Geography Quiz Arcade

Portugal 🇵🇹

Portugal is a country in Europe with a population of 10,270,865. Its capital is Lisbon. The official currency is EUR, and the main languages are Portuguese.

Quick facts

  • Capital: Lisbon
  • Continent: Europe
  • Population: 10,270,865
  • Area: 92,090 km²
  • Density: 112 people per km²
  • Currency: EUR
  • Languages: Portuguese
  • ISO code: PT

Where Portugal sits

Portugal 🇵🇹 is one of 46 countries in Europe, with its capital at Lisbon. It covers 92,090 square kilometres — 109th in the world — and is home to about 10,270,865 people, 92nd globally.

The countries it shares a continent with include Russia, Germany, United Kingdom, France and Italy. If you are learning geography region by region — which works far better than alphabetically, because memory for places is spatial — those are the ones to learn alongside it.

How Portugal compares

Raw figures are hard to hold on their own, so it helps to anchor them. In population, Portugal sits closest to Azerbaijan and Greece. In land area, its nearest counterparts are Hungary and Jordan.

At 112 people per square kilometre it is somewhat above the world average of 59.4. It ranks higher by population than by area, so it is more crowded than its size alone suggests.

Portuguese is an official language in 9 countries here, among them Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde and Equatorial Guinea, and 4 others. The EUR is shared with 25 other countries, including Andorra, Austria and Belgium, and 22 others.

To see Portugal next to every other country, sort the country rankings by population, area or density; its currency and languages are listed alongside every other country's in world currencies and world languages.

How to remember Portugal

Lisbon sits where the River Tagus meets the Atlantic, and nearby Cabo da Roca is the westernmost point of mainland Europe. For the flag, Portugal is green and red with a golden globe on the line.

The flag of Portugal: green and red

🇵🇹 The flag is two vertical bands, green and a larger red, with the national coat of arms, a gold armillary sphere and a shield, on the line between them. The colours have no single official meaning, but a popular explanation is that green stands for hope and red for the blood of those who defended the nation.

Region and neighbours

Portugal is a country on the west of the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe, facing the Atlantic Ocean, plus the Azores and Madeira islands. It shares land borders with one country: Spain.

Three facts about Portugal

  1. Cabo da Roca, near Lisbon, is the westernmost point of mainland Europe.
  2. Portugal's cork oak forests produce about half of all the cork harvested in the world each year.
  3. The highest point in Portugal is Mount Pico, a volcano in the Azores, about 2,351 m high.

Sources: Wikipedia: Portugal, Wikipedia: Flag of Portugal, Wikipedia: Lisbon, Wikipedia: Cabo da Roca, Wikipedia: Cork (material), CIA World Factbook.

Quiz yourself on Portugal

Quizzes that include Portugal

Three angles are worth covering for any country — where it is, what its flag looks like, and what its capital is. For Portugal those are:

Doing all three for one continent before moving on is far more efficient than learning flags globally, then capitals globally, then the map.

Read more about Portugal

Nearby countries

Frequently asked questions

What are the colours of the Portugal flag?

The flag of Portugal is two vertical bands, green and a larger red, with the national coat of arms, a gold armillary sphere and a shield, on the line between them. The colours have no single official meaning, but a popular explanation is that green stands for hope and red for the blood of those who defended the nation.

Which countries border Portugal?

Portugal shares land borders with Spain.

How can I remember the capital of Portugal?

Lisbon sits where the River Tagus meets the Atlantic, and nearby Cabo da Roca is the westernmost point of mainland Europe. For the flag, Portugal is green and red with a golden globe on the line.