Portugal Government News Headlines

In 2023 as a whole, the number of trips made by residents grew by 4.6% and totalled 23.7 million. Domestic trips increased by 2.4% and trips abroad grew by 21.5%, reaching an all-time high. Free private accommodation became more relevant and remained the main means of accommodation used (61.3%, +0.2 p.p. compared to 2022). The average duration of trips was 4.08 nights (4.18 nights in 2022).

Spain (41.6%; +3.2 p.p.), France (10.1%, -0.7 p.p.) and Italy (6.9%, +0.2 p.p.) remained the main destination countries for residents travelling abroad.

In the 4th quarter of 2023, residents in Portugal made 5.1 million trips, which corresponded to a growth of 2.9% (+0.7% in the 3rd quarter of 2023). Domestic trips accounted for 86.7% of all trips (4.5 million), i.e., an increase of 1.5%. Trips abroad grew by 12.9% (+30.3% in the 3rd quarter of 2023), totalling 683,600 trips, which corresponded to 13.3% of the total.

In 2023 (results from the last 12 months ending in the 4th quarter of 2023), the median house price of dwelling sales in Portugal was 1,611 €/m2, with the sub-regions Grande Lisboa (2,740 €/m2), Algarve (2,613 €/m2), Península de Setúbal (1,901 €/m2), Região Autónoma da Madeira (1,889 €/m2) and Área Metropolitana do Porto (1,800 €/m2) recording values higher than the national level.

In the 4th quarter of 2023, the median house price of dwelling sales in Portugal was 1,619 €/m2, corresponding to a year-on-year growth rate of 7.9% (10.0% in the previous quarter). Compared to the same period of the last year, the median house price increased in 23 of the 26 NUTS 3 sub-regions, with Oeste standing out with the highest growth (16.7%).

The six sub-regions with the highest median house prices – Grande Lisboa, Algarve, Área Metropolitana do Porto, Região Autónoma da Madeira, Alentejo Litoral and Península de Setúbal – also had the highest values in both categories of the purchaser's tax residence (national territory and foreign). In the Grande Lisboa and Área Metropolitana do Porto, the median price (€/m2) of transactions carried out by purchasers with tax residence abroad exceeded, respectively by 65.0% e 69.8%, the price of transactions by purchasers with tax residence in the national territory.

In the 4th quarter of 2023, the housing prices slowed down in 18 of the 24 municipalities with more than 100 thousand inhabitants (11 in the 3rd quarter of 2023). In the opposite direction, there was an increase in the year-on-year growth rates in six municipalities, most notably in Maia (plus 7.8 percentage points, p.p.) and Vila Nova de Famalicão (+6.5 p.p.). The municipality of Porto recorded a decrease of 11.9 p.p. and Lisboa of 5.7 p.p. The municipalities of Cascais (4,176 €/m2), Lisboa (4,086 €/m2) and Oeiras (3,096 €/m2) recorded the highest house prices.

In 2021, the National Expenditure on Environmental Protection (NEEP) increased again (18.0%), as a result of positive changes in its main components: final consumption expenditure (20.8%), intermediate consumption (22.6%) and investment (6.1%). NEEP's growth outpaced the performance of national economic activity, with GDP increasing by 7.7% in nominal terms.

All institutional sectors of the economy have contributed to this positive outcome. Corporations, responsible for 60.0% of the NEEP, grew by 24.0%, General government and Non-profit Institutions Serving Households increased by 6.0%, and Households grew by 17.2%. 

The two most relevant environmental domains to the NEEP explain the positive trend: in Waste management, which accounted for 44.7% of the total value, there was an increase of 20.5% and in Wastewater management (which contributed 29.9% to the total expenditure) the growth was 18.0%. 

In 2021, the share of NEEP in GDP (1.8%) was below the EU27 average (2.2%).

The implicit interest rate for all housing loan agreements decreased for the second month in a row, from 4.641% in February to 4.613% in March. For the contracts that were closed in the previous three months, the interest rate decreased for the fifth consecutive month, from 4.197% to 4.000%. The average value of owed capital increased 233 Euros, reaching 65,391 Euros. The average value of loan repayments stood at 403 euros, the same value as the previous month, an increase of 72 euros compared to the value observed in March 2023 (21.8% more). In the last month, interest represented 61% of the average repayments, which compares with 45% one year before. In the contracts celebrated in the last 3 months, the average value of loan repayments decreased 9 euros to 619 euros (7.5% higher than the same month of the previous year).

