Foreign Nationals Paid 15.3 Percent of Portugal's Social Security Contributions in August and Drew 10.6 Percent of Benefit Spending
Foreign nationals were 18.8 percent of contributors in August, paid 389.1 million euros, up 10.2 percent, and received 66.4 million euros in benefits. A provisional dip in their number may not survive revision, as July's did not.
People of foreign nationality paid 389.1 million euros into Portugal's Segurança Social (Social Security) in August 2026, 15.3 percent of all contributions, according to the monthly statistics summary published on Tuesday 20 October by the Labour Ministry's planning office. In the same month they received 66.4 million euros in benefits, 10.6 percent of the total paid out.
The September 2026 summary comes from the Direção-Geral de Coordenação e Planeamento (Directorate-General for Coordination and Planning, DGCP) of the Ministério do Trabalho, Solidariedade e Segurança Social (Ministry of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security). It uses data from the ministry's IT institute. Contribution figures run to August, and benefit figures to September.
The figures for foreign nationals
- Contributors: 915,853 people of foreign nationality paid contributions in August, 18.8 percent of everyone paying in.
- Contributions: 389.1 million euros, up 10.2 percent (35.9 million euros) on August 2025.
- Benefits: 190,018 benefit payments went to foreign nationals, 5.2 percent fewer than a year earlier and 11.5 percent of all payments.
- Benefit spending: 66.4 million euros, almost unchanged on the year (down 0.1 million euros), and 10.6 percent of the total.
Put side by side, foreign nationals are almost one in five contributors, pay 15.3 percent of contributions and receive 10.6 percent of benefit spending. Their share of contributions is lower than their share of contributors, which suggests lower average pay, though the summary does not break pay down by nationality.
A dip in the headcount that may not last
On the summary's provisional count, the number of foreign contributors was 0.5 percent lower than in August 2025 (4,496 fewer people) and 2.4 percent lower than in July (22,967 fewer). The DGCP warns that the latest months are provisional and are usually revised upwards, because some contributions are paid late.
The previous release shows how large that revision can be. The August 2026 summary first put July's figure at 915,734, 0.2 percent down on a year earlier. Working back from Tuesday's monthly change, July now stands at about 938,800. By our calculation that is roughly 2 percent above July 2025, not below it. So the August dip should be read as a provisional figure, not as evidence that the number of foreign workers paying in has started to fall.
For context, the total number of people paying contributions as employees was 4,455,472 in August, 1.3 percent more than a year earlier. Contributors on the self-employed scheme fell 21.5 percent to 429,613, which the DGCP says may reflect late payments and the timing of the quarterly declarations.
Other figures in the release
- Unemployment benefits: 173,895 people received some form of unemployment benefit in September, 5.2 percent fewer than a year earlier. The average unemployment subsidy was 782.35 euros a month, up 7.1 percent.
- Lay-off: 3,756 lay-off payments were processed in September under the Labour Code, at 173 employers, 12.1 percent fewer than a year earlier.
- Pay: the average total monthly pay declared for employees was 1,649.16 euros in August, 3.8 percent more than a year earlier.
- Minimum income: 149,998 people received the Rendimento Social de Inserção (Social Integration Income, RSI), 9.9 percent fewer than a year earlier.
- Older people's supplement: 249,960 people received the Complemento Solidário para Idosos (Solidarity Supplement for the Elderly, CSI), 7.4 percent more, with an average of 214.53 euros a month.
- Child benefit: 996,936 children and young people received abono de família (child benefit), 14.2 percent fewer than in September 2025.
Background
The monthly summary counts nationality, not residence status, so a foreign national who has lived and worked in Portugal for decades counts the same way as a recent arrival, and people who have taken Portuguese nationality no longer appear in the foreign figures. Its figures are monthly; for the full year, we reported in June that foreign contributors passed one million over the course of 2025.
If you pay into Social Security in Portugal, you can check your own contribution record, the declarations made by your employer, and any benefits you have been paid, in Segurança Social Direta, the online service, using your NISS (Social Security number).
