Portugal 2016

19 ENQUADRAMENTO POPULACIONAL POPULATION FRAMEWORK The share of marriages between Portuguese and foreign citizens followed an upward trend up to 2008, when it reached its peak, and fluctuated from then onwards at a lower level, i.e. between 10.0% and 11.0% of total marriages. The number of births outside marriage increased, as did its importance in relation to total births. The rise in this ratio resulted from the combination of a decline in the total number of births and the already mentioned increase in births outside marriage: from 2000 to 2016 the decline in the former was approximately -27.4%, while the increase in the latter was 72.6%. As a consequence, the ratio rose from 22.2% in 2000 to 52.8% in 2016 (14.7% in 1990). Since 2009 the share of births outside marriage with cohabiting parents has followed an opposite trend to that of the share of births outside marriage. In fact, after stabilising at a high level, this ratio declined between 2002 and 2008, dropping to 67.7% in 2016.