The Interactive Platform in this press release, included in the Transport theme, includes the most relevant monthly available indicators of air transport statistics. It is an interactive dissemination report with the aim of providing an overview of a set of selected indicators in the subject of air transport.

Interactive Platform (available only in Portuguese)

In March, the Industrial Production Prices Index recorded a year-on-year decrease of 1.4%, up by 1.1 percentage points (p.p.) compared to the rate reported in the previous month. Excluding the Energy grouping, the index change rate was -1.9% (-2.4% in February). In the first quarter of 2024, prices in industrial production fell by 2.1% (-3.6% in the previous quarter). The monthly variation of the aggregate index was nil (-1.1% in the same month of the previous year).

The economic sentiment indicator (ESI) slightly increased in March in the Euro Area (EA), after having decreased in the last two months. The prices of raw-materials and oil presented monthly rates of change of 0.4% and 1.6%, respectively (0.3% and 5.2% in February).

The Portuguese industrial production price index registered a year on-year rate of change of -1,4% in March (after -2.5% in February), presenting a negative rate of change for the eleventh consecutive month. The grouping of Energy registered a rate of 0,7%, positive for the first time since December 2022. Excluding the energy component, this index decreased by 1,9% in February (-2.4% in the previous month), and the index for consumer goods recorded a year-on-year growth rate of 2.7% in March (2.8% in February), extending the deceleration profile observed since the beginning of 2023.

The year-on-year rate of change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 2.3% in March, 0.2 percentage points more than in the previous month. 

On the external side, the implicit prices of exports and imports of goods continued to record negative rates of change, -3.9% in exports and -6.0% in imports (-3.5% and -6.5%, respectively, in January). Excluding petroleum products, there were decreases of 2.9% in exports and 5.6% in imports (-2.8% and -4.7%, respectively, in January).

The short-term indicators, available for February, reveal an acceleration in volume in construction and in nominal terms in services, and to an increase in volume and nominal decrease in industry. The economic climate indicator, which summarizes the balances of responses to questions relating to business surveys, increased in March, after having decreased in February. From the expenditure side, the economic activity indicator increased in year-on-year terms between September and February, more intensely in the last month, after decreasing in August. The investment indicator decreased, in year-on-year terms, in February, and the private consumption indicator accelerated.

According to the provisional monthly Labour Force Survey, in February, the unemployment rate (16 to 74 years old), seasonally adjusted, was 6.7%, 0.1 percentage points more than in January (6.6% in November). The labour underutilization rate (16 to 74 years old) stood at 11.5%, 0.1 percentage points below the value recorded in January (11.7% in November and 12.1% in the same period of the previous year). The employed population (16 to 74 years old), seasonally adjusted, increased by 1.9% in year-on-year terms and decreased 0.1% compared with the previous month (year-on-year rate of change of 2.3% in January).

Between 2020-2022, 44.7% of enterprises had innovation activities (48.0% between 2018-2020 and 32.4% between 2016-2018). By type of innovation, 22.6% of enterprises introduced product innovation (goods or services) and 40.4% introduced process innovation (22.3% and 42.7%, in the same order, in the 2018-2020 period).

79.1% of enterprises with 250 or more persons employed were innovative, while in the 10 to 249 persons employed bracket, the percentage of enterprises with innovation activities was 43.9%. By economic activity, the Information and communication sector (71.2%) had the highest proportion of innovative enterprises, followed by Financial services (65.6%), Distributive trade (48.4%) and Other services (46.6%).

In the same period, 51.9% of innovative enterprises introduced innovations with environmental benefits obtained in the enterprise and/or during the consumption or use of the goods or services by the end user, of which 49.6% were innovations with environmental benefits obtained in the enterprise and 42.0% were innovations with benefits obtained during the consumption or use of the goods or services by the end user.

7.2% of enterprises were innovative and cooperated with other enterprises or organizations in R&D and/or other innovation activities between 2020-2022.

In 2022, the total expenditure on innovation activities reached 3 882,2 million euros, 41.9% more than in 2020, and represents around 1,0% of total turnover from enterprises (the same proportion in 2020).

15.2% of enterprises' turnover in 2022 resulted from the introduction of new or improved products (+1.4 p.p. compared to 2020 and +4.0 p.p. compared to 2018), with 10.8% resulting from the introduction of new goods or services for the enterprise and 4.4% from the introduction of new goods or services for the market (9.5% and 4.3% in 2020, respectively).

