Portugal#Economy

The word Portugal derives from the combined Roman-Celtic place name Portus Cale{{cite web|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/portugal|title=Portugal – Origin and meaning of the name Portugal by Online Etymology Dictionary|website=Etymonline.com|access-date=25 January 2018|archive-date=20 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230220050255/https://www.etymonline.com/word/portugal|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://agal-gz.org/faq/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=contributos-pgl:sobre_a_origem_e_significado_da_palavra_portugal.pdf|title=Origem e significado das palavras Portugal e Galiza|website=agal-gz.org|access-date=25 February 2023|archive-date=3 December 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221203194424/http://agal-gz.org/faq/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=contributos-pgl:sobre_a_origem_e_significado_da_palavra_portugal.pdf|url-status=live}} (present-day's conurbation of Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia). Porto stems from the Latin for port, {{Lang|la|portus}}; Cale{{'}}s meaning and origin is unclear. The mainstream explanation is an ethnonym derived from the Callaeci, also known as the Gallaeci peoples, who occupied the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula.{{Cite web|url=https://www.academia.edu/31989410|title=Documentos danca portuguesa|first=Marcos|last=Winicius|via=academia.edu|access-date=12 April 2020|archive-date=17 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210817085223/https://www.academia.edu/31989410|url-status=live}} One theory proposes Cale is a derivation of the Celtic word for 'port'.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=POGEbFpGHigC&q=celtic+cale+harbour&pg=RA1-PA270 |title=Celtic Linguistics |access-date=22 August 2010 |isbn=978-0-415-20479-8 |last1=Pezron |first1=Paul |publisher=Taylor & Francis |archive-date=10 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231010145948/https://books.google.com/books?id=POGEbFpGHigC&q=celtic+cale+harbour&pg=RA1-PA270 |url-status=live }} Another is that Cala was a Celtic goddess. Some French scholars believe it may have come from {{Lang|la|Portus Gallus}},{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MD8zAQAAMAAJ&q=portus+Gallus+etymologie+du+portugal&pg=PA441|title=Manuel géographique et statistique de l'Espagne et du Portugal ...|date=11 April 2018|publisher=Buisson|via=Google Books|access-date=17 November 2020|archive-date=2 February 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240202203433/https://books.google.com/books?id=MD8zAQAAMAAJ&q=portus+Gallus+etymologie+du+portugal&pg=PA441#v=snippet&q=portus%20Gallus%20etymologie%20du%20portugal&f=false|url-status=live}} the port of the Gauls.

Around 200 BC, the Romans took Iberia from the Carthaginians during the Second Punic War. In the process they conquered Cale, renaming it {{Lang|la|Portus Cale}} ('Port of Cale') and incorporating it into the province of Gallaecia. During the Middle Ages, the region around Portus Cale became known by the Suebi and Visigoths as Portucale. The name Portucale changed into Portugale during the 7th and 8th centuries, and by the 9th century, it was used to refer to the region between the rivers Douro and Minho. By the 11th and 12th centuries, Portugale, Portugallia, Portvgallo or Portvgalliae was already referred to as Portugal.

{{Main|History of Portugal}}

{{Main|Prehistoric Iberia}}

The region has been inhabited by humans since circa 400,000 years ago, when Homo heidelbergensis entered the area. The oldest human fossil found in Portugal is the 400,000-year-old Aroeira 3 H. Heidelbergensis skull discovered in the Cave of Aroeira in 2014.{{cite web|url=https://phys.org/news/2017-03-year-old-fossil-human-cranium-oldest.html|title=400,000-year-old fossil human cranium is oldest ever found in Portugal|website=phys.org|access-date=14 April 2018|archive-date=16 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180816022236/https://phys.org/news/2017-03-year-old-fossil-human-cranium-oldest.html|url-status=live}} Later Neanderthals roamed the northern Iberian peninsula and a tooth has been found at Nova da Columbeira cave in Estremadura.David Birmingham (2003), p.11 Homo sapiens sapiens arrived in Portugal around 35,000 years ago and spread rapidly.{{harvp|Disney|2009|p=5}} Pre-Celtic tribes inhabited Portugal. The Cynetes developed a written language, leaving stelae, which are mainly found in the south.

File:Cromeleque dos Almendres - Southeast - 2.jpg, the largest stone circle in the Iberian Peninsula.]]

Early in the first millennium BC, several waves of Celts arrived in Portugal from Central Europe and intermarried with the local populations to form several different ethnic groups. The Celtic presence is patent in archaeological and linguistic evidence. They dominated most of northern and central Portugal, while the south maintained its older character (believed non-Indo-European, likely related to Basque) until the Roman conquest.{{harvp|Disney|2009|p=15}} In southern Portugal, some small, semi-permanent commercial coastal outposts were also founded by Phoenicians and Carthaginians.

{{Main|Lusitania|Gallaecia|Hispania}}

File:Évora - 49619137673.jpg, one of the best preserved landmarks of Roman presence in Portugal]]

Romans first invaded the Iberian Peninsula in 219 BC. The Carthaginians, Rome's opponent in the Punic Wars, were expelled from their coastal colonies. During Julius Caesar's rule, almost the entire peninsula was annexed to Rome. The conquest took two hundred years and many died, including those sentenced to work in slave mines or sold as slaves to other parts of the empire. Roman occupation suffered a setback in 155 BC, when a rebellion began in the north. The Lusitanians and other native tribes, under the leadership of Viriathus,{{cite web|url=https://www.unrv.com/bio/viriathus.php|title=Viriathus And The Lusitanian War | UNRV.com Roman History|website=unrv.com|access-date=6 July 2020|archive-date=7 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200707020716/https://www.unrv.com/bio/viriathus.php|url-status=live}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IY5ABAAAQBAJ&q=viriathus+celtic+lusitania+academia&pg=PT268|title=Viriathus: And the Lusitanian Resistance to Rome, 155–139 BC|first=Luis|last=Silva|date=30 July 2013|publisher=Pen and Sword|isbn=978-1-4738-2689-2|via=Google Books|access-date=17 November 2020|archive-date=2 February 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240202203317/https://books.google.com/books?id=IY5ABAAAQBAJ&q=viriathus+celtic+lusitania+academia&pg=PT268#v=snippet&q=viriathus%20celtic%20lusitania%20academia&f=false|url-status=live}} wrested control of all of western Iberia. Rome sent legions to quell the rebellion but were unsuccessful. Roman leaders bribed Viriathus's allies to kill him in 139 BC; he was replaced by Tautalus.

In 27 BC, Lusitania gained the status of Roman province. Later, a northern province was separated from the province of Tarraconensis, under Emperor Diocletian's reforms, known as Gallaecia.{{cite journal |last1=Conejo |first1=Noé |title=Coins and villae in late Roman Lusitania: collapse of the Roman currency economy? |journal=Post-Classical Archaeologies |volume=10 |year=2020 |pages=219–246 |url=http://www.postclassical.it/PCA_Vol.10_files/PCA10_Conejo.pdf |access-date=17 November 2020 |archive-date=28 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200928010929/http://www.postclassical.it/PCA_Vol.10_files/PCA10_Conejo.pdf |url-status=live }} There are numerous ruins of castros (hill forts) and remains of the Castro culture, like the Mozinho, Zambujal, Cidadelhe, Conímbriga, Mirobriga, Briteiros archaeological sites.

File:Reino suevo.svg in the 5th and 6th centuries]]

In 409, with the decline of the Roman Empire, the Iberian Peninsula was occupied by Germanic tribes.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UoryGn9o4x0C&pg=PP1 |title=The History of Portugal |isbn=978-0-313-31106-2 |last1=Anderson |first1=James Maxwell |year=2000 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |access-date=24 December 2023 |archive-date=10 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231010145955/https://books.google.com/books?id=UoryGn9o4x0C&pg=PP1 |url-status=live }} In 411, with a federation contract with Emperor Honorius, many of these people settled in Hispania. An important group was made up of the Suebi, Buri,Domingos Maria da Silva, Os Búrios, Terras de Bouro, Câmara Municipal de Terras de Bouro, 2006. (in Portuguese) Vandals in Gallaecia, who founded a Suebi Kingdom with its capital in Braga. They came to dominate central Portugal, including Aeminium (Coimbra) all the way to the Tagus, while the Visigoths occupied the south.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aGc2GwyvuEgC&q=KOLLER%2C%20Erwin%2C%20Hugo%20Laitenberger&pg=PR1 |title=Schwaben |isbn=978-3-8233-5091-0 |last1=Koller |first1=Erwin |last2=Laitenberger |first2=Hugo |year=1998 |publisher=Gunter Narr Verlag |access-date=24 December 2023 |archive-date=2 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240202203318/https://books.google.com/books?id=aGc2GwyvuEgC&q=KOLLER%2C%20Erwin%2C%20Hugo%20Laitenberger&pg=PR1#v=snippet&q=KOLLER%2C%20Erwin%2C%20Hugo%20Laitenberger&f=false |url-status=live }}

The Suebi and the Visigoths were the Germanic tribes who had the most lasting presence in the territories corresponding to modern Portugal. As elsewhere in Western Europe, there was a sharp decline in urban life during the Dark Ages.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZYn_f1jxNDoC&pg=PA138 |title=The Rise & Fall of World Orders |isbn=978-0-7190-4058-0 |last1=Knutsen |first1=Torbjörn L |year=1999| publisher=Manchester University Press }}

Roman institutions disappeared in the wake of the Germanic invasions with the exception of ecclesiastical organisations, which were fostered by the Suebi in the fifth century and adopted by the Visigoths afterwards. Although the Suebi and Visigoths were initially followers of Arianism and Priscillianism, they adopted Catholicism from the local inhabitants. St. Martin of Braga was a particularly influential evangelist.

In 429, the Visigoths moved south to expel the Alans and Vandals and founded a kingdom with its capital in Toledo. From 470, conflict between the Suebi and Visigoths increased. In 585, the Visigothic King Liuvigild conquered Braga and annexed Gallaecia; the Iberian Peninsula was unified under a Visigothic Kingdom. A new class emerged, unknown in Roman times: a nobility, which played a key social and political role during the Middle Ages. It was under the Visigoths that the Church began to play an important part within the state. As the Visigoths did not learn Latin from the local people, they had to rely on bishops to continue the Roman system of governance. The laws were made by councils of bishops, and the clergy emerged as a high-ranking class.

Today's continental Portugal, along with most of modern Spain, was invaded from the South and became part of al-Andalus between 726 and 1249, following the Umayyad Caliphate conquest of the Iberian Peninsula. This rule lasted decades in the North, up to five centuries in the South.{{cite encyclopedia |title=Al-Andalus |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Al-Andalus |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=19 March 2021 |archive-date=3 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210303184305/https://www.britannica.com/place/Al-Andalus |url-status=live }}

File:Castelo de Aljezur - 16.10.2019.jpg castle, in the Algarve built by the Moors in the 10th century.]]

After defeating the Visigoths in a few months, the Umayyad Caliphate started expanding rapidly in the peninsula. Beginning in 726, the land that is now Portugal became part of the vast Umayyad Caliphate's empire of Damascus, until its collapse in 750. That year the west of the empire gained its independence under Abd-ar-Rahman I with the establishment of the Emirate of Córdoba. The Emirate became the Caliphate of Córdoba in 929, until its dissolution in 1031, into 23 small kingdoms, called Taifa kingdoms.

The governors of the taifas proclaimed themselves Emir of their provinces and established diplomatic relations with the Christian kingdoms of the north. Most of present-day Portugal fell into the hands of the Taifa of Badajoz of the Aftasid Dynasty, and in 1022 the Taifa of Seville of the Abbadids poets. The Taifa period ended with the conquest of the Almoravids in 1086, then by the Almohads in 1147.Portugal musalman (Le) – VIIIe-XIIIe siècles par Christophe Picard – Maisonneuve et Larose – Collection Occident Musulman – 2001, 500 p. {{ISBN|2-7068-1398-9}}

Al-Andaluz was divided into districts called Kura. Gharb Al-Andalus at its largest consisted of ten kuras,A History of Portugal and the Portuguese Empire, Vol. 1: From Beginnings to 1807: Portugal (Volume 1) p. 55 each with a distinct capital and governor. The main cities were in the southern half of the country: Beja, Silves, Alcácer do Sal, Santarém and Lisbon. The Muslim population consisted mainly of native Iberian converts to Islam and Berbers.{{cite web |url=https://journals.eco-vector.com/2410-0145/article/view/35149%7Cauthor=Stepanova%7C |title=Written Monuments of the Orient |access-date=19 January 2024 |archive-date=2 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240202203427/https://journals.eco-vector.com/2410-0145/index |url-status=live }} The Arabs (mainly noblemen from Syria) although a minority, constituted the elite. The Berbers who joined them, were nomads from the Rif Mountains of North Africa.

