As reported by CNN Portugal, 3,295 teachers and nursery educators retired during the school year, fewer than the approximately 3,700 departures recorded in 2024/25.

Despite the decrease, the figure remains among the highest seen over the past decade and reflects the ageing profile of Portugal’s teaching workforce.

Postponement incentive

The Government has attempted to slow the exodus by offering teachers who postpone retirement an additional €750 gross per month. According to the Ministry of Education, 1,514 teachers had taken up the incentive by January, although the latest figures indicate that the number who opted to delay retirement has risen to more than 2,000.

This incentive forms part of the Government’s +Aulas +Sucesso programme, introduced to reduce the number of pupils left without teachers for extended periods, and measures such as overtime payments and financial support for teachers who have to travel long distances to schools experiencing shortages.

Official Government figures show that 3,611 teachers and early-years educators retired during 2025, a 9.1 percent decrease from the 3,974 recorded in 2024, which was attributed to professionals choosing to extend their careers through the €750 incentive.

Student population

A study by the Directorate-General for Education and Science Statistics (DGEEC) and Nova School of Business and Economics projects that Portugal will need approximately 38,000 new teachers between 2025/26 and 2034/35, equivalent to an average of around 3,8000 recruits every year. The research estimates that about 122,000 teachers were working in 2024/25, but only around 76,000 are expected to remain active by 2034/35, representing a 37 percent reduction.

This situation is particularly acute in the third cycle of basic education and secondary education. These levels alone are expected to require 20,606 new educators over the period, and among the largest projections are 3,639 Portuguese teachers, 2,322 Mathematics teachers and 1,866 teachers of Physics and Chemistry.

The estimates are striking because Portugal is simultaneously expected to have fewer pupils, with the DGEEC forecasting a 5 percent fall in student population by 2024/35, yet the number of teachers is projected to decline much more sharply due to retirements and an ageing workforce.