Traditionally a country of emigration, Portugal has offered to take up to 10,000 migrants from countries struggling to cope with the influx, to help maintain its own population. [...]

Portugal is little known and "needs to make its voice heard to migrants arriving in Europe," head of the Portuguese Refugee Council (CPR) Teresa Tito Morais, said.

"The arrival of refugees will benefit the regions in the country that have become deserted," Tito Morais said.

"A large number of Portuguese have emigrated and certain regions need to regain some life."

The country was hard hit by the global financial crisis and, as elsewhere, unemployment took a toll among the country's young people, forcing many to leave in search of jobs. Unemployment remains high at 12 percent.

Nearly half a million Portuguese have left the country either permanently or temporarily in the last four years.

Portugal's birth rate is also the weakest in the European Union.

If the current decline continues, the country could lose 20 percent of its population by 2060, dropping from 10.5 to 8.6 million residents, according to the National Institute of Statistics in Portugal.

The idea to welcome refugees was launched in September by Braganca, a small town in northeast Portugal that counts some 35,000 residents, with hopes of reviving its declining population.