File:Siglaspoveirasbase.png, in Scandinavia]]

Invasions from the North also occurred in this period, with Viking incursions raiding the coast between the 9th and 11th centuries, including Lisbon.{{Cite journal |title=Viking raids on the Spanish peninsula |first=Rolf |last=Scheen |journal=Militaria. Revista de Cultura Militar |issue=8 |year=1996 |url=https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/MILT/article/download/MILT9696110067A/3416/0 |pages=67–73 |access-date=13 April 2022 |archive-date=13 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220413040655/https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/MILT/article/download/MILT9696110067A/3416/0|url-status=live}}Ann Christys, Vikings in the South (London: Bloomsbury, 2015), p. 97. This resulted in the establishment of small Norse settlements in the coastline between Douro and Minho.{{cite web |title=Vikings- Warriors from the sea |url=https://portugal.um.dk/en/culture/culture-events/eventdisplaypage/?eventid=1bd54bcf-6989-430b-ab7d-2ddd5640d986 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200924073048/https://portugal.um.dk/en/culture/culture-events/eventdisplaypage/?eventid=1bd54bcf-6989-430b-ab7d-2ddd5640d986 |archive-date=24 September 2020 |access-date=24 April 2020 |publisher=Portugal.um.dk}}

One likely Viking cultural heritage is found in the ancient Marcas Poveiras or Siglas Poveiras. It is generally accepted that the siglas, also known as marcas, are of Scandinavian origin. Based on numerous similarities initially found at the Nationalmuseet in Copenhagen, several objects marked with "home-marks" were also identified in Funen (also known as Fyn), Denmark. Further studies revealed that the complex hereditary marking system of Póvoa de Varzim was also present in Fyn. Given the geographical distance, historical Viking incursions along the Portuguese coast, and pagan rituals practiced by people from this particular fishing region, it is believed that there is a partial Norse ancestry and cultural legacy.Ann Christys, Vikings in the South (London: Bloomsbury, 2015), pp. 15-17.

{{Main|Portugal in the Reconquista}}

File:Porto April 2019-18.jpg, first Count of Portugal (868–873)]]

The Reconquista was a period when Christians reconquered the Iberian Peninsula from Moorish domination. An Asturian Visigothic noble named Pelagius of Asturias was elected leader in 718{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pelayo-king-of-Asturias|title=Pelayo – king of Asturias|website=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=25 January 2018|archive-date=25 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180125140910/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pelayo-king-of-Asturias|url-status=live}} by many of the ousted Visigoth nobles. Pelagius called for the remnants of the Christian Visigothic armies to rebel against the Moors and regroup in the unconquered northern Asturian highlands, known today as the Cantabrian Mountains, in north-west Spain.{{harvp|Livermore|1969|pp=32–33}} After defeating the Moors in the Battle of Covadonga in 722, Pelagius was proclaimed king, thus founding the Christian Kingdom of Asturias and starting the war of Christian reconquest.

At the end of the 9th century, the region of Portugal between the rivers Minho and Douro was reconquered from the Moors by nobleman and knight Vímara Peres on the orders of King Alfonso III of Asturias.{{Cite book|url=https://www.academia.edu/23317651|title=O Conde Vímara Peres por A. de Almeida Fernandes|first=A. de Almeida|last=Fernandes|via=academia.edu|access-date=6 July 2020|archive-date=24 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624200942/https://www.academia.edu/23317651|url-status=live}} Finding many towns deserted, he decided to repopulate and rebuild them.{{Cite book |last1=Ribeiro |first1=Ângelo |last2=Hermano |first2=José |title=História de Portugal I – A Formação do Território |trans-title=History of Portugal: The Formation of the Territory |publisher=QuidNovi |year=2004 |isbn=989-554-106-6 |language=pt}}

Vímara Peres elevated the region to the status of County, naming it the County of Portugal after its major port city – Portus Cale or modern Porto. One of the first cities he founded is Vimaranes, known today as Guimarães – "birthplace of the Portuguese nation" or the "cradle city".

After annexing the County of Portugal into one of the counties that made up the Kingdom of Asturias, King Alfonso III of Asturias knighted Vímara Peres, in 868, as the First Count of Portus Cale (Portugal). The region became known as Portucale, Portugale, and simultaneously Portugália. With the forced abdication of Alfonso III in 910, the Kingdom of Asturias split into three separate kingdoms; they were reunited in 924 under the crown of León.

In 1093 Alfonso VI of León bestowed the county to Henry of Burgundy and married him to his daughter, Teresa of León. Henry thus became Henry, Count of Portugal and based his newly formed county from Bracara Augusta (modern Braga).

{{Main|Portugal in the Middle Ages}}

File:Museu Arqueológico do Carmo - Lisbon (52750994466).jpg

At the Battle of São Mamede, in the outskirts of Guimarães, in 1128, Afonso Henriques, Count of Portugal, defeated his mother Countess Teresa and her lover Fernão Peres de Trava, establishing himself as sole leader of the county. Afonso continued his father Henry of Burgundy's Reconquista wars. His campaigns were successful and in 1139, he obtained a victory in the Battle of Ourique, so was proclaimed King of Portugal by his soldiers. This is traditionally taken as the occasion when the County of Portugal became the independent Kingdom of Portugal and, in 1129, the capital city was transferred from Guimarães to Coimbra. Afonso was recognized as the first king of Portugal in 1143 by King Alfonso VII of León, and in 1179 by Pope Alexander III as Afonso I of Portugal, with the papal bull Manifestis Probatum.

Afonso Henriques and his successors, aided by military monastic orders, continued pushing southwards against the Moors. In 1217, during the reign of King Afonso II, Portuguese troops, supported by crusaders and others, retook Alcácer do Sal, with further land conquests from the Moors during the reign of Sancho II, mainly the start of the conquest of the Algarve in 1238. After internal tensions, Sancho II was deposed from the throne and his brother, Afonso III, became king in 1248.{{cite web |title=O turbulento reinado de D. Sancho II |publisher=RTP Ensina |access-date=8 April 2025 |url=https://ensina.rtp.pt/artigo/o-turbulento-reinado-de-d-sancho-ii/ |date=2003 }} A year later, in 1249, the Reconquista ended with the capture of the Algarve, in the aftermath of the Siege of Faro, and the last Moorish settlements were expelled. With minor readjustments, Portugal's territorial borders have remained the same, making it one of the oldest established nations in Europe.

File:Treaty of alliance between king Edward III of England and Ferdinand I of Portugal, 16th June 1373.jpg.]]

After a conflict with the kingdom of Castile, Denis of Portugal signed the Treaty of Alcañices in 1297 with Ferdinand IV of Castile. This treaty established the border between the kingdoms of Portugal and Leon. During the reign of Denis, the first university in Portugal opened in Lisbon, on March 1st 1290, being then transferred to Coimbra in 1308.{{cite web |title=5 das Universidades mais antigas no mundo, uma é em Portugal |publisher=Nat Geo Portugal |access-date=5 April 2025 |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.pt/historia/5-das-universidades-mais-antigas-no-mundo-uma-e-em-portugal_1629 |date=9 January 2022 }} Denis died in 1325 and was succeeded by his son, Afonso IV, who had a strained relationship with his father that nearly ended in war. In 1355, in the aftermath of the assassination of Inês de Castro, Peter's I lover, a civil war broke between the King, Afonso IV, and his son, and heir, Peter, with peace only being achieved in 1357.{{cite web |title=D. Afonso IV, testemunha da peste negra |publisher=RTP Ensina |access-date=13 April 2025 |url=https://novaresearch.unl.pt/en/publications/a-guerra-civil-de-1355 |date=1998 }}{{cite web |title=A Guerra Civil de 1355 - Lisboa |publisher=NOVA University Lisbon |access-date=13 April 2025 |url=https://ensina.rtp.pt/artigo/d-afonso-iv-testemunha-da-peste-negra/ |date=1 January 2008 }} The reigns of Denis, Afonso IV, and Peter I mostly saw peace with the other kingdoms of Iberia.

In 1348-49 Portugal, as with the rest of Europe, was devastated by the Black Death.{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2007/09/13/2031252.htm|title=Black death|first=Karl S.|last=Kruszelnicki|date=13 September 2007|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|access-date=2 April 2019|archive-date=6 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190406162144/http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2007/09/13/2031252.htm|url-status=live}} In 1373, Portugal, during the reign of Ferdinand I, made an alliance with England, the oldest standing alliance in the world. This alliance was signed during the Fernandine Wars, a series of conflicts between Portugal and Castile over the right to the throne of Castile. This alliance would be reinforced with the signing of the Treaty of Windsor in 1386.

{{main||Portuguese Empire}}

File:Caravela Vera Cruz.jpg

In 1383 John I of Castile and Beatrice of Portugal, the only surviving legitimate child of Ferdinand I of Portugal, claimed the throne of Portugal. John of Aviz, later John I of Portugal, led a revolt against this claim and defeated the Castilians in the Battle of Aljubarrota, with the House of Aviz becoming the ruling house. The new ruling dynasty led Portugal to the limelight of European politics and culture. They created and sponsored literature, such as a history of Portugal, by Fernão Lopes.{{Cite book |publisher=Duarte |first=King of Portugal |title=The book of horsemanship |date=2016 |author=Jeffrey L. Forgeng |isbn=9781782046288 |oclc=961824873 }}{{Cite journal |publisher=Carvalho |first=Mário Santiago de |date=12 September 2014 |title=Uma modernidade perdida: da melancolia à alegria racional na antropologia do homem superior| author=Segundo D. Duarte |url=https://www.uc.pt/fluc/dfci/public_/publicacoes/uma_modernidade_perdida |journal=Revista Filosófica de Coimbra |volume=22 |issue=43 |page=190 |doi=10.14195/0872-0851_43_7 |doi-broken-date=1 November 2024 |issn=0872-0851 |access-date=22 January 2024 |archive-date=2 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240202203324/https://www.uc.pt/fluc/dfci/public_/publicacoes/uma_modernidade_perdida |url-status=live }}{{Cite book |publisher=Duarte |title=King of Portugal Leal conselheiro |date=1999 |author=Imprensa Nacional-Casa da Moeda |isbn=9722709402 |oclc=43397222 }}

Portugal spearheaded European exploration of the world and the Age of Discovery under the sponsorship of Prince Henry the Navigator. Portugal explored the Atlantic, encountering the Azores, Madeira, and Portuguese Cape Verde, which led to the first colonisation movements. The Portuguese explored the Indian Ocean, established trade routes in most of southern Asia, and sent the first direct European maritime trade and diplomatic missions to China (Jorge Álvares) and Japan (Nanban trade). In 1415, Portugal acquired its first colonies by conquering Ceuta, in North Africa. Throughout the 15th century, Portuguese explorers sailed the coast of Africa, establishing trading posts for commodities, ranging from gold to slavery. Portugal sailed the Portuguese India Armadas to Goa via the Cape of Good Hope.

The Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494 was intended to resolve a dispute created following the return of Christopher Columbus and divided the newly located lands outside Europe between Portugal and Spain along a line west of the Cape Verde islands, off the west coast of Africa. In 1498 Vasco da Gama became the first European to reach India by sea, bringing economic prosperity to Portugal and helping to start the Portuguese Renaissance. In 1500, the Portuguese explorer Gaspar Corte-Real reached what is now Canada and founded the town of Portugal Cove-St. Philip's, one of many Portuguese colonies of the Americas.{{cite web |url=http://www.heritage.nf.ca/exploration/portuguese.html |title=The Portuguese Explorers: Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage |publisher=Heritage.nf.ca |access-date=31 January 2014 |archive-date=5 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805030420/http://www.heritage.nf.ca/exploration/portuguese.html |url-status=live }}{{cite DCB |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/corte_real_miguel_1E.html |title=Corte-Real, Miguel |first=L.-A. |last=Vigneras |volume=I |access-date=31 January 2014}}{{cite web|url=http://pcsp.ca/?Content=Visiting/About_Our_Town/History|title=Town of Portugal Cove – St.Philip's : History|website=Pcsp.ca|access-date=14 September 2015|archive-date=16 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016022411/http://pcsp.ca/?Content=Visiting/About_Our_Town/History|url-status=live}}

File:PortugueseColonialEmpire02.png]]

In 1500, Pedro Álvares Cabral landed on Brazil and claimed it for Portugal.{{Cite web|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/fodors/top/features/travel/destinations/centralandsouthamerica/brazil/riodejaneiro/fdrs_feat_129_9.html?pagewanted=1|title=A Brief History of Brazil - New York Times|website=The New York Times|access-date=25 December 2023|archive-date=14 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214234730/https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/fodors/top/features/travel/destinations/centralandsouthamerica/brazil/riodejaneiro/fdrs_feat_129_9.html?pagewanted=1|url-status=live}} Ten years later, Afonso de Albuquerque conquered Goa in India, Muscat and Ormuz in the Persian Strait, and Malacca, now in Malaysia. Thus, the Portuguese empire held dominion over commerce in the Indian Ocean and South Atlantic. Portuguese sailors set out to reach Eastern Asia, landing in Taiwan, Japan, Timor, Flores, and the Moluccas. Although it was believed the Dutch were the first Europeans to arrive in Australia, there is evidence the Portuguese may have discovered it in 1521.{{cite news |first=Giles |last=Tremlett |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/mar/22/uk.australia |title=Another nail in Cook's coffin as map suggests he was pipped by Portugal |newspaper=The Guardian |date=22 March 2007 |access-date=31 January 2014 |archive-date=17 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140117003919/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/mar/22/uk.australia |url-status=live }}{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/10575227/Kangaroo-in-400-year-old-manuscript-could-change-Australian-history.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/10575227/Kangaroo-in-400-year-old-manuscript-could-change-Australian-history.html |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Kangaroo in 400-year-old manuscript could change Australian history |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=31 January 2014 |location=London |first=Bernd |last=Debusmann |date=15 January 2014}}{{cbignore}}{{cite news |last=Perry |first=Michael |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-australia-map-idUSSYD3449720070321 |title=Map proves Portuguese discovered Australia: new book |publisher=Reuters |date=21 March 2007 |access-date=31 January 2014 |archive-date=2 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140102003059/http://www.reuters.com/article/2007/03/21/us-australia-map-idUSSYD3449720070321 |url-status=live }}

Between 1519 and 1522 Ferdinand Magellan organised a Spanish expedition to the East Indies which resulted in the first circumnavigation of the globe. The Treaty of Zaragoza, signed in 1529 between Portugal and Spain, divided the Pacific Ocean between Spain and Portugal.{{Cite web|url=https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/5-2-crossing-the-atlantic|title=5.2 Crossing the Atlantic - World History Volume 2, from 1400 | OpenStax|first1=Ann|last1=Kordas|first2=Ryan J.|last2=Lynch|first3=Brooke|last3=Nelson|first4=Julie|last4=Tatlock|date=14 December 2022|website=openstax.org|access-date=4 January 2024|archive-date=4 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240104173037/https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/5-2-crossing-the-atlantic|url-status=live}}

{{Main|Iberian Union}}

Portugal voluntarily entered a dynastic union (1580–1640) because the last two kings of the House of Aviz (Sebastian, King of Portugal, followed by his grand-uncle Henry, King of Portugal) died without heirs, resulting in the Portuguese succession crisis of 1580. Philip II of Spain claimed the throne, under the pretext that his mother was a Portuguese princess, Isabella of Portugal, the second child and first daughter of King Manuel I of Portugal. Philip II of Spain was accepted as Philip I of Portugal. Yet, Portugal did not lose its formal independence. Instead, a union of kingdoms was formed. But the joining of the two crowns deprived Portugal of an independent foreign policy, and led to its involvement in the Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Netherlands.

File:Europa - Portugal - Lisboa - Mafra - Palacio.jpg built by John V, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site]]

War led to a deterioration of relations with Portugal's oldest ally, England, and the loss of Hormuz, a strategic trading post located between Iran and Oman. From 1595 to 1663 the Dutch Portuguese War primarily involved Dutch companies invading Portuguese colonies and commercial interests in Brazil, Africa, India and the Far East, resulting in the loss of Portugal's Indian sea trade monopoly.

In 1640 John IV of Portugal spearheaded an uprising backed by disgruntled nobles and was proclaimed king. The Portuguese Restoration War ended the 60-year period of the Iberian Union under the House of Habsburg. This was the beginning of the House of Braganza, which reigned until 1910. John V saw a reign characterized by the influx of gold into the royal treasury, supplied largely by the royal fifth (tax on precious metals) from the Portuguese colonies of Brazil and Maranhão. Most estimates place the number of Portuguese migrants to Colonial Brazil during the gold rush of the 18th century at 600,000.{{cite web|url=http://www.ibge.gov.br/ibgeteen/povoamento/portugueses.html |title=IBGE teen |publisher=Ibge.gov.br |access-date=11 February 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120125045233/http://www.ibge.gov.br/ibgeteen/povoamento/portugueses.html |archive-date=25 January 2012 }} This represented one of the largest movements of European populations to their colonies, during colonial times.

{{Main|History of Portugal (1640–1777)}}

File:Marquês de Pombal, por Claude Joseph Vernet e Louis-Michel van Loo, 1766 (Câmara Municipal de Oeiras).png effectively ruled Portugal during the reign of Joseph I of Portugal (1750–1777).]]

In 1738 Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, later ennobled as 1st Marquis of Pombal, began a career as the Portuguese Ambassador in London, later in Vienna. King Joseph I was crowned in 1750 and made him his Minister of Foreign Affairs. As the King's confidence in Carvalho e Melo increased, he entrusted him with more control of the state. By 1755, Carvalho e Melo was made prime minister. Impressed by British economic success witnessed as Ambassador, he successfully implemented similar economic policies in Portugal.

In 1761, during the reign of King José I, he banned the import of black slaves into mainland Portugal and India, not for humanitarian reasons, but because they were a necessary work force in Brazil. At the same time, he encouraged the trade of black slaves ("the pieces", in the terms of that time) to that colony, and with the support and direct involvement of the Marquis of Pombal, two companies were founded - the Companhia do Grão-Pará e Maranhão and the Companhia Geral de Pernambuco e Paraíba - whose main activity was the trafficking of slaves, mostly Africans, to Brazilian lands.{{Cite book |last=Caldeira |first=Arlindo Manuel |title=Escravos e Traficantes no Império Português: O comércio negreiro português no Atlântico durante os séculos XV a XIX |publisher=A Esfera dos Livros |year=2013 |pages=219–224 |language=pt}}{{Cite book |last=Boxer |first=Charles |title=O Império colonial português (1415-1825) |publisher=Ediçoes 70 |year=1969 |pages=191}}

He reorganised the army and navy and ended legal discrimination against different Christian sects.{{cite web |title=A extinção da Inquisição em Portugal |publisher=RTP Ensina |access-date=14 March 2025 |url=https://ensina.rtp.pt/artigo/a-extincao-da-inquisicao-em-portugal/ |date=2017 }} He created companies and guilds to regulate commercial activity and one of the first appellation systems by demarcating the region for production of Port to ensure the wine's quality. This was the first attempt to control wine quality and production in Europe. He imposed strict law upon all classes of Portuguese society, along with a widespread review of the tax system. These reforms gained him enemies in the upper classes.

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Lisbon was struck by a major earthquake on 1 November 1755, magnitude estimated to have been between 7.7 and 9.0, with casualties ranging from 12,000 to 50,000.{{cite web |url=http://nisee.berkeley.edu/lisbon/index.html |title=Historical Depictions of the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake |publisher=Nisee.berkeley.edu |date=12 November 1998 |access-date=6 May 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110311082423/http://nisee.berkeley.edu/lisbon/index.html |archive-date=11 March 2011 }} Following the earthquake, Joseph I gave his prime minister more power, and Carvalho de Melo became an enlightened despot. In 1758 Joseph I was wounded in an attempted assassination. The Marquis of Távora, several members of his family and even servants were tortured and executed in public with extreme brutality (even by the standards of the time), as alleged part of the Távora affair.{{Cite book |last=Saraiva |first=José Hermano |title=História concisa de Portugal |publisher=Publicações Europa-América |year=1986 |pages=250–251|edition=10th }}{{harvp|Disney|2009|pages=294-297}}{{Cite book |last=Oliveira Santos |first=Guilherme de (and two others) |title=O processo dos Távoras : A Revisão - Instauração, depoimentos e sentenças |publisher=Caleidoscopio |publication-date=2017 |pages=11, 34–36, 55, 58}}

The following year, the Jesuits were suppressed and expelled. This crushed opposition by publicly demonstrating even the aristocracy was powerless before Pombal. Further titled "Marquês de Pombal" in 1770, he ruled Portugal until Joseph I's death in 1777. The new ruler, Queen Maria I of Portugal, disliked Pombal because of his excesses, and upon her accession to the throne, withdrew all his political offices. Pombal was banished to his estate at Pombal, where he died in 1782.

Historians argue that Pombal's "enlightenment," while far-reaching, was primarily a mechanism for enhancing autocracy at the expense of individual liberty and especially an apparatus for crushing opposition, suppressing criticism, and furthering colonial exploitation and consolidating personal control, and profit.Kenneth Maxwell, Pombal, Paradox of the Enlightenment (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 83, 91–108, 160–62.

{{Main|History of Portugal (1777–1834)|History of Portugal (1834–1910)}}

File:Battle of Ferreira Bridge.jpg during the Liberal Wars (1828–1834)]]

In 1807 Portugal refused Napoleon's demand to accede to the Continental System of embargo against the United Kingdom; a French invasion under General Junot followed, and Lisbon was captured in 1807. British intervention in the Peninsular War helped maintain Portuguese independence; the last French troops were expelled in 1812.{{cite book|last=Ertl|first=Alan W.|title=Toward an Understanding of Europe: A Political Economic Precis of Continental Integration|year=2008|publisher=Dissertation.com|isbn=9781599429830|page=303}} During the Napoleonic invasions, the Portuguese royal family transferred the court to Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil, making it the capital of the Portuguese empire between 1808 and 1821.{{cite web |title=A fuga da família real para o Brasil |publisher=RTP Ensina |access-date=14 March 2025 |url=https://ensina.rtp.pt/artigo/a-fuga-para-o-brasil-da-familia-real/ |date=2008 }}

In 1820, constitutionalist insurrections took place at Porto and Lisbon, and King John VI and his court were forced to return to mainland Portugal in 1821.{{cite web |title=Há 200 anos, Dom João 6º voltava a Portugal e, sem querer, abria caminho para independência do Brasil |publisher=BBC Brasil |access-date=14 March 2025 |url=https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/brasil-56857790 |date=24 April 2021 }} Lisbon regained its status as the capital of Portugal when Brazil declared its independence in 1822. The death of King John VI in 1826 led to a crisis of royal succession. His eldest son, Pedro I of Brazil, briefly became Pedro IV of Portugal, but neither the Portuguese nor Brazilians wanted a unified monarchy; consequently, Pedro abdicated the Portuguese crown in favor of his 7-year-old daughter, Maria da Glória, on the condition that when she came of age she would marry his brother, Miguel. Dissatisfaction at Pedro's constitutional reforms led the "absolutist" faction of landowners and the church to proclaim Miguel king in February 1828. This led to the Liberal Wars, also known as the War of the Two Brothers or the Portuguese Civil War, in which Pedro forced Miguel to abdicate and go into exile in 1834 and place his daughter on the throne as Queen Maria II of Portugal.

