Portugal

mean elevation:

372 m

lowest point:

Atlantic Ocean 0 m

highest point:

Ponta do Pico (Pico or Pico Alto) on Ilha do Pico in the Azores 2,351 m

Azores subject to severe earthquakes volcanism:

• limited volcanic activity in the Azores Islands;
• Fayal or Faial (1,043 m) last erupted in 1958;
• most volcanoes have not erupted in centuries;
• historically active volcanoes include
  • Agua de Pau,
  • Furnas,
  • Pico,
  • Picos Volcanic System,
  • San Jorge,
  • Sete Cidades,
  • and Terceira

• soil erosion;
• air pollution caused by industrial and vehicle emissions;
• water pollution, especially in urban centers and coastal areas

• Azores and Madeira Islands occupy strategic locations along western sea approaches to Strait of Gibraltar;
• they are two of the four North Atlantic archipelagos that make up Macaronesia;
• the others are the Canary Islands (Spain) and Cabo Verde

noun:

Portuguese (singular and plural)

adjective:

Portuguese

• white homogeneous Mediterranean population;
• citizens of black African descent who immigrated to mainland during decolonization number less than 100,000;
• since 1990, Eastern Europeans have migrated to Portugal

at birth:

1.05 male(s)/female

0-14 years:

1.05 male(s)/female

15-24 years:

1.06 male(s)/female

25-54 years:

0.97 male(s)/female

55-64 years:

0.84 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.66 male(s)/female

total population:

0.9 male(s)/female (2020 est.)

conventional long form:

Portuguese Republic

conventional short form:

Portugal

local long form:

Republica Portuguesa

local short form:

Portugal

etymology:

name derives from the Roman designation "Portus Cale" meaning "Port of Cale"; Cale was an ancient Celtic town and port in present-day northern Portugal

name:

Lisbon

geographic coordinates:

38 43 N, 9 08 W

time difference:

UTC 0 (5 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)

daylight saving time:

+1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October

note: Portugal has two time zones, including the Azores (UTC-1)

etymology:

• Lisbon is one of Europe's oldest cities (the second oldest capital city after Athens) and the origin of the name is lost in time;
• it may have been founded as an ancient Celtic settlement that subsequently maintained close commercial relations with the Phoenicians (beginning about 1200 B.C.);
• the name of the settlement may have been derived from the pre-Roman appellation for the Tagus River that runs through the city, Lisso or Lucio;
• the Romans named the city "Olisippo" when they took it from the Carthaginians in 205 B.C.;
• under the Visigoths the city name became "Ulixbona," under the Arabs it was "al-Ushbuna";
• the medieval version of "Lissabona" became today's Lisboa

• 18 districts (distritos, singular - distrito) and 2 autonomous regions* (regioes autonomas, singular - regiao autonoma);
• Aveiro, Acores (Azores)*, Beja, Braga, Braganca, Castelo Branco, Coimbra, Evora, Faro, Guarda, Leiria, Lisboa (Lisbon), Madeira*, Portalegre, Porto, Santarem, Setubal, Viana do Castelo, Vila Real, Viseu

• 1143 (Kingdom of Portugal recognized);
• 1 December 1640 (independence reestablished following 60 years of Spanish rule);
• 5 October 1910 (republic proclaimed)

history:

several previous; latest adopted 2 April 1976, effective 25 April 1976

amendments:

• proposed by the Assembly of the Republic;
• adoption requires two-thirds majority vote of Assembly members;
• amended several times, last in 2005

citizenship by birth:

no

citizenship by descent only:

at least one parent must be a citizen of Portugal

dual citizenship recognized:

yes

residency requirement for naturalization:

10 years; 6 years if from a Portuguese-speaking country

chief of state:

President Marcelo REBELO DE SOUSA (since 9 March 2016)

head of government:

Prime Minister Antonio Luis Santos da COSTA (since 24 November 2015)

cabinet:

Council of Ministers appointed by the president on the recommendation of the prime minister

elections/appointments:

• president directly elected by absolute majority popular vote in 2 rounds if needed for a 5-year term (eligible for a second term);
• election last held on 24 January 2016 (next to be held on 31 January 2021);
• following legislative elections the leader of the majority party or majority coalition is usually appointed prime minister by the president

election results:

• Marcelo REBELO DE SOUSA elected president in the first round;
• percent of vote - Marcelo REBELO DE SOUSA (PSD) 52%, Antonio Sampaio da NOVOA (independent) 22.9%, Marisa MATIAS (BE) 10.1%, Maria de BELEM (independent) 4.2%, other 10.8%

note: there is also a Council of State that acts as a consultative body to the president

description:

unicameral Assembly of the Republic or Assembleia da Republica (230 seats; 226 members directly elected in multi-seat constituencies by closed-list proportional representation vote and 4 members - 2 each in 2 constituencies representing Portuguese living abroad - directly elected by proportional representation vote; members serve 4-year terms) (e.g. 2019)

elections:

last held on 6 October 2019 (next to be held 2023) (e.g. 2019)

election results:

• percent of vote by party - PS 36.4%, PSD 27.8%, B.E. 9.5%, CDU 6.5%, other 20.8%;
• seats by party - PS 108, PSD 79, B.E. 19, CDU 12, other 12;
• composition - men 158, women 72, percent of women 31.3% (e.g. 2019)

highest courts:

Supreme Court or Supremo Tribunal de Justica (consists of 12 justices); Constitutional Court or Tribunal Constitucional (consists of 13 judges)

judge selection and term of office:

• Supreme Court justices nominated by the president and appointed by the Assembly of the Republic;
• judges can serve for life;
• Constitutional Court judges - 10 elected by the Assembly and 3 elected by the other Constitutional Court judges;
• judges elected for 6-year nonrenewable terms

subordinate courts:

• Supreme Administrative Court (Supremo Tribunal Administrativo);
• Audit Court (Tribunal de Contas);
• appellate, district, and municipal courts

• Democratic and Social Center/Popular Party (Partido do Centro Democratico Social-Partido Popular) or CDS-PP [Assuncao CRISTAS]
• Ecologist Party "The Greens" or "Os Verdes" (Partido Ecologista-Os Verdes) or PEV [Heloisa APOLONIA]
• People-Animals-Nature Party (Pessoas-Animais-Natureza) or PAN [Andre SILVA]
• Portuguese Communist Party (Partido Comunista Portugues) or PCP [Jeronimo DE SOUSA]
• Social Democratic Party (Partido Social Democrata) or PSD (original name Partido Popular Democratico) or PPD [Rui RIO]
• Socialist Party (Partido Socialista) or PS [Antonio COSTA]
• The Left Bloc (Bloco de Esquerda) or BE or O Bloco [Catarina MARTINS]
• Unitary Democratic Coalition (Coligacao Democratica Unitaria) or CDU [Jeronimo DE SOUSA] (includes PCP and PEV)

chief of mission:

Ambassador Domingos Teixeira de Abreu FEZAS VITAL (since 28 January 2016)

chancery:

2012 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20036

telephone:

[1] (202) 332-3007

FAX:

[1] (202) 223-3926

consulate(s) general:

Boston, New York, San Francisco

consulate(s):

New Bedford (MA), Newark (NJ), Providence (RI)

chief of mission:

Ambassador George E. GLASS (since 25 August 2017)

telephone:

[351] (21) 727-3300

embassy:

Avenida das Forcas Armadas, 1600-081 Lisbon

mailing address:

Apartado 43033, 1601-301 Lisboa; PSC 83, APO AE 09726

FAX:

[351] (21) 726-9109

consulate(s):

Ponta Delgada (Azores)

• two vertical bands of green (hoist side, two-fifths) and red (three-fifths) with the national coat of arms (armillary sphere and Portuguese shield) centered on the dividing line;
• explanations for the color meanings are ambiguous, but a popular interpretation has green symbolizing hope and red the blood of those defending the nation

name:

"A Portugesa" (The Song of the Portuguese)

lyrics/music:

Henrique LOPES DE MENDOCA/Alfredo KEIL

note: adopted 1910; "A Portuguesa" was originally written to protest the Portuguese monarchy's acquiescence to the 1890 British ultimatum forcing Portugal to give up areas of Africa; the lyrics refer to the "insult" that resulted from the event

Fitch rating:

BBB (2007)

Moody's rating:

Baa3 (2018)

Standard & Poors rating: BBB (2019)

• grain, potatoes, tomatoes, olives, grapes;
• sheep, cattle, goats, pigs, poultry, dairy products;
• fish

• textiles, clothing, footwear, wood and cork, paper and pulp, chemicals, fuels and lubricants, automobiles and auto parts, base metals, minerals, porcelain and ceramics, glassware, technology, telecommunications;
• dairy products, wine, other foodstuffs;
• ship construction and refurbishment;
• tourism, plastics, financial services, optics

agriculture:

8.6%

industry:

23.9%

services:

67.5% (2014 est.)

lowest 10%:

2.6%

highest 10%:

25.9% (2015 est.)

• Radio e Televisao de Portugal (RTP), the publicly owned TV broadcaster, operates 4 domestic channels and external service channels to Africa;
• overall, roughly 40 domestic TV stations;
• viewers have widespread access to international broadcasters with more than half of all households connected to multi-channel cable or satellite TV systems;
• publicly owned radio operates 3 national networks and provides regional and external services;
• several privately owned national radio stations and some 300 regional and local commercial radio stations

number of registered air carriers:

10 (2020); inventory of registered aircraft operated by air carriers: 168

annual passenger traffic on registered air carriers:

17,367,956 (2018)

annual freight traffic on registered air carriers:

454.21 million mt-km (2018)

total:

3,075 km (2014)

narrow gauge:

108.1 km 1.000-m gauge (2014)

broad gauge:

2,439 km 1.668-m gauge (1,633.4 km electrified) (2014)

other:

528 km (gauge unspecified) (2014)

total:

82,900 km (2008)

paved:

71,294 km (includes 2,613 km of expressways) (2008)

unpaved:

11,606 km (2008)

total:

624

by type:

bulk carrier 65, container ship 249, general cargo 99, oil tanker 21, other 190 (2019)

major seaport(s):

Leixoes, Lisbon, Setubal, Sines

container port(s) (TEUs):

Sines (1,669,057) (2017)

LNG terminal(s) (import):

Sines

• the Portuguese Armed Forces inventory includes mostly European and US-origin weapons systems along with a smaller mix of domestically-produced equipment;
• since 2010, Germany and the US are the leading suppliers of armaments to Portugal;
• Portugal's defense industry is primarily focused on shipbuilding (2019 est.)

• 190 Afghanistan (NATO);
• 200 Central African Republic (MINUSCA/EUTM);
• up to 120 Baltic States (NATO) (2020)

• seizing record amounts of Latin American cocaine destined for Europe;
• a European gateway for Southwest Asian heroin;
• transshipment point for hashish from North Africa to Europe;
• consumer of Southwest Asian heroin