BACKGROUND The UN Replacement Migration report (2000) had a significant impact in academic and civil society. Its approach consisted of estimating the migration volumes required to mitigate the effects of population decline and ageing. The volume of migrants required to prevent population decline and sustain the working-age population was not particularly high, but the vast number of migrants needed to maintain the potential support ratio was highlighted as an unrealistic goal.

PurposeWith this reappraisal, the purpose of this paper is to present a reflexion on and discussion of the concept of quality of life (QL) with the intention of delimiting its meaning and application within the scope of the research project entitled “Costs and benefits of urban dispersion on a local scale”.Design/methodology/approachThe concept of QL contains a significant degree of complexity and multidimensional variables, in addition to the dynamic nature inherent in all social phenomena. The application of this concept at a local level and within the context of the Portuguese socio‐territorial reality requires rethinking the concept through the different authors and approaches, in order to delineate the research process, and guarantee its operationalisation, selecting the social indicators than can serve this purpose, with the intent of gaining a clearer understanding of QL as perceived and evaluated by the people and groups living in various dispersed urban areas.FindingsFrom the readings of literature in the field, one can understand the importance of choosing the relevant domains when analysing and measuring QL. As with the choice of indicators, in order to be able to measure the QL, simultaneously, at a local level, the choice of indicators and the delimitation of units of analysis are also fundamental in order to be able to obtain the comparison and real measure of quality of life and not the contingencies of specific contextual characteristics.Originality/valueThe study aims to open a new research perspective in the field of social sciences, more specifically in the areas related to QL and urban dispersion.

Resumo Portugal não dispõe de instrumentos que permitam uma análise aprofundada dos seus movimentos migratórios internos, apesar da sua importância na dinâmica populacional. Neste artigo partimos dos dados do questionário individual do censo de 2001, em que se perguntava a cada indivíduo se residia no concelho em que é recenseado nos dois e cinco anos anteriores, e dos globais de 2011 relativos à mesma pergunta. Concluímos que, nos dois censos, mais de 6% do total dos residentes num determinado concelho, migraram em data anterior pelo menos uma vez, e cerca de 2% do total de residentes tiveram residência anterior no estrangeiro. Por outro lado, em 2001, considerando o desenvolvimento dos dados trabalhados, os que se moveram dispunham de mais habilitações do que a média da população portuguesa no mesmo grupo etário e mostravam níveis mais elevados de emprego.Palavras-chave: migrantes, mobilidade interna, migrantes do estrangeiro, fluxos migratórios.Abstract Portugal does not possess the instruments to enable a deep analysis of its internal migration trends despite the importance these trends represent in the population dynamics. This paper is based on data of the 2001 INE databases of the individual census in which each person was asked if he/she lived in the municipality where the census was being taken. This residence refers to the previous two and five years. This paper also addresses the 2011 global data regarding the same question. We concluded that, in both cases, more than 6% of the total residents of a municipality had migrated at least once before and about 2% of the residents had lived abroad. Furthermore, in 2001 considering the developed data, those who moved were more qualified than the average Portuguese population of the same age group and showed higher levels of employment.Keywords: migrants, internal mobility, migrants from abroad, migratory flows.Résumé Le Portugal ne dispose pas d'instruments permettant une analyse approfondie de ses mouvements migratoires internes, en dépit de leur importance dans la dynamique de la population. Dans cet article, nous partons des données dans les bases de l'INE, du questionnaire individuel du recensement de 2001, dans lequel il est demandé à chaque individu s'il résidait dans la municipalité où il est recensé dans les deux et les cinq années précédentes, et des données globales de 2011 concernant la même question. En conclusion, dans les deux recensements, plus de 6% du total de résidents d'une municipalité avaient migré au moins une fois précédemment et environ 2% des résidents avaient résidé à l'étranger. Par ailleurs, en 2001 en considérant les donnés approfondies, ceux qui ont déménagé étaient plus qualifiés que la moyenne de la population portugaise dans le même groupe d'âge et montraient des niveaux d'emploi plus élevés.Mots-clés: migrants, mobilité interne, migrants venus de l'étranger, flux migratoires.

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