File:Mapa Cor-de-Rosa.png

After 1815 the Portuguese expanded their trading ports along the African coast, moving inland to take control of Angola and Mozambique. The slave trade was abolished in 1836. In Portuguese India, trade flourished in the colony of Goa, with its subsidiary colonies of Macau, near Hong Kong, and Timor, north of Australia. The Portuguese successfully introduced Catholicism and the Portuguese language into their colonies, while most settlers continued to head to Brazil.{{harvp|Livermore|1969|pp=299–306}}Gervase Clarence-Smith, The Third Portuguese Empire, 1825–1975: A Study in Economic Imperialism (1985)

On 11 January 1890, the British government delivered an ultimatum to Portugal, demanding the withdrawal of Portuguese forces from the area between Portugal's colonies of Mozambique and Angola. The area had been claimed by Portugal as part of its colonialist Pink Map project, but Britain disputed these claims, mostly due to Cecil Rhodes' aspirations to create a Cape to Cairo Railway, which was intended to link all British colonies via a single railway. The government of Portugal quietly accepted the ultimatum and withdrew their forces from the disputed area, leading to a widespread backlash among the Portuguese public, who viewed acceptance of the British demands as a humiliation.João Ferreira Duarte, [http://www.erudit.org/revue/TTR/2000/v13/n1/037395ar.pdf The Politics of Non-Translation: A Case Study in Anglo-Portuguese Relations] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160910035749/http://www.erudit.org/revue/TTR/2000/v13/n1/037395ar.pdf |date=10 September 2016 }}

{{Main|First Portuguese Republic|Estado Novo (Portugal)}}

File:Estremoz13.jpg

On 1 February 1908, King Carlos I and his son and heir, Luís Filipe, Prince Royal, were assassinated by Republican and Carbonária members.{{cite web |title=Regicídio em Lisboa |publisher=RTP Ensina |access-date=14 March 2025 |url=https://ensina.rtp.pt/artigo/regicidio-em-lisboa-1908/ |date=1974 }} Two years later, on 5 October 1910, a coup d'état overthrew the near 800-year-old Monarchy and the Republic was proclaimed. During World War I, Portugal helped the Allies fight the Central Powers; however the war hurt its weak economy. Political instability and economic weaknesses were fertile ground for chaos and unrest during the First Portuguese Republic. Several coups occurred during the First Republic, like the failed Monarchy of the North coup, but others had success, like the December 1917 coup d'état, which led to the rise of Sidónio Pais to power. In 1921, the Bloody Night revolt ended in the assassinaton of the Prime Minister and other high-ranking officials of the Republic.

These conditions led to the 28 May 1926 coup d'état and creation of the National Dictatorship (Ditadura Nacional). This in turn led to the right-wing dictatorship of the Estado Novo (New State), under António de Oliveira Salazar in 1933.

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Portugal remained neutral in World War II. From the 1940s to 1960s, Portugal was a founding member of NATO, OECD, the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and joined the United Nations in 1955. New economic development projects and relocation of mainland Portuguese citizens into the overseas provinces in Africa were initiated, with Angola and Mozambique being the main targets of those initiatives. These actions were used to affirm Portugal's status as a transcontinental nation and not a colonial empire.

Pro-Indian residents of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, separated those territories from Portuguese rule in 1954.P S Lele, Dadra and Nagar Haveli: past and present, Published by Usha P. Lele, 1987, In 1961, Fort of São João Baptista de Ajudá's annexation by the Republic of Dahomey was the start of a process that led to the dissolution of the centuries-old Portuguese Empire. Another forcible retreat occurred in 1961 when Portugal refused to relinquish Goa. The Portuguese were involved in armed conflict in Portuguese India against the Indian Armed Forces. The operations resulted in the defeat and loss of the remaining Portuguese territories in the Indian subcontinent. The Portuguese regime refused to recognise Indian sovereignty over the annexed territories, which continued to be represented in the National Assembly until the coup of 1974.

Also in the early 1960s the independence movements in the Portuguese provinces of Portuguese Angola, Portuguese Mozambique, and Portuguese Guinea in Africa, resulted in the Portuguese Colonial War (lasting from 1961 till 1974). The war mobilised around 1.4 million men for military or for civilian support service,{{Cite journal |url=https://journals.openedition.org/lerhistoria/484 |title=A desmobilização dos combatentes africanos das Forças Armadas Portuguesas da Guerra Colonial (1961-1974) |date=2013 |doi=10.4000/lerhistoria.484 |access-date=8 December 2022 |archive-date=8 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221208230030/https://journals.openedition.org/lerhistoria/484 |url-status=live |last1=Rodrigues |first1=Fátima da Cruz |journal=Ler História |issue=65 |pages=113–128 |doi-access=free |issn=0870-6182}} and led to large casualties. Throughout the colonial war period Portugal dealt with increasing dissent, arms embargoes and other punitive sanctions imposed by the international community. The authoritarian and conservative Estado Novo regime, tried to preserve the empire.{{cite web|url=http://purl.pt/11440/1/P1.html |title=Portugal Não É Um País Pequeno |publisher=Purl.pt |access-date=21 February 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20141025060609/http://purl.pt/11440/1/P1.html |archive-date=25 October 2014 }}

Salazar governed until 1968, when he suffered a brain hemorrhage,{{cite web |title=Quando Salazar caiu da cadeira |publisher=RTP Ensina |access-date=12 March 2025 |url=https://ensina.rtp.pt/artigo/quando-salazar-caiu-da-cadeira/ |date=2018 }} and was replaced by Marcelo Caetano, which raised hopes of a "liberalization" of the Estado Novo regime, called the Marcelist Spring, but those hopes were soon crushed.{{cite web |title=O período do Marcelismo |publisher=RTP Ensina |access-date=12 March 2025 |url=https://ensina.rtp.pt/explicador/o-periodo-do-marcelismo/ |date=2021 }}

{{Main|Carnation Revolution}}

File:Revolução dos Cravos.jpg armoured car in Lisbon on 25 April 1974]]

The government and army resisted the decolonization of its overseas territories until April 1974, when a left-wing military coup in Lisbon, the Carnation Revolution, led the way for the independence of territories, as well as the restoration of democracy after two years of a transitional period known as PREC (Processo Revolucionário Em Curso). This period was characterised by power disputes between left- and right-wing political forces. By the summer of 1975, the tensions were so high, that the country was on the verge of civil war. Forces connected to the extreme left-wing launched another coup on 25 November, but a military faction, the Group of Nine, initiated a counter-coup.

The Group of Nine emerged victorious, preventing the establishment of a communist state and ending political instability. The retreat from the overseas territories prompted a mass exodus of Portuguese citizens from its African territories.[http://www.economist.com/world/mideast-africa/displayStory.cfm?story_id=12079340 Flight from Angola] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130227074203/http://www.economist.com/node/12079340?story_id=12079340 |date=27 February 2013 }}, The Economist, 16 August 1975[https://web.archive.org/web/20090113204408/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,913229-1,00.html Dismantling the Portuguese Empire], Time, 7 July 1975 Over one million Portuguese refugees fled the former Portuguese provinces, as white settlers were usually not considered part of the former colonies. By 1975, all Portuguese African territories were independent and Portugal held its first democratic elections in 50 years.

Portugal continued to be governed by a National Salvation Junta until the Portuguese legislative election of 1976. It was won by the Portuguese Socialist Party and Mário Soares, its leader, became prime minister. Soares would be prime minister from 1976 to 1978 and 1983 to 1985. Soares tried to resume the economic growth and development record that had been achieved before the Carnation Revolution. He initiated the process of accession to the European Economic Community (EEC).

After the transition to democracy, Portugal flipped between socialism and adherence to the neoliberal model. Land reform and nationalisations were enforced; the Portuguese Constitution was rewritten to accommodate socialist and communist principles. Until the revisions of 1982 and 1989, the constitution had references to socialism, the rights of workers, and the desirability of a socialist economy. Portugal's economic situation after the revolution obliged the government to pursue International Monetary Fund (IMF)-monitored stabilisation programmes in 1977–78 and 1983–85.File:Tratado de Lisboa 13 12 2007 (081).jpg was signed in 2007, when Portugal held the presidency for the European Council]] In 1986 Portugal alongside Spain, joined the European Economic Community which later became the European Union (EU). Portugal's economy progressed considerably as a result of European Structural and Investment Funds and companies' easier access to foreign markets.

Portugal's last overseas territory, Macau, was peacefully handed over to China in 1999. In 2002, the independence of East Timor (Asia) was formally recognised by Portugal. In 1995, Portugal started to implement Schengen Area rules, eliminating border controls with other Schengen members. Expo '98 took place in Portugal and in 1999 it was one of the founding countries of the euro and eurozone. In 2004 José Manuel Barroso, the then Prime Minister of Portugal, was nominated President of the European Commission. On 1 December 2009 the Treaty of Lisbon entered into force, enhancing the efficiency and democratic legitimacy of the Union. Economic disruption and an unsustainable growth in government debt during the 2008 financial crisis led the country to negotiate in 2011 with the IMF and the European Union, through the European Financial Stability Mechanism and the European Financial Stability Facility, a loan to help the country stabilise its finances.

{{Main|Geography of Portugal}}

image:Portugal topographic map-pt.png

Portugal occupies an area on the Iberian Peninsula (referred to as the continent by most Portuguese) and two archipelagos in the Atlantic Ocean: Madeira and the Azores. It lies between latitudes 30° and 42° N, and longitudes 32° and 6° W.

Continental Portugal is split by its main river, the Tagus, that flows from Spain and disgorges in the Tagus Estuary at Lisbon, before escaping into the Atlantic. The northern landscape is mountainous towards the interior with several plateaus indented by river valleys, whereas the south, including the Algarve and the Alentejo regions, is characterized by rolling plains.{{cite book|last1=Vieira|first1=Gonçalo|last2=Luís|first2=Zêzere José|last3=Mora|first3=Carla|title=Landscapes and Landforms of Portugal|date=2018|publisher=Springer International Publishing|isbn=978-3-319-03640-3}}

Portugal's highest peak is Mount Pico on Pico Island in the Azores. The archipelagos of Madeira and the Azores are scattered within the Atlantic Ocean: the Azores straddling the Mid-Atlantic Ridge on a tectonic triple junction, and Madeira along a range formed by in-plate hotspot geology. Geologically, these islands were formed by volcanic and seismic events. The last terrestrial volcanic eruption occurred in 1957–58 (Capelinhos) and minor earthquakes occur sporadically.

The exclusive economic zone, a sea zone over which the Portuguese have special rights in exploration and have use of marine resources, covers an area of {{Convert|1,727,408|km2|mi2|abbr=on}}. This is the 3rd largest exclusive economic zone of the European Union and the 20th largest in the world.{{cite web|url=https://www.dn.pt/portugal/interior/portugal-tenta-duplicar-territorio-maritimo-8703814.html|title=Portugal tenta duplicar território marítimo|last=Francisco|first=Susete|date=14 August 2017|website=Diário de Notícias|access-date=7 December 2017|archive-date=7 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171207083806/https://www.dn.pt/portugal/interior/portugal-tenta-duplicar-territorio-maritimo-8703814.html|url-status=live}}

{{Main|Provinces of Portugal}}

File:Portuguese_Provinces_in_1936_with_labels.svg

The term "provinces" ({{langx|pt|províncias}}) has been used throughout history to identify regions of continental Portugal. Current legal subdivisions of Portugal do not coincide with the provinces, but several provinces, in their 19th- and 20th-century versions, still correspond to culturally relevant, strongly self-identifying categories. They include:

• Alentejo (Alto Alentejo, Baixo Alentejo)
• Algarve
• Beira (Beira Alta, Beira Baixa, Beira Litoral)
• Douro Litoral
• Estremadura
• Minho
• Ribatejo
• Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro

The islands of Azores and Madeira were never called "provinces".

{{Main|Climate of Portugal}}

Portugal is mainly characterised by a Mediterranean climate,{{cite web|url=http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/reports/climate/Portugal.htm|title=Climate of the World: Portugal|website=Weatheronline.co.uk|access-date=14 September 2015|archive-date=9 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210509103058/https://www.weatheronline.co.uk/reports/climate/Portugal.htm|url-status=live}} temperate maritime climate in high altitude zones of the Azorean islands; a semi-arid climate in parts of the Beja District far south and in Porto Santo Island, a hot desert climate in the Selvagens Islands and a humid subtropical climate in the western Azores, according to the Köppen-Geiger climate classification. It is one of the warmest countries in Europe: the average temperature in mainland Portugal varies from {{convert|10-12|°C|°F|1}} in the mountainous interior north to {{convert|17-19|°C|°F|1}} in the south and on the Guadiana river basin. There are variations from the highlands to the lowlands.{{cite web|url=http://www.globalbioclimatics.org/form/tb_med.htm|title=Mapas bioclimáticos y biogeográficos|website=Globalbioclimatics.org|access-date=2 August 2017|archive-date=14 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171014103938/http://www.globalbioclimatics.org/form/tb_med.htm|url-status=live}} The Algarve, separated from the Alentejo region by mountains reaching up to {{convert|900|m|ft}} in Alto da Fóia, has a climate similar to that of the southern coastal areas of Spain or Southwest Australia.

