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In recent decades, the successive decline in the number of births has characterised the Portuguese demography, while average life expectancy has increased, this being reflected in a demographic structure with an ageing population. There are fewer people, and they die later. This case is not manifested in the same way across the country, albeit the underlying trend is common to the various rural and urban territories. In terms of population structure, the fact that there are fewer children and school-aged young people does have its consequences, hence why human resource and equipment requirements in the education sector must be remodelled on a continuous basis to address this situation. Against this new demographic, economic and social context, the primary aim of research lies in understanding how the Central Region will evolve in the next two decades (2011-2031), giving some indicators and growth trends that allow us to characterise the future population of this territory. Discussions also cover the implications arising from the changes in the Portuguese population, in particular in the Central Region, addressing the demand for the education system, the training offer to be designed, and the required human resources, and how the different institutions and organisations will respond to an increasingly ageing population with different needs and requirements.

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Portuguese