| Benfica | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| — Parish — | |||
|
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| Country | Portugal | ||
| Municipality | Lisbon | ||
| Area | |||
| • Total | 7.94 km2 (3.1 sq mi) | ||
| Population (2001) | |||
| • Total | 38,523 | ||
| • Density | 4,851.8/km2 (12,566/sq mi) | ||
Benfica (Portuguese pronunciation: [bɐ̃ȷ̃ˈfikɐ]) is a Portuguese parish, located in the municipality of Lisbon. It has a population of 38,523 inhabitants and a total area of 7.94 km².
The biggest park of Lisbon, Monsanto Forest Park, is located in Benfica.
In 1959, the parish was split and gave origin to the parish of São Domingos de Benfica. In this period, Lisbon was experiencing a fast growth, in the 1950s the population of the parish was 17,843 inhabitants, forty years later it exceeded 50,000. However, in the 1990s, the population of Lisbon started to decline, with thousands of people leaving to the suburbs and the parish population declined to the present 38,500 inhabitants.