Portugal

highest point:

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

lowest point:

Atlantic Ocean 0 m

mean elevation:

372 m

• 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

total:

46 years (2023 est.)

male:

44 years

female:

47.9 years

at birth:

1.05 male(s)/female

0-14 years:

1.05 male(s)/female

15-64 years:

0.97 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.66 male(s)/female

total population:

0.9 male(s)/female (2023 est.)

total:

2.5 deaths/1,000 live births (2023 est.)

male:

2.8 deaths/1,000 live births

female:

2.1 deaths/1,000 live births

total population:

81.7 years (2023 est.)

male:

78.6 years

female:

85 years

total:

10.37 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)

beer:

2.62 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)

wine:

6.04 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)

spirits:

1.34 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)

other alcohols:

0.37 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)

total:

25.4% (2020 est.)

male:

30.5% (2020 est.)

female:

20.2% (2020 est.)

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

urban population:

67.9% of total population (2023)

rate of urbanization:

0.44% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

particulate matter emissions:

7.34 micrograms per cubic meter (2019 est.)

carbon dioxide emissions:

48.74 megatons (2016 est.)

methane emissions:

10.93 megatons (2020 est.)

municipal solid waste generated annually:

4.71 million tons (2014 est.)

municipal solid waste recycled annually:

764,433 tons (2014 est.)

percent of municipal solid waste recycled:

16.2% (2014 est.)

municipal:

880 million cubic meters (2020 est.)

industrial:

1.83 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

agricultural:

3.42 billion cubic meters (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

time zone 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; resigned on 7 November 2023 but remains in caretaker status until new elections on 10 March 2024)

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 2021 (next to be held on 10 March 2024);
• following legislative elections the leader of the majority party or majority coalition is usually appointed prime minister by the president

election results:

• 2021: Marcelo REBELO DE SOUSA reelected president in the first round;
• percent of vote - Marcelo REBELO DE SOUSA (PSD) 60.7%, Ana GOMES (ran as an independent but is a member of PS) 13%, Andre VENTURA (CH) 11.9%, João FERREIRA (PCP-PEV) 4.3%, other 10.1%

;

• 2016: Marcelo REBELO DE SOUSA elected president;
• percent of vote - Marcelo REBELO DE SOUSA (PSD) 52%, António SAMPAIO DA NOVOA (independent) 22.9%, Marisa MATIAS (BE) 10.1%, Maria DE BELEM ROSEIRA (PS) 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)

elections:

• last held on 30 January 2022 (next to be held in January 2026);
• note - early elections were called after parliament was dissolved on 3 November 2021 because of the 27 October 2021 rejection of the government's budget

election results:

• percent of vote by party - PS 42.5%, PSD 28.4%, Enough 7.4%, IL 5%, BE 4.5%, PCP-PEV 4.4%, other 7.8%;
• seats by party - PS 120, PSD 72, Enough 12, IL 8, PCP-PEV 6, BE 5, other 3;
• composition - men 145, women 85, percent of women 37%

highest court(s):

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 Alliance (2022 electoral alliance in the Azores, includes PSD, CDS-PP, PPM)
• Democratic and Social Center/People's Party (Partido do Centro Democratico Social-Partido Popular) or CDS-PP [Nuno MELO]
• Ecologist Party "The Greens" or "Os Verdes" (Partido Ecologista-Os Verdes) or PEV [Heloisa APOLONIA]
• Enough (Chega) [Andre VENTURA]
• Liberal Initiative (Iniciativa Liberal) or IL [Joao COTRIM DE FIGUEIREDO]
• Madeira First (2022 electoral alliance in Madeira, includes PSD, CDS-PP)
• People-Animals-Nature Party (Pessoas-Animais-Natureza) or PAN [Ines SOUSA REAL]
• People's Monarchist Party or PPM [Gonçalo DA CAMARA PEREIRA]
• Portuguese Communist Party (Partido Comunista Portugues) or PCP [Jeronimo DE SOUSA]
• Social Democratic Party (Partido Social Democrata) or PSD [Luis MONTENEGRO] (formerly the Partido Popular Democratico or PPD)
• Socialist Party (Partido Socialista) or PS [Paulo RAIMUNDO]
• 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 Randi Charno LEVINE (since 22 April 2022)

embassy:

Avenida das Forcas Armadas, 1600-081 Lisboa

mailing address:

5320 Lisbon Place, Washington DC 20521-5320

telephone:

[351] (21) 727-3300

FAX:

[351] (21) 726-9109

email address and website:

[email protected]; https://pt.usembassy.gov/

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

total World Heritage Sites:

17 (16 cultural, 1 natural)

selected World Heritage Site locales:

• Historic Évora (c);
• Central Zone of the Town of Angra do Heroismo in the Azores (c);
• Cultural Landscape of Sintra (c);
• Laurisilva of Madeira (n);
• Historic Guimarães (c);
• Monastery of the Hieronymites and Tower of Belém in Lisbon (c);
• Convent of Christ in Tomar (c);
• Prehistoric Rock Art Sites in the Côa Valley and Siega Verde (c);
• University of Coimbra – Alta and Sofia (c);
• Sanctuary of Bom Jesus do Monte in Braga (c)

• fast-growing, high-income European economy;
• EU and NATO member;
• heavy Chinese infrastructure ownership;
• key tourism, banking, and telecommunications sectors;
• declining populations;
• major energy exporter

Fitch rating:

BBB (2007)

Moody's rating:

Baa3 (2018)

Standard & Poors rating: BBB (2019)

note: The year refers to the year in which the current credit rating was first obtained.

• 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

total:

23.1% (2021 est.)

male:

20.6%

female:

26.2%

on food:

16.6% of household expenditures (2018 est.)

on alcohol and tobacco:

3.2% of household expenditures (2018 est.)

lowest 10%:

2.6%

highest 10%:

25.9% (2015 est.)

production:

0 metric tons (2020 est.)

consumption:

957,000 metric tons (2020 est.)

exports:

1,000 metric tons (2020 est.)

imports:

238,000 metric tons (2020 est.)

proven reserves:

36 million metric tons (2019 est.)

total petroleum production:

8,000 bbl/day (2021 est.)

refined petroleum consumption:

249,100 bbl/day (2019 est.)

crude oil and lease condensate exports:

0 bbl/day (2018 est.)

crude oil and lease condensate imports:

255,400 bbl/day (2018 est.)

crude oil estimated reserves:

0 barrels (2021 est.)

production:

0 cubic meters (2021 est.)

consumption:

5.94 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

exports:

0 cubic meters (2021 est.)

imports:

6.09 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

proven reserves:

0 cubic meters (2021 est.)

general assessment:

• Portugal has a medium-sized telecom market with a strong mobile sector and a growing broadband customer base;
• before the pandemic, the country had seen improving economic growth, following several years of austerity measures;
• revenue among some operators remains under pressure, though investments in network upgrades are continuing in an effort to attract customers to high-end services;
• Portugal’s broadband services have grown steadily in recent years, largely the result of joint efforts between the regulator and the key market operators which have invested in significant infrastructure upgrades;
• these operators are focused on fiber-based services, resulting in a migration of subscribers from digital subscriber line DSL infrastructure;
• the government has also supported open-access wholesale networks;
• the mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) market remains largely undeveloped, partly because network operators have their own low-cost brands;
• collectively, MVNOs have about 2.9% share of the market;
• population coverage by 3G infrastructure is universal, and most investment in the sector is being directed to LTE and 5G technologies;
• the MNOs have trialed 5G and are looking to launch commercial services (2021)

domestic:

fixed-lineis 52 per 100 persons and mobile-cellular is 121 per 100 persons (2021)

international:

• country code - 351;
• landing points for the Ella Link, BUGIO, EIG, SAT-3/WASC, SeaMeWe-3, Equino, MainOne, Tat TGN-Western Europe, WACS, ACE, Atlantis2 and Columbus-III submarine cables provide connectivity to Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia, South America and the US;
• satellite earth stations - 3 Intelsat (2 Atlantic Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean), NA Eutelsat;
• tropospheric scatter to Azores (2019)

• Radio e Televisao de Portugal, 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 (2018) mt-km

total:

82,900 km (2008)

paved:

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

unpaved:

11,606 km (2008)

major seaport(s):

Leixoes, Lisbon, Setubal, Sines

container port(s) (TEUs):

Sines (1,420,000) (2019)

LNG terminal(s) (import):

Sines