Between 2020-2022, 58.8% of enterprises considered the focus on satisfying regular customer groups as highly important for their economic performance.

See the infographics

In 2023, tax burden increased 8.8% in nominal terms, attaining 89 billion euros, corresponding to 35.8% of GDP (36% in the previous year). Considering 2022, last year with data available for the European Union (EU27) and excluding taxes received by EU institutions, Portugal continued to register a lower tax burden (35.8%) than the EU27 average (40.0%).

Direct tax revenue increased by 10.7%, mainly reflecting the 9.4% increase in personal income tax (IRS) revenue. Revenue from corporate income tax (IRC) rose by 13.9%, continuing to benefit from the favourable behaviour of economic activity in 2023.

Indirect taxes grew by 5.5%, with the proceeds from value added tax rising by 5.1% (18.4%, in 2022), standing out also the rise in revenue from tax on petroleum and energy products (15.9%), after the sharp decline recorded in the previous year (-21.3%). There were also increases from excise duties on ethyl alcohol and alcoholic beverages (5.9%), from tax on motor vehicle sales (5.0%) and from excise duties on tobacco (3.5%).

Social contributions rose 11.7%, benefiting from the growth of paid employment and from the increase of the minimum wage.

In February 2024, the tourist accommodation sector accounted for 1.8 million guests (+7.0%) and 4.3 million overnight stays (+6.4%), amounting to EUR 276.4 million in total revenue (+13.0%) and EUR 202.1 million in revenue from accommodation (+13.1%).

The average revenue per available room (RevPAR) stood at EUR 37.8 (+4.5%) and the net bedroom occupancy rate (ADR) amounted to EUR 83.8 (+6.0%). The ADR reached its highest value in Grande Lisboa (EUR 107.8) and RA Madeira (EUR 85.6). 

In February, the municipality of Lisboa concentrated 24.3% of all overnight stays (12.1% of all overnight stays of residents and 30.3% of non-residents). Among the municipalities with the largest number of overnight stays in that month, the highlights were Lisboa and Porto, which grew by 8.3% and 10.5%, respectively.

In the accumulated period from January to February, overnight stays totalled 7.7 million and grew by 3.3% (+0.3% regarding residents and +4.9% considering non-residents), corresponding to increases of 11.2% in total revenue and 10.8% in revenue from accommodation.

In February, considering all means of accommodation (tourist accommodation establishments, camping and holiday camps, and youth hostels), there were 1.8 million guests and 4.6 million overnight stays, corresponding to increases of 6.6% and 5.8%, respectively. Overnight stays spent by residents increased by 2.7% and those from non-residents grew by 7.4%.

These results were influenced by the calendar’s moving structure, i.e., by the fact that 2024 is a leap year and, as such, the month of February has 29 days this year, one more than in 2023.

In February 2024, 4.3 million passengers and 19.6 thousand tonnes of freight and mail were handled at national airports, corresponding to year-on-year variations of +7.3% and +16.3%, respectively, compared with February 2023.

At the beginning of 2024 there were still historic monthly highs of passengers at national airports. In February 2024, there was a daily average of 76.6 thousand passengers disembarked, a higher value than the one registered in February 2023 (73.6 thousand; +4.0%).

France was the main country of origin and destination of flights, despite a decrease in the number of disembarked and embarked passengers compared with the same period of 2023 (-6.6%; -6.4%). Spain and the United Kingdom ranked 2nd and 3rd as the main countries of origin, and inversely as the main countries of destination.

A new interactive platform with monthly data on the subject will be presented on April 18.

The Index of Production in Construction increased 4.7% in February in year-on-year terms (3 months moving average, working days and seasonally adjusted), down by 0.2 percentage points from January.

The employment and wages indeces grew 3.0% and 11.0% in February (change rate of 3.4% and 10.1% in the previous month).

In March 2024, the number of deaths was 10,440, higher than the number registered in February 2024 (1,281 more deaths; +14.0%), but lower than that registered in March 2023 (144 less deaths; -1.4%).

In February 2024, 6,159 children were born alive, a number that decreased 12.8% compared to January 2024 (7,064) and 1.1% compared to February 2023 (6,226).

In that month, the natural balance was -2,987, improving in relation to the same month of 2023, when it reached -4,612.

In February 2024, 1,423 marriages were celebrated, corresponding to a decrease of 7.2%, compared to number of marriages held in January 2024 (111 less marriages) and 8.7% compared to February 2023 (135 less).