Annual average rainfall in the mainland varies from just over {{convert|3200|mm|in|1}} on the Peneda-Gerês National Park to less than {{convert|500|mm|in|1}} in southern parts of Alentejo. Mount Pico receives the largest annual rainfall (over {{convert|6250|mm|in|1}} per year), according to Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera. In some areas, such as the Guadiana basin, annual diurnal average temperatures can be as high as {{convert|24.5|°C|°F}}, and summer's highest temperatures are routinely over {{convert|40|°C|°F}}. The record high of {{convert|47.4|°C|°F}} was recorded in Amareleja.{{cite web|title=Extremos climáticos de temperatura, Capitais Distrito|url=http://www.ipma.pt/pt/oclima/extremos.clima/|publisher=Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera|access-date=23 January 2013|author=Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera|language=pt|year=2012|archive-date=12 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210512044211/https://www.ipma.pt/pt/oclima/extremos.clima/|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://www.ipma.pt/pt/oclima/extremos.clima/|title=Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera, IP Portugal|publisher=ipma.pt|access-date=22 August 2010|archive-date=12 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210512044211/https://www.ipma.pt/pt/oclima/extremos.clima/|url-status=live}}

File:Praia da Marinha (2012-09-27), by Klugschnacker in Wikipedia (86).JPG in the Algarve is considered by the Michelin Guide, one of the 10 most beautiful beaches in Europe.]]

Snowfalls occur regularly, in the winter, in the interior North and Centre, particularly on the mountains. In winter, temperatures may drop below {{convert|-10.0|°C|°F}}. In these places snow can fall any time from October to May. In the South snowfalls are rare but still occur in the highest elevations. While the official absolute minimum by IPMA is {{convert|-16.0|°C|°F}} in Penhas da Saúde and Miranda do Douro, lower temperatures have been recorded. Continental Portugal receives around 2,300-3,200 hours of sunshine annually, an average of 4–6 hours in winter and 10–12 hours in the summer, with higher values in the south-east, south-west, Algarve coast and lower in the north-west.

Portugal's central west and southwest coasts have an extreme ocean seasonal lag; sea temperatures are warmer in October than in July and are their coldest in March. The average sea surface temperature on the west coast of mainland Portugal varies from {{convert|14|-|16|°C|°F|1}} in January−March to {{convert|19|-|21|°C|°F|1}} in August−October while on the south coast it ranges from {{convert|16|°C|°F|1}} in January−March and rises in the summer to about {{convert|22|-|23|°C|°F|1}}, occasionally reaching {{convert|26|°C|°F|1}}.{{cite web|title=Enjoyable, Mediterranean Climate in Portugal|url=https://www.liveandinvestoverseas.com/country-hub/portugal/climate-in-portugal/|department=Ocean temperatures in Portugal|website=LiveandInvestOverseas.com|date=16 May 2016 |access-date=18 December 2019|archive-date=19 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191219004527/https://www.liveandinvestoverseas.com/country-hub/portugal/climate-in-portugal/|url-status=live}} In the Azores, around {{convert|16|°C|°F|1}} in February−April to {{convert|22|-|24|°C|°F|1}} in July−September,{{cite web |title=Average sea temperature of the Azores |url=https://www.seatemperature.org/europe/portugal/sao-roque-do-pico.htm |publisher=seatemperature.org |access-date=9 November 2020 |archive-date=15 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201115043016/https://www.seatemperature.org/europe/portugal/sao-roque-do-pico.htm |url-status=live }} and in Madeira, around {{convert|18|°C|°F|1}} in February−April to {{convert|23|-|24|°C|°F|1}} in August−October.{{cite web |title=Average sea temperature of Madeira |url=https://www.seatemperature.org/europe/portugal/funchal.htm |publisher=seatemperature.org |access-date=9 November 2020 |archive-date=20 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201020194412/https://www.seatemperature.org/europe/portugal/funchal.htm |url-status=live }}

Azores and Madeira have a subtropical climate, although variations between islands exist. The Madeira and Azorean archipelagos have a narrower temperature range, with annual average temperatures exceeding {{convert|20|°C|°F}} in some parts of the coast.Portuguese Meteorological Institute Some islands in Azores have drier months in the summer. Consequently, the islands of the Azores have been identified as having a Mediterranean climate, while some islands (such as Flores or Corvo) are classified as Humid subtropical, transitioning into an Oceanic climate at higher altitudes. Porto Santo Island in Madeira has a warm semi-arid climate. The Savage Islands, which are part of the regional territory of Madeira and a nature reserve are unique in being classified as a desert climate with an annual average rainfall of approximately {{convert|150|mm|in|1}}.

Climate change in Portugal is causing rising temperatures and longer-lasting heat waves, decreases in average rainfall and increases in the number of extremely rainy days (causing droughts and floods), and rising sea levels which will threaten the country's many coastal populations.{{Cite web |last=World Bank Climate Change Knowledge Portal |title=Portugal |url=https://climateknowledgeportal.worldbank.org/country/portugal#:~:text=Portugal%20is%20vulnerable%20to%20the,amount%20of%20its%20population%20lives. |access-date=11 March 2025 |website=climateknowledgeportal.worldbank.org |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=IEA |date=20 August 2021 |title=Portugal Climate Resilience Policy Indicator – Analysis |url=https://www.iea.org/articles/portugal-climate-resilience-policy-indicator |access-date=11 March 2025 |website=IEA |language=en-GB}} Wildfires are quite common and a major issue in Portugal,{{cite web |title=What are the opinions of foresters in Portugal regarding fire? Results of a questionnaire |url=https://www.isa.ulisboa.pt/ceabn/uploads/docs/projectos/opinions%20foresters%20portugal.pdf |access-date=22 September 2024 |date=2003 }} being the country with the highest percentage of burned area, on average, in the entire European Union.{{cite web |title=EFFIS Estimates for European Union - Forest Fires Emergency |url=https://forest-fire.emergency.copernicus.eu/apps/effis.statistics/estimates |access-date=22 September 2024 |date=2023 }}{{Cite web |date=25 June 2024 |title=Extreme wildfires are ramping up in these countries as climate warms |url=https://www.euronews.com/green/2024/06/25/portugal-is-among-the-worst-affected-countries-as-climate-change-ramps-up-extreme-wildfire#:~:text=Temperate%20conifer%20forests%20face%20rising,2015,%20according%20to%20the%20study. |access-date=11 March 2025 |website=euronews |language=en}}

{{Main|Biodiversity of Portugal}}

File:Dreaming of snow (318977965).jpg is the only nationally designated park in Portugal, owing to the rarity and significance of its environment.]]

Portugal is located on the Mediterranean Basin, the third most diverse hotspot of flora in the world. It is home to six terrestrial ecoregions: Azores temperate mixed forests, Cantabrian mixed forests, Madeira evergreen forests, Iberian sclerophyllous and semi-deciduous forests, Northwest Iberian montane forests, and Southwest Iberian Mediterranean sclerophyllous and mixed forests.{{cite journal|last1=Dinerstein|first1=Eric|last2=Olson|first2=David|last3=Joshi|first3=Anup|last4=Vynne|first4=Carly|last5=Burgess|first5=Neil D.|last6=Wikramanayake|first6=Eric|last7=Hahn|first7=Nathan|last8=Palminteri|first8=Suzanne|last9=Hedao|first9=Prashant|last10=Noss|first10=Reed|last11=Hansen|first11=Matt|last12=Locke|first12=Harvey|last13=Ellis|first13=Erle C|last14=Jones|first14=Benjamin|last15=Barber|first15=Charles Victor|last16=Hayes|first16=Randy|last17=Kormos|first17=Cyril|last18=Martin|first18=Vance|last19=Crist|first19=Eileen|last20=Sechrest|first20=Wes|last21=Price|first21=Lori|last22=Baillie|first22=Jonathan E. M.|last23=Weeden|first23=Don|last24=Suckling|first24=Kierán|last25=Davis|first25=Crystal|last26=Sizer|first26=Nigel|last27=Moore|first27=Rebecca|last28=Thau|first28=David|last29=Birch|first29=Tanya|last30=Potapov|first30=Peter|last31=Turubanova|first31=Svetlana|last32=Tyukavina|first32=Alexandra|last33=de Souza|first33=Nadia|last34=Pintea|first34=Lilian|last35=Brito|first35=José C.|last36=Llewellyn|first36=Othman A.|last37=Miller|first37=Anthony G.|last38=Patzelt|first38=Annette|last39=Ghazanfar|first39=Shahina A.|last40=Timberlake|first40=Jonathan|last41=Klöser|first41=Heinz|last42=Shennan-Farpón|first42=Yara|last43=Kindt|first43=Roeland|last44=Lillesø|first44=Jens-Peter Barnekow|last45=van Breugel|first45=Paulo|last46=Graudal|first46=Lars|last47=Voge|first47=Maianna|last48=Al-Shammari|first48=Khalaf F.|last49=Saleem|first49=Muhammad|display-authors=1|title=An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm|journal=BioScience|volume=67|issue=6|year=2017|pages=534–545|issn=0006-3568|doi=10.1093/biosci/bix014|pmid=28608869|pmc=5451287|doi-access=free}} Over 22% of its land area is included in the Natura 2000 network.{{cite web |title=1 - Portugal, Biodiversidade e Capital Natural Uma Leitura Atual |work=Diário da República Eletrónico |url=https://dre.pt/web/guest/home/-/dre/115226936/details/maximized |publisher=Diário da República |access-date=19 March 2021 |archive-date=14 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414131521/https://dre.pt/web/guest/home/-/dre/115226936/details/maximized |url-status=live }}{{cite web |title=Habitats da floresta portuguesa: um refúgio de biodiversidade |url=https://florestas.pt/conhecer/habitats-da-floresta-portuguesa-um-refugio-de-biodiversidade/ |publisher=florestas.pt |access-date=19 March 2021 |archive-date=9 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309101848/https://florestas.pt/conhecer/habitats-da-floresta-portuguesa-um-refugio-de-biodiversidade/ |url-status=live }} Eucalyptus, cork oak and maritime pine together make up 71% of the total forested area of continental Portugal.{{cite web |title=As espécies florestais mais comuns da floresta portuguesa |url=https://florestas.pt/conhecer/as-especies-florestais-mais-comuns-da-floresta-portuguesa/ |publisher=florestas.pt |access-date=19 March 2021 |archive-date=9 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309101652/https://florestas.pt/conhecer/as-especies-florestais-mais-comuns-da-floresta-portuguesa/ |url-status=live }}

Geographical and climatic conditions facilitate the introduction of exotic species that later turn to be invasive and destructive to the native habitats. Around 20 percent of the total number of extant species in continental Portugal are exotic.{{cite web |last1=de Almeida |first1=João Domingues |title=New additions to the exotic vascular flora of continental Portugal |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329872174 |access-date=19 March 2021}} Portugal is the second country in Europe with the highest number of threatened animal and plant species.{{cite web |title=Portugal tem quase 500 espécies em perigo de extinção |url=https://www.sabado.pt/ciencia---saude/detalhe/portugal-tem-quase-500-especies-em-perigo-de-extincao |work=Sábado |access-date=20 March 2021 |archive-date=14 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414153030/https://www.sabado.pt/ciencia---saude/detalhe/portugal-tem-quase-500-especies-em-perigo-de-extincao |url-status=live }}{{cite web |title=Portugal é o 2.º país da Europa com mais espécies de mamíferos e plantas em perigo |date=18 December 2020 |url=https://www.comunidadeculturaearte.com/portugal-e-o-2-o-pais-da-europa-com-mais-especies-de-mamiferos-e-plantas-em-perigo/ |publisher=comunidade cultura e arte |access-date=20 March 2021 |archive-date=14 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414212012/https://www.comunidadeculturaearte.com/portugal-e-o-2-o-pais-da-europa-com-mais-especies-de-mamiferos-e-plantas-em-perigo/ |url-status=live }} Portugal as a whole is an important stopover for migratory bird species.{{cite web |title=Observação de aves |url=https://www.visitportugal.com/pt-pt/node/73855 |publisher=visitportugal.com |access-date=20 March 2021 |archive-date=14 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414132849/https://www.visitportugal.com/pt-pt/node/73855 |url-status=live }}{{cite web |title=Aves de Portugal |url=http://www.avesdeportugal.info/avesdeportugal-alfab.html |publisher=avesdeportugal.info |access-date=20 March 2021 |archive-date=14 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414152820/http://www.avesdeportugal.info/avesdeportugal-alfab.html |url-status=dead }}

