In a previous post, i wrote that the Russian Empire was a bad joke when compared to the Portuguese empire. However, this may have sparked some confusion, so I'd like to provide further context. The most famous Portuguese writer, Fernando Pessoa, whose life spanned from 1888 to 1935, eloquently expressed in his seminal work Book of Disquiet "my homeland is the Portuguese language".
When considering the ratio of people born in Portugal to Portuguese speakers worldwide, it's remarkable - currently standing at nearly 25. Projections indicate this figure will soar to approximately 45-50 in the coming decades. In comparison, Russia's ratio hovers just below 2, while Spain's sits at around 10. To put this into perspective, the Spanish language would need over 1 billion speakers to achieve a ratio equivalent to Portugal's, a milestone unlikely to be reached even by 2060, when Spain's ratio is expected to hit 14. The UK's ratio falls below 10, and even powerhouse nations like India and China exhibit significantly lower ratios than Portugal. It's important to note that these ratios refer to native speakers
PS - The aforementioned Book of Disquiet was written in the aftermath of the First World War and on it Fernando Pessoa wrote the following "No empire justifies breaking a child's doll"
