Country Fast Facts: Portugal

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

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Population:
10,707,924 (July 2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 76

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Age structure:
0-14 years: 16.3% (male 912,147/female 834,941)
15-64 years: 66.1% (male 3,525,717/female 3,554,513)
65 years and over: 17.6% (male 772,413/female 1,108,193) (2009 est.)

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Median age:
total: 39.4 years
male: 37.3 years
female: 41.6 years (2009 est.)

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Population growth rate:
0.275% (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 178

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Birth rate:
10.29 births/1,000 population (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 191

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Death rate:
10.68 deaths/1,000 population (July 2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 51

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Net migration rate:
3.14 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 28

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Urbanization:
urban population: 59% of total population (2008)
rate of urbanization: 1.4% annual rate of change (2005-10 est.)

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Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.07 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.09 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.99 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.7 male(s)/female
total population: 0.95 male(s)/female (2009 est.)

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Infant mortality rate:
total: 4.78 deaths/1,000 live births
country comparison to the world: 195
male: 5.24 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 4.29 deaths/1,000 live births (2009 est.)

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Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 78.21 years
country comparison to the world: 47
male: 74.95 years
female: 81.69 years (2009 est.)

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Total fertility rate:
1.49 children born/woman (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 187

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HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
0.5% (2007 est.)
country comparison to the world: 74

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HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
34,000 (2007 est.)
country comparison to the world: 69

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HIV/AIDS - deaths:
fewer than 500 (2007 est.)
country comparison to the world: 89

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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.)

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School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education):
total: 15 years
male: 15 years
female: 16 years (2006)

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Education expenditures:
5.5% of GDP (2005)
country comparison to the world: 50

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 2001-08, and shrank 3.3% in 2009. GDP per capita stands at roughly two-thirds of the EU-27 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 the government reduced the deficit to 2.6% in 2007 - a year ahead of Portugal's targeted schedule. Portugal's financial sector has been relatively insulated from the global financial crisis and the government has not spent much on shoring up banks. Nonetheless, the government faces tough choices in its attempts to stimulate the economy, while trying to keep the budget deficit within the euro-zone 3%-of-GDP ceiling. In 2009, the deficit reached 6.8% of GDP.

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GDP (purchasing power parity):
$232.2 billion (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 50
$240.2 billion (2008 est.)
$240.2 billion (2007 est.)
note: data are in 2009 US dollars

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GDP (official exchange rate):
$219.8 billion (2009 est.)

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GDP - real growth rate:
-3.3% (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 166
0% (2008 est.)
1.9% (2007 est.)

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GDP - per capita (PPP):
$21,700 (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 56
$22,500 (2008 est.)
$22,600 (2007 est.)
note: data are in 2009 US dollars

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GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 2.9%
industry: 24.4%
services: 72.8% (2009 est.)

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Labor force:
5.58 million (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 68

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Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture: 10%
industry: 30%
services: 60% (2007 est.)

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Unemployment rate:
9.2% (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 104
7.6% (2008 est.)

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Population below poverty line:
18% (2006)

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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 (2007)
country comparison to the world: 72
35.6 (1995)

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Investment (gross fixed):
19.7% of GDP (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 99

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Budget:
revenues: $91.89 billion
expenditures: $106.8 billion (2009 est.)

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Public debt:
75.2% of GDP (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 18
66.4% of GDP (2008 est.)

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Inflation rate (consumer prices):
-0.9% (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 6
2.6% (2008 est.)

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Central bank discount rate:
3% (31 December 2008)
country comparison to the world: 95
5% (31 December 2007)
note: this is the European Central Bank's rate on the marginal lending facility, which offers overnight credit to banks in the euro area

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Commercial bank prime lending rate:
8.35% (31 December 2008)
country comparison to the world: 109
7.92% (31 December 2007)

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Stock of money:
$NA
note: see entry for the European Union for money supply in the euro area; the European Central Bank (ECB) controls monetary policy for the 16 members of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU); individual members of the EMU do not control the quantity of money and quasi money circulating within their own borders

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Stock of quasi money:
$NA

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Stock of domestic credit:
$491 billion (31 December 2008)
country comparison to the world: 20
$412.7 billion (31 December 2007)

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Market value of publicly traded shares:
$NA (31 December 2008)
country comparison to the world: 44
$132.3 billion (31 December 2007)
$104.2 billion (31 December 2006)

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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, clothing, footwear, wood and cork, paper, chemicals, auto-parts manufacturing, base metals, diary products, wine and other foods, porcelain and ceramics, glassware, technology, telecommunications; ship construction and refurbishment; tourism

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Industrial production growth rate:
-5.5% (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 113

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Electricity - production:
44.47 billion kWh (2007 est.)
country comparison to the world: 52

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Electricity - consumption:
48.78 billion kWh (2007 est.)
country comparison to the world: 47

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Electricity - exports:
1.313 billion kWh (2008 est.)

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Electricity - imports:
10.74 billion kWh (2008 est.)

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Oil - production:
7,861 bbl/day (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 89

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Oil - consumption:
291,700 bbl/day (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 42

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Oil - exports:
53,260 bbl/day (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 78

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Oil - imports:
351,100 bbl/day (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 30

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Oil - proved reserves:
0 bbl
country comparison to the world: 143

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Natural gas - production:
0 cu m (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 142

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Natural gas - consumption:
4.754 billion cu m (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 59

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Natural gas - exports:
0 cu m (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 133

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Natural gas - imports:
4.763 billion cu m (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 33

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Natural gas - proved reserves:
0 cu m (1 January 2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 144

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Current account balance:
$-18.61 billion (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 181
$-29.6 billion (2008 est.)

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Exports:
$41.43 billion (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 52
$56.42 billion (2008 est.)

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Exports - commodities:
agricultural products, food products, oil products, chemical products, plastics and rubber, skins and leather, wood and cork, wood pulp and paper, textile materials, clothing, footwear, minerals and mineral products, base metals, machinery and tools, vehicles and other transport material, and optical and precision instruments

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Exports - partners:
Spain 25.6%, Germany 12.6%, France 11.1%, Angola 5.9%, UK 5.3% (2008)

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Imports:
$58.79 billion (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 40
$87.83 billion (2008 est.)

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Imports - commodities:
agricultural products, food products, oil products, chemical products, plastics and rubber, skins and leather, wood and cork, wood pulp and paper, textile materials, clothing, footwear, minerals and mineral products, base metals, machinery and tools, vehicles and other transport material, and optical and precision instruments, computer accessories and parts, semi-conductors and related devices, household goods, passenger cars new and used, and wine products

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Imports - partners:
Spain 28.9%, Germany 11.6%, France 8%, Italy 4.9%, Netherlands 4.4% (2008)

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Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
$NA (31 December 2009 est.)
$11.95 billion (31 December 2008 est.)

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Debt - external:
$507 billion (30 June 2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 19
$484.7 billion (31 December 2008 est.)

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Stock of direct foreign investment - at home:
$120.6 billion (31 December 2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 29
$117.8 billion (31 December 2008 est.)

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Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad:
$NA (31 December 2009 est.)
$69.24 billion (31 December 2008 est.)

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Exchange rates:
euros (EUR) per US dollar - 0.7338 (2009), 0.6827 (2008), 0.7345 (2007), 0.7964 (2006), 0.8041 (2005)