The large mammalian species of Portugal (deer, Iberian ibex, wild boar, red fox, Iberian wolf and Iberian lynx) were once widespread throughout the country, but intense hunting, habitat degradation and growing pressure from agriculture and livestock reduced population on a large scale in the 19th and early 20th century, others, such as the Portuguese ibex were even led to extinction. Today, these animals are re-expanding their native range.{{cite web |title=8 mamíferos da floresta portuguesa |url=https://www.florestas.pt/descobrir/8-mamiferos-da-floresta-portuguesa/ |publisher=florestas.pt |access-date=20 March 2021 |archive-date=11 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411002353/https://florestas.pt/descobrir/8-mamiferos-da-floresta-portuguesa/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web |title=Atlas de Mamíferos de Portugal – uma recolha do conhecimento disponível sobre a distribuição dos mamíferos no nosso país |url=http://atlas-mamiferos.uevora.pt/ |publisher=University of Évora |access-date=20 March 2021 |language=pt-PT |archive-date=5 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210305064847/http://atlas-mamiferos.uevora.pt/ |url-status=live }}

The Portuguese west coast is part of the four major Eastern Boundary Upwelling Systems of the ocean. This seasonal upwelling system typically seen during the summer months brings cooler, nutrient rich water up to the sea surface promoting phytoplankton growth, zooplankton development and the subsequent rich diversity in pelagic fish and other marine invertebrates.{{cite web |last1=Correia |first1=Paulo Filipe Alexandre |title=Study of an upwelling event in the Portuguese coast |url=https://fenix.tecnico.ulisboa.pt/downloadFile/563345090415834/Tese_Paulo%20Correia_final.pdf |access-date=22 March 2021 |archive-date=14 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414133259/https://fenix.tecnico.ulisboa.pt/downloadFile/563345090415834/Tese_Paulo%20Correia_final.pdf |url-status=live }} This makes Portugal one of the largest per capita fish-consumers in the world.{{cite web |title=Fish and seafood consumption per capita, 2017 |url=https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/fish-and-seafood-consumption-per-capita |publisher=Our World in Data |access-date=24 March 2021 |archive-date=14 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414152633/https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/fish-and-seafood-consumption-per-capita |url-status=live }} 73% of the freshwater fish occurring in the Iberian Peninsula are endemic, the largest out of any region in Europe.{{cite journal |last1=Rodeles |first1=Amaia A. |last2=Galicia |first2=David |last3=Miranda |first3=Rafael |title=Iberian fish records in the vertebrate collection of the Museum of Zoology of the University of Navarra |journal=Scientific Data|page=160091 |language=en |doi=10.1038/sdata.2016.91 |date=11 October 2016|volume=3 |pmid=27727236 |pmc=5058334 |bibcode=2016NatSD...360091R }} Some protected areas of Portugal include: the Serras de Aire e Candeeiros,{{cite web |title=Serras de Aire e Candeeiros Nature Park |url=https://natural.pt/protected-areas/parque-natural-serras-aire-candeeiros?locale=en |publisher=natural.pt |access-date=20 March 2021 |archive-date=3 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210303215342/https://natural.pt/protected-areas/parque-natural-serras-aire-candeeiros?locale=en |url-status=live }} the Southwest Alentejo and Vicentine Coast Natural Park,{{cite web |title=Parque Natural do Sudoeste Alentejano e Costa Vicentina |url=https://www.infopedia.pt/$parque-natural-do-sudoeste-alentejano-e |publisher=Infopédia, Porto Editora |access-date=20 March 2021 |archive-date=14 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414152824/https://www.infopedia.pt/$parque-natural-do-sudoeste-alentejano-e |url-status=live }} and the Montesinho Natural Park which hosts some of the only populations of Iberian wolf and Iberian brown bear.{{cite web |title=First brown bear sighting in Portugal in over a century |date=9 May 2019 |url=https://www.france24.com/en/20190509-first-brown-bear-sighting-portugal-over-century |publisher=France 24 |access-date=23 March 2021 |archive-date=14 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414153212/https://www.france24.com/en/20190509-first-brown-bear-sighting-portugal-over-century |url-status=live }}

{{Main|Politics of Portugal}}

{{multiple image

| caption_align = center

| image1 = Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa em 2018.jpg

| width1 = 161

| caption1 = Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa,
President since 2016

| image2 = Luís Montenegro.jpg

| width2 = 145

| caption2 = Luís Montenegro,
Prime Minister since 2024

}}

Portugal has been a semi-presidential representative democratic republic since the ratification of the Constitution of 1976, with Lisbon, the nation's largest city, as its capital.{{Cite journal|last=Martins|first=Ana|year=2006|title=Presidential Elements in Government: The Portuguese Semi-Presidential System|url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/euroclv2&id=81&div=&collection=|journal=European Constitutional Law Review|volume=2|pages=81–100|doi=10.1017/S1574019606000812|s2cid=146507857|access-date=24 March 2021|archive-date=14 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414133258/https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/euroclv2&id=81&div=&collection=|url-status=live}} The Constitution grants the division or separation of powers among four sovereignty bodies: the President of the Republic, the Assembly of the Republic, the Government and the Courts.{{cite web|url=http://dre.pt/comum/html/legis/crp.html|title=Constituição da República Portuguesa – D.R.E. (Constitution of the Portuguese Republic)|date=2 April 1976|publisher=Diário da República Electrónico|language=pt|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081221013137/http://www.dre.pt/comum/html/legis/crp.html|archive-date=21 December 2008|url-status=dead|access-date=16 August 2013}}

File:Lisbon, Belém Palace.JPG serves as the official residence and workplace of the President of the Republic.]]

The Head of State is the President of the Republic, elected to a five-year term by direct, universal suffrage; the current president is Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. Although largely a ceremonial post,{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-17760433|title=Portugal profile - Leaders |publisher=BBC |access-date=8 July 2023|date=7 March 2017}} Presidential powers include the appointment of the Prime Minister and other members of the Government; dismissing the Prime Minister; dissolving the Assembly; vetoing legislation (which may be overridden by the Assembly); and declaring war (only on the advice of the Government and with the authorisation of the Assembly).{{Cite web|url=https://www.presidencia.pt/presidente-da-republica/as-funcoes/|title=As Funções Chefe de Estado |publisher=Presidency of the Republic |access-date=8 July 2024}} The President has also supervisory and reserve powers and is the ex officio Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. The President is advised on issues of importance by the Council of State.{{Cite web|url=https://diariodarepublica.pt/dr/lexionario/termo/presidente-republica|title=Presidente da República |publisher=Diário da República |access-date=7 April 2024}}

{{Main|Government of Portugal}}

File:Palácio de São Bento (Assemblée nationale) (9307363528).jpg building in Lisbon]]

The Assembly of the Republic is a single chamber parliament composed of a maximum of 230 deputies elected for a four-year term.{{Cite web|url=https://diariodarepublica.pt/dr/lexionario/termo/assembleia-republica|title=Assembleia da República |publisher=Diário da República |access-date=7 April 2024}} The Government is headed by the Prime Minister and includes Ministers and Secretaries of State, that have full executive powers;{{Cite web|url=https://diariodarepublica.pt/dr/lexionario/termo/primeiro-ministro|title=Primeiro-Ministro |publisher=Diário da República |access-date=7 April 2024}} the current prime minister is Luís Montenegro.{{Cite web|url=https://www.portugal.gov.pt/pt/gc24/primeiro-ministro|title=Luís Montenegro Primeiro-Ministro |publisher=XXIV Constitutional Government website |access-date=23 April 2024}} The Council of Ministers – under the Prime Minister (or the President at the latter's request) and the Ministers – acts as the cabinet.{{Cite web|url=https://diariodarepublica.pt/dr/lexionario/termo/conselho-ministros|title=Conselho de Ministros |publisher=Diário da República |access-date=7 April 2024}} The Courts are organized into several levels, among the judicial, administrative and fiscal branches. The Supreme Courts are institutions of last resort/appeal. A thirteen-member Constitutional Court oversees the constitutionality of the laws.{{Cite web|url=https://diariodarepublica.pt/dr/lexionario/termo/tribunais|title=Tribunais |publisher=Diário da República |access-date=7 April 2024}}

Portugal operates a multi-party system of competitive legislatures/local administrative governments at the national, regional and local levels. The Assembly of the Republic, Regional Assemblies and local municipalities and parishes, are dominated by two political parties, the Social Democratic Party and the Socialist Party, in addition to Enough, the Liberal Initiative, the Left Bloc, the Unitary Democratic Coalition (Portuguese Communist Party and Ecologist Party "The Greens"), LIVRE, the CDS – People's Party and the People Animals Nature.{{Cite web|url=https://www.parlamento.pt/DeputadoGP/Paginas/GruposParlamentaresI.aspx|title=Composição dos Grupos Parlamentares/Partidos |publisher=Assembly of the Republic |access-date=7 April 2024}}

{{Main|Foreign relations of Portugal}}

A member state of the United Nations since 1955, Portugal is a founding member of NATO (1949), the OECD (1961) and EFTA (1960); it left the last in 1986 to join the European Economic Community, which became the European Union in 1993. In 1996, Portugal co-founded the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP), also known as the Lusophone Commonwealth, an international organisation and political association of Lusophone nations where Portuguese is an official language.

File:Ilham Aliyev attended the 2010 Lisbon Summit (6).jpg.]]

Portugal has hosted several international summits and events like the first EU–Brazil summit in July 2007, the second EU–African Union summit in December 2007, the signing of the Treaty of Lisbon also in December 2007, and the NATO summit in November 2010. Portugal was a full member of the Latin Union (1983) and the Organisation of Ibero-American States (1949). It has a friendship alliance and dual citizenship treaty with its former colony, Brazil. Portugal and the United Kingdom share the world's oldest active military accord through their Anglo-Portuguese Alliance (Treaty of Windsor), signed in 1373.

Olivenza: Under Portuguese sovereignty since 1297, the municipality of Olivença was ceded to Spain under the Treaty of Badajoz in 1801, after the War of the Oranges. Portugal claimed it back in 1815 under the Treaty of Vienna. However, since the 19th century, it has been continuously ruled by Spain which considers the territory theirs not only de facto but also de jure.{{Cite web |url=http://one-europe.net/portugal-spain-the-territorial-disputes-of-olivenza-and-the-savage-islands |title=Portugal & Spain – the territorial disputes of Olivenza and the Savage Islands (Part II) |work=OneEurope |date=11 February 2015 |access-date=29 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170929140112/http://one-europe.net/portugal-spain-the-territorial-disputes-of-olivenza-and-the-savage-islands |archive-date=29 September 2017 |url-status=dead}}

Savage Islands: A small group of mostly uninhabited islets which fall under Portuguese Madeira's regional autonomous jurisdiction. Found in 1364 by Italian mariners under the service of Prince Henry The Navigator,{{cite journal |url=https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/2744/274432938006.pdf |title=O Arquipélago das Selvages. Um Mundo de Ilhas Portuguesas com História |journal=Annuario de Estudios Atlanticos |year=2015 |issn=0570-4065 |volume=61 |last=Vieria |first=Alberto |pages=1–14 |access-date=21 April 2023 |archive-date=21 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230421171504/https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/2744/274432938006.pdf |url-status=live }} it was first noted by Portuguese navigator Diogo Gomes de Sintra in 1438. Historically, the islands have belonged to private Portuguese owners from the 16th century on, until 1971{{Cite web|url=https://ifcn.madeira.gov.pt/areas-protegidas/ilhas-selvagens/historial.html|title=Historial|date=6 June 2022|website=Instituto das Florestas e da Conservação da Natureza, IP-RAM|access-date=21 April 2023|archive-date=21 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230421170001/https://ifcn.madeira.gov.pt/areas-protegidas/ilhas-selvagens/historial.html|url-status=live}} when the government purchased them and established a natural reserve area covering the whole archipelago. The islands have been claimed by Spain since 1911,{{cite web |url=https://www.ieee.es/Galerias/fichero/docs_opinion/2017/DIEEEO22-2017_IslasSalvajes_GomezAdeva.pdf |title=Las Islas Salvajes: la mar como punto de encuentro |last=Adeva |first=Ana Gómez |publisher=Instituto Espanõl de Estudios Estratégicos |date=6 March 2017 |access-date=24 December 2023 |archive-date=13 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230813175045/https://www.ieee.es/Galerias/fichero/docs_opinion/2017/DIEEEO22-2017_IslasSalvajes_GomezAdeva.pdf |url-status=live }} and the dispute has caused some periods of political tension between the two countries.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theportugalnews.com/news/spain-reignites-island-tussle/33530|title=Spain reignites island tussle|work=The Portugal News|date=31 December 2014|access-date=24 December 2023|archive-date=14 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240114152958/https://www.theportugalnews.com/news/spain-reignites-island-tussle/33530|url-status=live}} The main problem for Spain's attempts to claim these small islands, has been not so much their intrinsic value, but the fact that they expand Portugal's exclusive economic zone considerably to the south, in detriment of Spain.{{Cite news |url=http://www.algarvedailynews.com/features/environment/4361-new-maritime-area-in-dispute-between-portugal-and-spain |title=New maritime area in dispute between Portugal and Spain |newspaper=Algarve Daily News |access-date=29 September 2017 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170929135147/http://www.algarvedailynews.com/features/environment/4361-new-maritime-area-in-dispute-between-portugal-and-spain |archive-date=29 September 2017 |df=dmy-all}} The Selvagens Islands have been tentatively added to UNESCO's world heritage list in 2017.{{Cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/6217/|title=Selvagens Islands|publisher=UNESCO World Heritage Centre|access-date=18 April 2023|archive-date=12 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412141507/https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/6217/|url-status=live}}

