Capital: Lisbon
Area: 92,389 km²
Population: 9.9 million (December 2000 est.)
Ethnic groups: 99% Portuguese
Official language(s): Portuguese
Religion(s): Roman Catholic
Currency: 1 euro = 100 cents
SOS Children's Villages' activities in the country
Maria do Céu Mendes Correia had already founded an association for the care of orphaned and abandoned children in Portugal in the early 1960's. She heard about the existence of SOS Children's Villages in a newspaper article and therefore, founded the "Associação das Aldeias de Crianças SOS de Portugal" in 1963. Hermann Gmeiner invited her, together with Palmira Cabritas Matias, to take part in the General Assembly of SOS-Kinderdorf International in Hinterbrühl near Vienna in November of the same year.
The main reason why the association was founded so quickly was that the need for suitable facilities for orphaned and abandoned children in Portugal was very great at that time. Until then, these children had been accommodated in homes where they were split up according to age and gender and totally cut off from the outside world. The cornerstone was laid for the first SOS Children's Village in Portugal in Bicesse, near Estoril, about 25 kilometres from the capital of Lisbon in December 1966. The first family houses were already completed just one year later.
Over the years more SOS Children's Villages have been added in various parts of the country as well as SOS Youth Facilities and a day-care centre.
At present there are three SOS Children's Villages, four SOS Youth Facilities and one SOS Social Centre in Portugal.
Website of SOS Children's Villages Portugal
(available in Portuguese)