As you look at a large map of Portugal, the distances look formidable. But Portugal isn’t so large.
How large is it? Compared to the United States, it is tiny. The total area of the country—including islands like the Azores and Madeira Island—is 92,345 square kilometers (35,655 square miles), slightly smaller than Indiana. The US is a whopping 107 times bigger than Portugal.
Portugal’s Atlantic coastline is 837 kilometers long, about 520 miles.
The Map of Portugal Overlaid on a Map of the US
Most of the population of Portugal lives along the coastline, from Lisbon to the northern border and along the Mediterranean coast of the Algarve. Portugal had 10,291,000 inhabitants in 2017, which is just slightly less than the state of Georgia.
The urban population makes up about 65.2% of total population of Portugal.
While Portugal isn’t overrun with tourists, tourism remains one of the most important parts of the Portuguese economy. Foreign currency provided 4.8 percent of GDP in 1999 and tourism employed 6 percent of the population.