{{Main|Portuguese Armed Forces}}

File:The Portuguese navy frigate NRP Bartolomeu Dias (F-333) (cropped) 01.jpg frigate NRP Bartolomeu Dias]]

The armed forces have three branches: Navy, Army and Air Force, commanded by the Portuguese Armed Forces General Staff. They serve primarily as a self-defence force whose mission is to protect the territorial integrity of the country but can also be used in offensive missions in foreign territories.{{Cite web |title=Poderes e Competências |url=https://anibalcavacosilva.arquivo.presidencia.pt/comandantesupremo/?idc=301&idi=91150 |access-date=30 December 2023 |website=anibalcavacosilva.arquivo.presidencia.pt |language=pt |archive-date=30 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231230115133/https://anibalcavacosilva.arquivo.presidencia.pt/comandantesupremo/?idc=301&idi=91150 |url-status=live }} In recent years, the Portuguese Armed Forces have carried out several NATO and European Union military missions in various territories, namely in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Mali, Central African Republic, Somalia, Mozambique and East Timor. As of 2023, the three branches numbered 24.000 military personnel. Portuguese military expenditure in 2023 was more than 4 billion US$, representing 1.48 per cent of GDP.{{Cite web |title=Defence Expenditure of NATO Countries (2014-2023) |url=https://www.nato.int/nato_static_fl2014/assets/pdf/2023/7/pdf/230707-def-exp-2023-en.pdf |access-date=30 December 2023 |archive-date=15 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230715092752/https://www.nato.int/nato_static_fl2014/assets/pdf/2023/7/pdf/230707-def-exp-2023-en.pdf |url-status=live }}

The Army of 11,000 personnel comprises three brigades and other small units. An Infantry Brigade (mainly equipped with Pandur II APC, M114 howitzer and MIM-72 Chaparral air defence systems), a Mechanized Brigade (mainly equipped with Leopard 2 A6 tanks and M113A2 APC) and a Rapid Reaction Brigade (consisting of Paratroopers, Commandos, Rangers and Artillery Regiment). The Navy (7,000 personnel, of which 900 are marines), the world's oldest surviving naval force, has five frigates, two corvettes, two submarines, and 20 oceanic patrol vessels. The Air Force (6,000 personnel) has the Lockheed F-16M Fighting Falcon as the main combat aircraft.

In addition to the three branches of the armed forces, there is the National Republican Guard, a security force subject to military law and organisation (gendarmerie) comprising 25,000 personnel. This force is under the authority of both the Defence and the Interior Ministry. It has provided detachments for participation in international operations in Iraq and East Timor. The United States maintains a military presence with 770 troops in the Lajes Air Base at Terceira Island, in the Azores. The Allied Joint Force Command Lisbon (JFC Lisbon) is one of the three main subdivisions of NATO's Allied Command Operations.

{{Main|Judiciary of Portugal}}

File:Campus Justiça (cropped).JPG

The Portuguese legal system is part of the civil law legal system. The main laws include the Constitution (1976), the Portuguese Civil Code (1966) and the Penal Code of Portugal (1982), as amended. Other relevant laws are the Commercial Code (1888) and the Civil Procedure Code (1961). Portuguese laws were applied in the former colonies and territories and continue to be influences for those countries. The supreme national courts are the Supreme Court of Justice and the Constitutional Court. The Public Ministry, headed by the Attorney General of the Republic, constitutes the independent body of public prosecutors.

Drug decriminalisation was declared in 2001, making Portugal the first country to allow usage and personal possession of all common drugs. Despite criticism from other European nations, who stated Portugal's drug consumption would tremendously increase, overall drug use has declined along with HIV infection cases, which dropped 50 percent by 2009. Overall drug use among 16- to 18-year-olds declined, however use of marijuana rose slightly.{{Cite web |url=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=portugal-drug-decriminalization |title=5 Years After: Portugal's Drug Decriminalization Policy Shows Positive Results |website=Scientific American |access-date=2 June 2010 |archive-date=15 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130815160507/http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=portugal-drug-decriminalization |url-status=live }}[https://web.archive.org/web/20090427145430/http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1893946,00.html Drugs in Portugal: Did Decriminalization Work?]{{cite web|last1=Greenwald|first1=Glenn|title=Drug Decriminalization in Portugal: Lessons for Creating Fair and Successful Drug Policies|url=http://www.cato.org/publications/white-paper/drug-decriminalization-portugal-lessons-creating-fair-successful-drug-policies|publisher=Cato Institute|access-date=14 February 2015|format=PDF|date=2 April 2009|archive-date=20 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210120040916/https://www.cato.org/publications/white-paper/drug-decriminalization-portugal-lessons-creating-fair-successful-drug-policies|url-status=live}}

LGBT rights in Portugal have increased substantially in the 21st century. In 2003, Portugal added an anti-discrimination employment law on the basis of sexual orientation.{{cite web|url=http://www.pgdlisboa.pt/leis/lei_mostra_articulado.php?nid=441&tabela=lei_velhas&nversao=1&so_miolo=|title=::: Lei n.º 99/2003, de 27 de Agosto|website=pgdlisboa.pt|access-date=8 December 2019|archive-date=6 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806093208/http://www.pgdlisboa.pt/leis/lei_mostra_articulado.php?nid=441&tabela=lei_velhas&nversao=1&so_miolo=|url-status=live}} In 2004, sexual orientation was added to the Constitution as part of the protected from discrimination characteristics.{{cite web|url=http://www.pgdlisboa.pt/leis/lei_mostra_articulado.php?nid=79&tabela=leis&ficha=1&pagina=1&so_miolo=|title=::: Lei n.º 1/2004, de 24 de Julho|website=pgdlisboa.pt|access-date=8 December 2019|archive-date=1 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200501183704/http://www.pgdlisboa.pt/leis/lei_mostra_articulado.php?nid=79&tabela=leis&ficha=1&pagina=1&so_miolo=|url-status=live}} In 2010, Portugal became the sixth country in Europe and eighth in the world to legalize same-sex marriage at the national level.{{cite web|url=http://dre.pt/pdf1sdip/2010/05/10500/0185301853.pdf|title=Diário da República, 1.ª série — N.º 105 — 31 May 2010|access-date=14 September 2013|archive-date=6 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140106163651/https://dre.pt/pdf1sdip/2010/05/10500/0185301853.pdf|url-status=live}}

LGBT adoption has been allowed since 2016{{cite web|url=http://app.parlamento.pt/webutils/docs/doc.pdf?path=6148523063446f764c3246795a5868774d546f334e7a67774c336470626e526c654852766331396863484a76646d466b62334d764d6a41784e69394d587a4a664d6a41784e6935775a47593d&fich=L_2_2016.pdf&Inline=true|title=Lei n.º 2/2016 de 29 de fevereiro|website=App.parlamento.pt|access-date=11 April 2017|archive-date=27 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180927181934/http://app.parlamento.pt/webutils/docs/doc.pdf?path=6148523063446f764c3246795a5868774d546f334e7a67774c336470626e526c654852766331396863484a76646d466b62334d764d6a41784e69394d587a4a664d6a41784e6935775a47593d&fich=L_2_2016.pdf&Inline=true|url-status=live}} as has female same-sex couple access to medically assisted reproduction.{{cite web|url=https://rr.sapo.pt/noticia/54117/parlamento_aprova_barrigas_de_aluguer_e_procriacao_medicamente_assistida|title=Parlamento aprova barrigas de aluguer e Procriação Medicamente Assistida – Renascença|last=Renascença|website=rr.sapo.pt|date=13 May 2016|access-date=11 April 2017|archive-date=30 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190630063804/http://rr.sapo.pt/noticia/54117/parlamento_aprova_barrigas_de_aluguer_e_procriacao_medicamente_assistida|url-status=live}} In 2017 the Law of Gender Identity,{{Cite news|url=https://expresso.sapo.pt/sociedade/2016-12-31-Nova-lei-vai-permitir-mudanca-de-sexo-a-menores|title=Governo entrega em janeiro projeto da nova Lei da Identidade de Género, que prevê a descida da idade legal e o fim do atestado médico obrigatório|website=Expresso.sapo.pt|access-date=29 July 2018|archive-date=4 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180704003548/http://expresso.sapo.pt/sociedade/2016-12-31-Nova-lei-vai-permitir-mudanca-de-sexo-a-menores|url-status=dead}} simplified the legal process of gender and name change for transgender people, making it easier for minors to change their sex marker in legal documents.{{Cite news|url=https://www.dn.pt/sociedade/interior/375-pessoas-mudaram-de-genero-no-registo-civil-5590815.html|title=Dário de Notícias: 375 pessoas mudaram de género no registo civil|date=1 July 2017|website=Dn.pt|access-date=29 July 2018|archive-date=12 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181012010306/https://www.dn.pt/sociedade/interior/375-pessoas-mudaram-de-genero-no-registo-civil-5590815.html|url-status=dead}} In 2018, the right to gender identity and gender expression self-determination became protected, intersex minors became protected by law from unnecessary medical procedures "until the minor gender identity manifests" and the right of protection from discrimination on the basis of sex characteristics became protected by the same law.{{cite web|url=https://dre.pt/web/guest/pesquisa/-/search/115933863/details/maximized|title=Lei 38/2018, 2018-08-07|website=Diário da República Eletrónico|language=pt|access-date=8 December 2019|archive-date=8 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191208131252/https://dre.pt/web/guest/pesquisa/-/search/115933863/details/maximized|url-status=live}}

Over the past 30 years, Euthanasia legalization has been proposed and approved in several parliamentary reviews, but has been blocked by the Constitutional Court, with the most recent unfavorable decision dating from 2025.{{cite news|url=https://www.publico.pt/2025/04/22/sociedade/noticia/morte-assistida-30-anos-quatro-vetos-cinco-textos-nova-derrota-constitucional-2130626|title=Morte assistida: 30 anos, quatro vetos e cinco textos depois, nova derrota no Constitucional |website=Público|date=22 April 2025|access-date=22 April 2025}} In the most recent proposal, national residents over 18 who were terminally ill and in extreme suffering, but who could still decide to, would have the legal right to request for assisted dying. For non-residents or foreigners euthanasia would not be allowed.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/12/portuguese-parliament-legalises-euthanasia-after-long-battle#:~:text=After%20a%20long%20battle%2C%20Portugal,of%20countries%20around%20the%20world.|title=Portuguese Parliament legalises Euthanasia after long battle|website=The Guardian|date=12 May 2023|access-date=13 May 2023|archive-date=19 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230519113348/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/12/portuguese-parliament-legalises-euthanasia-after-long-battle#:~:text=After%20a%20long%20battle%2C%20Portugal,of%20countries%20around%20the%20world.|url-status=live}}

{{Main|Law enforcement in Portugal}}

File:Verão seguro.jpg agents patrolling in bicycles]]

Portugal's main police organisations are the Guarda Nacional Republicana – GNR (National Republican Guard), a gendarmerie; the Polícia de Segurança Pública – PSP (Public Security Police), a civilian police force who work in urban areas; and the Polícia Judiciária – PJ (Judicial Police), a highly specialised criminal investigation police that is overseen by the Public Ministry.

