, as living conditions are important for all the citizens. In 1755, the devastating earthquake demolished 85% of the houses in Lisbon. The other indicator is transportation, which, as well, is vital to the city. The indicators, therefore, interrelate and should be considered holistically. This way the Lisbon city is improved at large.
