18 year old Portuguese answering here. I’ll be straight and hide nothing in my answer. I turned 18 two weeks ago. I’ve always lived in Portugal and it was a really good country to grow up in. I will always feel grateful for having been raised with no security problems, having had access to school, medical care, food, good history & culture (part of it) and very good weather the majority of the year.

But the truth is (and I started confronting myself with that reality 4 years ago when I first went abroad) that nowadays Portugal is really in the ‘back’ compared to other countries. There’s so many things that need to be updated, so many conflicts to be solved, and the government’s priorities (not only the current one, but all the governments I was alive to see at work) are not well defined.

In September, I will start my last year of high school. But I will also start my university applications to the United Kingdom and to Denmark. And once I go, I don’t intend, right now, to go back after I conclude my studies. I don’t feel that Portugal can give me a future. At least a future where I can be financially independent from my parents while I’m still working or where I’ll have a chance to get a good job once I finish my university degree.

It’s sad to see my own country losing the young people everyday to other countries, seeing the population getting older in the stats and the newborn stats also decaying more and more every year and seeing the government doing nothing or useless measures about it.

I’m really grateful for the childhood Portugal offered me but it can’t give me a future and I have to be the one fighting for it, somewhere else.

Maybe I’ll be back someday. When I’m older, have a good job, my life organised and some stability.

But for now, I will probably (and unfortunately)belong to the stats section of young people who went to get further education in another country and probably will end up staying there.

UPDATE as of Dec 2022: I almost forgot about this post. It's my 3rd year living and studying in Nottingham (UK). I am working part-time alongside my degree and am currently completing a placement year at a law firm. I was also lucky enough to secure an academic scholarship and UK Student Finance (before Brexit was officialised on 31 December 2020) to cover my course's tuition fees.

I will not romanticise it because it is not always easy. The culture shock is very real and I miss my country, my family and my friends a lot. Sometimes all I want is to just hug my parents, have 5 minutes of Portuguese sun, or just a bite of my grandma's food. But I am learning every day and getting opportunities that I would not get back in Portugal. I know I have made the right decision for me and my future.

Unfortunately, everytime I go back and see how my friends are doing, I know they will also end up moving once they finish their studies, since employment prospects for young graduates in Portugal isn't looking promising.