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) annual rate was 2.3% in March 2024 (2.1% in February). The annual core inflation rate, which excludes energy and unprocessed food products was 2.5% (2.1% in the previous month). The annual rate of change for energy products increased to 4.8% (4.3% in February) and the index for unprocessed food was -0.5% (0.8% in the previous month), partially due to the base effect related to the monthly increase of 1.5% recorded in March 2023.

The CPI monthly rate was 2.0% (nil in the previous month and 1.7% in March 2023), while the CPI 12-month average rate was 2.9% (3.3% in February). 

In March 2024, the Portuguese Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) annual rate was 2.6% (2.3% in the previous month). This rate is 0.2 percentage points (p.p.) above the rate estimated by Eurostat for the Euro area (in February, the Portuguese rate was 0.3 p.p. below the figure for the Euro area). Excluding energy and unprocessed food products, the Portuguese HICP was 2.8% in March (2.4% in February), below the corresponding rate for the Euro area (estimated at 3.1%).

Services turnover index, in nominal terms and adjusted for calendar and seasonal effects, presented a year-on-year change rate of 1.8%, down by 0.2 percentage points (p.p.) from the rate observed in January 2024.

The month-on-month change rate of the total index was 1.8% in February (0.7% in previous period).

The indices of employment, wages and salaries and number of hours worked adjusted of calendar effects presented year-on-year change rates of 2.4 %, 4.5% and 3.5%, respectively (compared to 2.1%, 5.5% and 0.0% in January).

The Industry Turnover Index showed a nominal change of -0.3% in February (-2.9% in the previous month). Excluding the Energy grouping, turnover increased by 0.5% (-2.2% in January). The domestic market index decreased by 1.2% (-2.9% in the previous month), while the non-domestic market index grew by 1.1% (-2.9% in January).

Employment, wages and salaries and the number of hours worked rose by 0.3%, 6.9% and 2.4% respectively, compared with 0.4%, 6.7% and -0.5% in January.

In February 2024, construction costs for new residential buildings are estimated to have increased by 2.2% on a year-on-year basis, 0.1 percentage points more than in the previous month. The price of materials presented a variation of -0.7% while labor costs rose 6.0%.

In February 2024, exports and imports of goods recorded nominal year-on-year rates of change of +2.3% and +1.5%, respectively (+0.5% and -4.1%, in the same order, in January 2024).

In February 2024, there were increases in exports of Food and beverages (+14.8%) and imports of Transport equipment (+5.0%), Consumer goods (+6.0%) and Capital goods and parts thereof (+4.5%). Also noteworthy was the decrease in imports of Fuels and lubricants (-6.5%), which reflects the fall in prices (-16.8%), given that there was an increase of 12.3% in volume.

Excluding Fuels and lubricants, there were increases of 1.4% in exports and 2.6% in imports in February 2024 (+0.8% and -0.3%, respectively, in January 2024).

In February 2024, the unit value indices (prices) continued to record negative rates of change, -3.9% in exports and -6.0% in imports (-3.5% and -6.5%, respectively, in January 2024; +6.7% and +4.2% in February 2023). Excluding petroleum products, there were decreases of 2.9% in exports and 5.6% in imports (-2.8% and -4.7%, respectively, in January 2024; +7.0% and +4.7% in February 2023).

The deficit of trade balance decreased by EUR 12 million in February 2024, year-on-year, amounting to EUR 2,356 million. Excluding Fuels and lubricants, the deficit amounted to EUR 1,868 million, reflecting an increase of EUR 113 million.

In the quarter ended in February 2024, exports increased by 1.0% and imports fell by 2.7% year-on-year (-0.4% and -6.0%, in the same order, in the quarter ended in January 2024).

On the occasion of World Health Day, which will be celebrated on April 7, Statistics Portugal is releasing a new edition of "Health Statistics", mainly with indicators for 2022.

The following results stand out:

• In 2022, there were 60,396 doctors and 81,799 nurses in Portugal, 2.8% more doctors and 1.9% more nurses than in 2021. The indicator for the number of doctors per thousand inhabitants was highest in Grande Lisboa region (8.3 doctors per thousand inhabitants) and lowest in the Oeste e Vale do Tejo region (2.5 doctors per thousand inhabitants), while the indicator for the number of nurses per thousand inhabitants was highest in the Região Autónoma da Madeira e in Região Autónoma dos Açores (9.8 and 10.1 nurses per thousand inhabitants, respectively) and lowest in the Oeste e Vale do Tejo region (4.9).

