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Synthetic population · v1.0.3 · 2021 Census

The 3,092 parishes of the 2021 Census, one by one

People and households generated by a model, parish by parish, from each place’s 2021 Census tables: ages, work, education and families. Pick a parish to see what the generated population says about it.To the best of our knowledge, the first open-access synthetic population to cover every parish in Portugal, generated from the 2021 Census.How to read a synthetic populationAn imagined neighbourhood of 100 invented people shows how a synthetic population is read and how it is built.

Your location is used only on your device, to find the nearest parish.

What this release contains

one model run, no marginGenerated people and households, not real people, families, or addresses.

People generated
10,340,441
Generated from the 2021 Census
Households generated
4,154,571
Generated; each collective quarter counts as one
Parishes
3,092
In 308 municipalities, with the 2021 boundaries (CAOP). Each with its own figures.

The total of generated people is not the resident count INE published: in some parishes the two differ. By how much

Three quality tiers

Each parish has a quality tier, which combines the fit to INE’s tables and the number of residents. The tier hides nothing: it says how carefully to read the numbers.

  • Tier A776 parishes

    A parish of 2,000 or more residents where the generated population closely reproduces the tables INE publishes.

  • Tier B705 parishes

    A parish of 500 or more residents with a close fit to INE’s tables. Under 2,000 residents a parish sits in B even when its fit is as close as tier A’s.

  • Tier C1,611 parishes

    A parish of under 500 residents, or one whose typical error or worst table (in the larger ones, almost always single-year age, which the site’s answers do not use) is past the tier B thresholds: read the numbers with more care.

The parish map

Zoom into a district, then a municipality, and pick a parish. A parish’s fill is only its quality tier (A plain, B hatched, C cross-hatched), which combines the fit to INE’s tables and the number of residents; it is not a figure from the generated population.

Skip the map and view it as a list
Drawing the map…

Parish map

Portugal

Choose a district or an autonomous region.

Parishes take the fill of their quality tier (A plain, B hatched, C cross-hatched) once you pick a municipality.

Boundaries: CAOP 2021 (DGT, CC BY 4.0). Residents: INE, 2021 Census. The Azores and Madeira are boxed; the Azores at a smaller scale.

View as a list

Ages in Portugal

Age of the generated people, Portugal

Everyone in the synthetic population, in five-year age groups. 2021 Census.

View as table: Age of the generated people, Portugal
Age of the generated people, Portugal
AgeShare
0–43.9%
5–94.2%
10–144.8%
15–195.1%
20–245.4%
25–295.2%
30–345.4%
35–396.2%
40–447.3%
45–497.7%
50–547.2%
55–597.2%
60–646.8%
65–696.3%
70–745.7%
75–794.5%
80–843.5%
85–892.2%
90+1.3%

To go further

  • Mystery parish

    Which of these four is today’s parish?

    Four parishes a day and the clues to one of them: the ages, households, education and work of its population. Work out which it is with as few clues as you can. Tomorrow brings four more.

    Play today’s

  • Quality

    The generated population, measured against INE

    The generated population set against the tables INE publishes, and what each quality tier means.

    See the quality

  • Data

    Download the population

    The person and household files, with the variable dictionary and checksums, published on GitHub under a CC BY-NC 4.0 licence (non-commercial use).

    Open release 1.0.3

  • Methodology

    How the population was generated

    The model, the 2021 Census data it was calibrated to, and what this release cannot yet tell you.

    Read the methodology

Parishes by district and autonomous region

Each page lists the municipalities and parishes in alphabetical order, with a link to each one.