Following its heyday as a world power during the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal lost much of its wealth and status with the destruction of Lisbon in a 1755 earthquake, occupation during the Napoleonic Wars, and the independence in 1822 of Brazil as a colony.

In 1910, a revolution deposed the Portuguese monarchy, but chaos continued and considerable economic problems were aggravated by the military intervention in the First World War, which led to a military coup d'état in 1926.

This in turn led to the establishment of a right-wing dictatorship by António de Oliveira Salazar.

In December 1961, the Portuguese army was involved in armed action in its colony of Portuguese India against an Indian invasion.

The operations resulted in the defeat of the isolated and relatively small Portuguese defense force which was not able to resist a much larger enemy.

The outcome was the loss of the Portuguese territories in the Indian subcontinent.

In 1974, a left-wing military coup installed broad democratic reforms.

The following year, Portugal granted independence to all of its African colonies. Portugal is a founding member of NATO and entered the EC (now the EU) in 1986.

Source: CIA World Fact Book

Population: 10,642,836 (July 2007 est.)

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Age structure: 0-14 years: 16.5% (male 914,480/female 837,525) 15-64 years: 66.3% (male 3,501,206/female 3,551,706) 65 years and over: 17.3% (male 757,220/female 1,080,699) (2007 est.)

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Median age: total: 38.8 years male: 36.7 years female: 41 years (2007 est.)

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Population growth rate: 0.334% (2007 est.)

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Birth rate: 10.59 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)

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Death rate: 10.56 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)

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Net migration rate: 3.31 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)

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Sex ratio: at birth: 1.07 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.092 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.986 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.701 male(s)/female total population: 0.946 male(s)/female (2007 est.)

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Infant mortality rate: total: 4.92 deaths/1,000 live births male: 5.38 deaths/1,000 live births female: 4.42 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)

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Life expectancy at birth: total population: 77.87 years male: 74.6 years female: 81.36 years (2007 est.)

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Total fertility rate: 1.48 children born/woman (2007 est.)

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HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 0.4% (2001 est.)

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HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 22,000 (2001 est.)

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HIV/AIDS - deaths: less than 1,000 (2003 est.)

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Nationality: noun: Portuguese (singular and plural) adjective: Portuguese

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Ethnic groups: homogeneous Mediterranean stock; citizens of black African descent who immigrated to mainland during decolonization number less than 100,000; since 1990 East Europeans have entered Portugal

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Religions: Roman Catholic 84.5%, other Christian 2.2%, other 0.3%, unknown 9%, none 3.9% (2001 census)

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Languages: Portuguese (official), Mirandese (official - but locally used)

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Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 93.3% male: 95.5% female: 91.3% (2003 est.)

Portugal has become a diversified and increasingly service-based economy since joining the European Community in 1986. Over the past two decades, successive governments have privatized many state-controlled firms and liberalized key areas of the economy, including the financial and telecommunications sectors. The country qualified for the European Monetary Union (EMU) in 1998 and began circulating the euro on 1 January 2002 along with 11 other EU member economies. Economic growth had been above the EU average for much of the 1990s, but fell back in 2001-06. GDP per capita stands at roughly two-thirds of the EU-25 average. A poor educational system, in particular, has been an obstacle to greater productivity and growth. Portugal has been increasingly overshadowed by lower-cost producers in Central Europe and Asia as a target for foreign direct investment. The budget deficit surged to an all-time high of 6% of GDP in 2005 but was reduced to 4.6% in 2006. The government faces tough choices in its attempts to boost Portugal's economic competitiveness while keeping the budget deficit within the eurozone's 3%-of-GDP ceiling.

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GDP (purchasing power parity): $210.1 billion (2006 est.)

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GDP (official exchange rate): $176.8 billion (2006 est.)

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GDP - real growth rate: 1.3% (2006 est.)

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GDP - per capita (PPP): $19,800 (2006 est.)

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GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 6.6% industry: 28.6% services: 64.9% (2006 est.)

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Labor force: 5.58 million (2006)

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Labor force - by occupation: agriculture: 10% industry: 30% services: 60% (2001 est.)

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Unemployment rate: 7.6% (2006 est.)

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Population below poverty line: NA%

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Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 3.1% highest 10%: 28.4% (1995 est.)

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Distribution of family income - Gini index: 38.5 (1997)

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Inflation rate (consumer prices): 2.5% (2006 est.)

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Investment (gross fixed): 20.9% of GDP (2006 est.)

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Budget: revenues: $83.89 billion expenditures: $93.09 billion; including capital expenditures of $NA (2006 est.)

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Public debt: 67.4% of GDP (2006 est.)

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Agriculture - products: grain, potatoes, tomatoes, olives, grapes; sheep, cattle, goats, swine, poultry, dairy products; fish

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Industries: textiles and footwear; wood pulp, paper, and cork; metals and metalworking; oil refining; chemicals; fish canning; rubber and plastic products; ceramics; electronics and communications equipment; rail transportation equipment; aerospace equipment; ship construction and refurbishment; wine; tourism

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Industrial production growth rate: 0.9% (2006 est.)

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Electricity - production: 42.52 billion kWh (2004)

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Electricity - consumption: 46.05 billion kWh (2004)

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Electricity - exports: 2.1 billion kWh (2004)

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Electricity - imports: 8.6 billion kWh (2004)

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Oil - production: NA bbl/day

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Oil - consumption: 332,000 bbl/day (2004)

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Oil - exports: 43,070 bbl/day (2004)

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Oil - imports: 361,300 bbl/day (2004)

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Oil - proved reserves: 0 bbl

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Natural gas - production: 0 cu m (2005 est.)

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Natural gas - consumption: 4.297 billion cu m (2005 est.)

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Natural gas - exports: 0 cu m (2005 est.)

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Natural gas - imports: 4.46 billion cu m (2005 est.)

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Current account balance: -$16.75 billion (2006 est.)

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Exports: $46.77 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)

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Exports - commodities: clothing and footwear, machinery, chemicals, cork and paper products, hides

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Exports - partners: Spain 26.5%, Germany 12.9%, France 12%, UK 6.7%, US 6.1% (2006)

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Imports: $67.74 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)

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Imports - commodities: machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, petroleum, textiles, agricultural products

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Imports - partners: Spain 29%, Germany 13.1%, France 8.1%, Italy 5.6%, Netherlands 4.4% (2006)

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Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $9.88 billion (December 2006 est.)

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Debt - external: $272.2 billion (30 September 2006 est.)

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Economic aid - donor: ODA, $271 million (1995)

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Currency (code): euro (EUR) note: on 1 January 1999, the European Monetary Union introduced the euro as a common currency to be used by financial institutions of member countries; on 1 January 2002, the euro became the sole currency for everyday transactions within the member countries

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Exchange rates: euros per US dollar - 0.7964 (2006), 0.8041 (2005), 0.8054 (2004), 0.886 (2003), 1.0626 (2002)

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Fiscal year: calendar year