Lisbon, March 10, 2026 (Lusa) - Immigrants in Portugal account for 14% of total social security contributions, with more than €4.15 billion in 2025, according to a report released by the Migration Observatory (OM) on Tuesday.
‘The biggest surprise is that this increase has not been achieved over ten years, but mainly in recent years,’ thanks to pressure from ‘regularisation mechanisms, which were dependent on social security contributions,’ Pedro Góis, scientific director of the OM, told Lusa.
Since 2022, contributions have more than doubled to €4.15 billion, well above the €481 million recorded in 2015, the year in which Social Security began separating foreign citizens from nationals in its databases.
The results of the report, entitled ‘Financial contribution of foreign nationals to the current financial balance of Portuguese Social Security: administrative evidence for the period 2015-2025’, show significant growth in the annual contribution universe (from 204,150 to 1,115,541 contributors), which represented, 14% of the total contributions paid into the system last year.
In 2025, Social Security benefits paid to foreigners ‘totalled €822.02 million, corresponding to a net positive balance of approximately €3,326.94 million,’ according to the report, which highlights the ‘particularly significant expansion’ of the figures.
Between 2015 and 2025, the number of foreigners in the system increased by 447%, but contributions rose by 763%, ‘evidencing not only a demographic scale effect, but also a reinforcement of the average contribution intensity,’ the report states.
According to Pedro Góis, ‘the discounts are in line’ with the Portuguese labour market, although the OM does not yet have the ‘average discounts per individual’, which would allow for a more detailed reading.
‘We may have many individuals paying minimum contributions and few paying in line with the median Portuguese salary,’ he explained, pointing out that this data also does not allow us to assess whether the volume of contributions will remain the same in the future, taking into account variables such as unemployment or emigration.
One of the arguments used to justify the entry of immigrants has been their contribution to ‘the future sustainability of social security’, but Pedro Góis points out that this is a structural problem.
‘This interpretation seems a little exaggerated to us, because immigrants are paying what they should pay into a system such as the Portuguese system’ and ‘they are paying so that they can later enjoy benefits, especially in terms of retirement pensions or some kind of extraordinary subsidies, if they need them’.
Furthermore, ‘we do not know if this sustainability is permanent,’ because these contributions ‘strengthen the system, but in the future, spending on this population is likely to increase,’ added Pedro Góis, although he pointed out that most new contributors are between 20 and 39 years old, postponing this risk until much later.
PJA/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
