Employee benefits - Information Popular Inc. shares of common stock held by the plans (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2020	Dec. 31, 2019
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure
Shares of Popular, Inc. common stock	162,936	156,444
Fair value of shares of Popular, Inc. common stock	$ 9,177	$ 9,191
Dividends paid on shares of Popular, Inc. common stock held by the plan	$ 238	$ 177

Dividends received on related party securities in employer benefit plan

No definition available.

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Balance Type:	debit
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- Definition

Amount of employer security in which defined benefit plan asset is invested. Includes, but is not limited to, security issued or managed by related party of employer.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 715
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (n)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=118255775&loc=d3e1928-114920

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/exampleRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 715
-SubTopic 20
-Section 55
-Paragraph 17
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=118257860&loc=d3e4179-114921

+ Details

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Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Balance Type:	na
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- Definition

Number of shares of employer stock in which defined benefit plan asset is invested. Includes, but is not limited to, stock issued or managed by related party of employer.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2009/role/commonPracticeRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 715
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (n)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=118255775&loc=d3e1928-114920

+ Details

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