COUNTRY INFORMATION
Year of EU entry: 1° January 1986
Capital city: Lisbon
Total area: 92,212km²
Population: 10,304,434
Currency: Euro
Schengen area: Member of the Schengen area since 1995
Portugal lies along the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula in south Western Europe. It shares a border with Spain in the east and north, while the Atlantic dominates the coastline in the west and south. Occupying about 16 percent of the Iberian Peninsula, Portugal has a population of over 10 million people. Despite its relatively small size, the country boasts a great diversity of geographical features, from golden plains to mountainous zones. Portuguese is spoken by more than 200 million people in several continents, including Europe, Africa and America.
Lisbon is the capital and the largest city of Portugal, with a population of 552,700within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km², butIts urban area extends beyond the city's administrative limits with a population of around 2.7 million people, being the 11th-most populous urban areain the European Union.It is continental Europe's westernmost capital city and the only one along the Atlantic coast. Lisbon lies in the western Iberian Peninsulaon the Atlantic Oceanm and the River Tangus.
Portugal is defined as a Mediterranean climate. Is one of the warmest European countries: the annual average temperature in mainland Portugal varies from 8–12°C in the mountainous interior north to 16–18°C in the south. The territory of Portugal includes an area in the Iberian Peninsula and two archipelagos in the Atlantic Ocean: the archipelagos of Madeira and the Azores.