• After hospital activity was strongly affected by the pandemic context, in 2022 there continues to be a recovery in care provided in hospital settings. Medical appointments, operating room surgeries and diagnostic and/or therapeutic complementary acts have increased to values higher than those recorded before the COVID-19 pandemic. 

• Emergency care was the aspect of hospital activity that saw the biggest increase compared to 2021, with 1.5 million more attendances (+23.9%). The recovery seen in 2022 allows us to get closer to the figure prior to 2020, the year in which hospital emergency attendances fell by 30.3% and reached the lowest value since 1999.

• In 2022, public or public-private partnership hospitals continued to be the main providers of health services, providing 86.2% of diagnostic and/or therapeutic complementary acts, 81.6% of emergency care attendances, 74.6% of hospitalizations and 71.5% of operating room surgeries. Public sector hospitals also provided the majority of medical appointments, but this is the component of activity in which private hospitals were able to achieve the most significant weight, accounting for 38.0% of the total.

• The proportion of the population with long-standing limitations in their usual activities due to health problems, which is an internationally recognized approximation to the concept of disability, continued to fall in 2023 to 33.4%, representing 0.6 percentage points (p.p.) lower than the result of 2022 (34.0%).

• The "Healthy life years" indicator, which combines information of the life expectancy of the population and the existence long-standing limitations due to health problems, shows that in 2021 the average life expectancy for a man aged 65 was 18.3 years and for a woman aged 65 was 22.0, but taking into account limitations due to health problems results in a healthy life expectancy of only 8.4 years for a man aged 65 and 7.4 years for a woman of the same age, in both cases lower than the averages in the European Union (EU-27) of 9.5 years for men and 9.9 years for women.

• In 2023, according to the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 2-item (GAD-2) model, 34.3% of the population aged 16 and over had symptoms of generalized anxiety, including 11.1% with more severe levels of anxiety. The results of a logistic regression model associating the probability of generalized anxiety disorder with some personal characteristics and territorial and family context for the adult population suggest that women and the unemployed are more likely to have symptoms of generalized anxiety, but that age and schooling are negatively related to that probability. Situations of food insufficiency, chronic (long-standing) illness and the existence of limitation in activities because of health problems contribute to an increase in the probability of generalized anxiety symptoms.

• A logistic regression model was also developed to check whether the available statistical data empirically supports the association of high satisfaction with life in general among the population aged 18 and over with certain personal characteristics and their territorial and family context, when considered simultaneously. The results obtained are particularly robust and significant in terms of the relationship between satisfaction with life in general and self-perceived health status – the probability of revealing high satisfaction with life in general decreases as self-perceived health status worsens; for example, perceiving one's own health status as very bad decreases the probability of assessing satisfaction with life in general as high by 49.4 p.p. compared to self-perceiving health status as very good.

See the Publication

See the Infographics Saúde em Portugal 2022 and Saúde em Portugal 2022 - Hospitais

In 2022, 45.2% of population aged 18 to 69 practised sport activity and 50.4% practised physical exercise in the last 12 months. Lack of time and not liking to practise sport activity or physical exercise were the main reasons mentioned by non-practitioners (by 42.5% and 27.3%, respectively). The practice of sport activity or physical exercise regularly (5 or more times per week) or with some regularity (1 to 4 times a week) was indicated only by 35.7% and 36.2% of respondents in that age group.

In 2023, employment in sports reached 45.6 thousand people, 5.6% more than in 2022.

In the same year, the total average gross monthly earnings per employee in the sports sector activities were EUR 1,461, standing out the Activities of sports clubs with the highest total average gross monthly earnings per employee (EUR 2,713) and the Sports and recreation education with the lowest (EUR 931). Those earnings were below the average for the total economy (EUR 1,505), but recorded a higher annual growth (6.9% vs. 6.6%) that was also higher than the inflation rate (4.3%).

In 2022, there were 16,441 enterprises in the sports sector (14.9% more than in 2021) that generated EUR 2.9 thousand million of turnover (more 47.1%) and a Gross Value Added (GVA) of EUR 1,070 million (more 46.1%).

The financing of municipalities to the sports activities and infrastructures, in 2022, was EUR 367.7 million (more 13.7% than the previous year). In the same year, the financing of the Portuguese Institute of Sports and Youth to the Sports federations was EUR 44.1 million (7.7% more than in 2021).

In 2022, the number of practitioners affiliated in Sports federations was 686.2 thousand (more 41.8% than the previous year), of which 69.1% were men.

See the Publication and the Infographic