Portugal has 49 correctional facilities in total run by the Ministry of Justice. They include seventeen central prisons, four special prisons, twenty-seven regional prisons, and one 'Cadeia de Apoio' (Support Detention Centre).{{cite web|url=http://prisonstudies.org/country/portugal|title=Portugal {{!}} World Prison Brief|website=prisonstudies.org|access-date=24 April 2019|archive-date=24 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190424155203/http://prisonstudies.org/country/portugal|url-status=live}} {{As of|2023|January|1}}, their current prison population is about 12,257 inmates, which comes to about 0.12% of their entire population.{{Cite web |title=Portugal {{!}} World Prison Brief |url=https://www.prisonstudies.org/country/portugal |access-date=1 February 2024 |website=prisonstudies.org |archive-date=1 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240201013547/https://www.prisonstudies.org/country/portugal |url-status=live }} The incarceration rate has been on the rise since 2010, with a 15% increase over the past eight years.{{cite web |title=Portugal : les prisons en 2021 |url=https://www.prison-insider.com/fichepays/portugal-2021 |access-date=20 April 2021 |website=Prison Insider |language=fr |archive-date=20 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210420224255/https://www.prison-insider.com/fichepays/portugal-2021 |url-status=live }}

{{Main|Administrative divisions of Portugal}}

Administratively, Portugal is divided into 308 municipalities (municípios or concelhos), which after a reform in 2013 are subdivided into 3,092 civil parishes ({{langx|pt|freguesia}}). Operationally, the municipality and civil parish, along with the national government, are the only legally local administrative units identified by the government of Portugal (for example, cities, towns or villages have no standing in law, although may be used as catchment for the defining services). Continental Portugal is agglomerated into 18 districts, while the archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira are governed as autonomous regions; the largest units, established since 1976, are either mainland Portugal and the autonomous regions of Portugal (Azores and Madeira).

The 18 districts of mainland Portugal are: Aveiro, Beja, Braga, Bragança, Castelo Branco, Coimbra, Évora, Faro, Guarda, Leiria, Lisbon, Portalegre, Porto, Santarém, Setúbal, Viana do Castelo, Vila Real and Viseu – each district takes the name of the district capital.

Within the European Union NUTS system, Portugal is divided into nine regions:{{Cite web |title=Official Journal L 87/2023 |url=https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=OJ:L:2023:087:FULL&from=EN |access-date=13 January 2024 |website=eur-lex.europa.eu}} the Azores, Alentejo, Algarve, Centro, Lisboa, Madeira, Norte, Oeste e Vale do Tejo and Península de Setúbal, and with the exception of the Azores and Madeira, NUTS areas are subdivided into 28 subregions. Population estimates from 2023.

{{Main|Economy of Portugal}}

File:Parque das Nações 31.jpg in Parque das Nações with the Vasco da Gama Bridge, the longest bridge in the EU, in Lisbon]]

Portugal is a developed and high-income country{{cite web |date=8 April 2014 |title=World Economic Outlook April 2014 - Recovery Strengthens, Remains Uneven |url=http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2014/01/pdf/text.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140408225045/http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2014/01/pdf/text.pdf |archive-date=8 April 2014 |access-date=20 April 2021 |publisher=International Monetary Fund}}{{cite web |title=SOCIAL PROGRESS INDEX 2015 : EXECUTIVE SUMMARY |url=https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/au/Documents/public-sector/deloitte-au-ps-social-progress-index-executive-summary-2015-90415.pdf |access-date=2 August 2017 |publisher=Deloitte |archive-date=23 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150723035217/https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/au/Documents/public-sector/deloitte-au-ps-social-progress-index-executive-summary-2015-90415.pdf |url-status=live }}{{cite web |title=Quality of Life Index by Country 2020 Mid-Year |url=https://www.numbeo.com/quality-of-life/rankings_by_country.jsp |website=numbeo.com |access-date=10 December 2019 |archive-date=23 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180123014301/https://www.numbeo.com/quality-of-life/rankings_by_country.jsp |url-status=live }} with a GDP per capita of 82% of the EU27 average in 2024,{{cite web|url=https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Purchasing_power_parities_and_GDP_per_capita_-_preliminary_estimate|title=Purchasing power parities and GDP per capita - preliminary estimate|publisher=Eurostat|website=ec.europa.eu|date=27 March 2025|access-date=22 April 2025}} and a HDI of 0.874 (the 42nd highest in the world) in 2022.{{Cite web |publisher=United Nations |title=Country Insights |url=https://hdr.undp.org/data-center/country-insights |language=en |access-date=9 December 2022 |archive-date=12 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220712063231/https://hdr.undp.org/data-center/country-insights |url-status=live }}{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/01/world/europe/01iht-portugal.4.6436125.html |title=Portugal, taking EU reins, has a fight on its hands |last=Bilefsky |first=Dan |date=1 July 2007 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=30 August 2018 |archive-date=6 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200506192917/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/01/world/europe/01iht-portugal.4.6436125.html |url-status=live }} It holds the 13th largest gold reserve in the world at its national central bank,{{Cite web|url=https://www.gold.org/goldhub/data/gold-reserves-by-country|title=Gold Reserves by Country 2021|date=5 December 2023|publisher=World Gold Council|access-date=20 October 2022|archive-date=20 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221020175325/https://www.gold.org/goldhub/data/gold-reserves-by-country|url-status=live}} has the 8th largest proven reserves of lithium,{{Cite web|url=https://investingnews.com/daily/resource-investing/battery-metals-investing/lithium-investing/lithium-reserves-country/|title=Lithium Reserves: Top 4 Countries|website=investingnews.com|access-date=20 October 2022|archive-date=20 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221020151212/https://investingnews.com/daily/resource-investing/battery-metals-investing/lithium-investing/lithium-reserves-country/|url-status=live}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.volkswagenag.com/en/news/stories/2020/03/lithium-mining-what-you-should-know-about-the-contentious-issue.html |title=Lithium mining: What you should know about the contentious issue|access-date=20 October 2022 |archive-date=1 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201201000543/https://www.volkswagenag.com/en/news/stories/2020/03/lithium-mining-what-you-should-know-about-the-contentious-issue.html |url-status=dead }}{{Cite web|url=https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2022/mcs2022-lithium.pdf|title=Mineral Commodity Summaries 2022 - Lithium, Brian W. Jaskula, U.S. Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summaries, January 2022|access-date=20 October 2022|archive-date=8 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221008151841/https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2022/mcs2022-lithium.pdf|url-status=live}} with total exports representing 46.6% of its GDP in 2024.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nowcanal.pt/ultimas/detalhe/peso-das-exportacoes-no-pib-cai-pelo-segundo-ano-consecutivo|title=Peso das exportações no PIB cai pelo segundo ano consecutivo |website=www.nowcanal.pt|date=3 March 2025|access-date=22 April 2025}} Portugal has been a net beneficiary of the European Union budget since it joined the union, then known as EEC, in 1986.{{Cite web |last=Ross |first=Jenna |date=20 September 2019 |title=Which Countries Are the Biggest Boost or Drag on the EU Budget? |url=https://www.visualcapitalist.com/which-countries-are-the-biggest-boost-or-drag-on-the-eu-budget/ |access-date=14 June 2023 |website=Visual Capitalist |language=en-US |archive-date=21 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230621121305/https://www.visualcapitalist.com/which-countries-are-the-biggest-boost-or-drag-on-the-eu-budget/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |title=Contribuições líquidas anuais por habitante para o Orçamento da União Europeia — Instituto +Liberdade |url=https://maisliberdade.pt/maisfactos/contribuicoes-liquidas-por-habitante-para-o-orcamento-da-uniao-europeia/ |access-date=14 June 2023 |website=Mais Liberdade |language=pt |archive-date=21 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230621121306/https://maisliberdade.pt/maisfactos/contribuicoes-liquidas-por-habitante-para-o-orcamento-da-uniao-europeia/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |date=27 May 2019 |title=EU budget: Who pays most in and who gets most back? |language=en-GB |publisher=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-48256318 |access-date=14 June 2023 |archive-date=21 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230621121304/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-48256318 |url-status=live }}{{Cite journal |last1=Berthold |first1=Busch |last2=Björn |first2=Kauder |last3=Samina |first3=Sultan |date=2 November 2022 |title=Net contributors and net recipients in the EU |url=https://www.iwkoeln.de/en/studies/berthold-busch-bjoern-kauder-samina-sultan-net-contributors-and-net-recipients-in-the-eu.html |journal=Busch IW-Report |language=en-US |issue=55 |access-date=14 June 2023 |archive-date=21 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230621121307/https://www.iwkoeln.de/en/studies/berthold-busch-bjoern-kauder-samina-sultan-net-contributors-and-net-recipients-in-the-eu.html |url-status=live }}

By the end of 2023, GDP (PPP) was $47,331 per capita, according to the World Bank.{{cite web|url=https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.CD?locations=PT|title=GDP per capita, PPP (current international $) - Portugal|publisher=The World Bank |access-date=3 July 2024}} In 2023, Portugal had the 5th lowest GDP per capita (PPP) of the eurozone out of 20 members, and the 8th lowest of the European Union out of 27 member-states.{{Cite web |last= |title=GDP per capita, PPP (current international $) - European Union |url=https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.CD?end=2023&locations=EU&most_recent_value_desc=true&skipRedirection=true&start=2023&view=bar |access-date=3 July 2024 |publisher=The World Bank |language=en }} In 2022, labour productivity had fallen to the fourth lowest among the 27 member-states of the European Union (EU) and was 35% lower than the EU average.{{Cite web |title=Produtividade por hora de trabalho — Instituto +Liberdade |url=https://maisliberdade.pt/maisfactos/produtividade-por-hora-de-trabalho/ |access-date=13 June 2023 |website=Mais Liberdade |language=pt |archive-date=7 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230607082310/https://maisliberdade.pt/maisfactos/produtividade-por-hora-de-trabalho/ |url-status=live }}

Portugal was an original member of the eurozone. The national currency, the euro (€) started transitioning from the Portuguese Escudo in 2000 and consolidated in 2002. Portugal's central bank is the Banco de Portugal, an integral part of the European System of Central Banks. Most industries, businesses and financial institutions are concentrated in the Lisbon and Porto metropolitan areas – the Setúbal, Aveiro, Braga, Coimbra, Leiria and Faro districts are the biggest economic centres outside these two main areas.

Since the Carnation Revolution of 1974, which culminated in the end of one of Portugal's most notable phases of economic expansion,{{cite web|title=História|url=http://www.sedes.pt/conteudo.aspx?args=1,2|publisher=SEDES|access-date=12 May 2013|language=pt, en|year=2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120319193720/http://www.sedes.pt/conteudo.aspx?args=1,2|archive-date=19 March 2012|url-status=dead}} a significant change has occurred in the nation's annual economic growth.{{cite web|url=http://analisesocial.ics.ul.pt/documentos/1223460596B6rVC1pu1Mx32RY7.pdf|title=Ruptura e regulação da economia portuguesa nos anos 70|website=Analisesocial.ics.ul.pt|access-date=2 April 2019|archive-date=2 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402200125/http://analisesocial.ics.ul.pt/documentos/1223460596B6rVC1pu1Mx32RY7.pdf|url-status=live}} After the turmoil of the 1974 revolution, Portugal tried to adapt to a changing modern global economy, a process that continues. Since the 1990s, Portugal's public consumption-based economic development model has changed to a system focused on exports, private investment and the development of the high-tech sector. Consequently, business services have overtaken more traditional industries such as textiles, clothing, footwear and cork (Portugal is the world's leading cork producer),Grande Enciclopédia Universal, p. 10543, "Portugal", para. 4 wood products and beverages.{{cite web|title=Investing in Portugal|url=http://www.ft.com/reports/investportugal2008 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/http://www.ft.com/reports/investportugal2008 |archive-date=10 December 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|publisher=The Financial Times Ltd|access-date=11 May 2013|date=8 April 2008}}

In the 2010s, the Portuguese economy suffered its most severe recession since the 1970s, which resulted in the country receiving a 78-billion-euro bailout from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund in May 2011.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/15/business/global/portugals-debt-efforts-may-be-a-warning-for-greece.html|title=Portugal's Debt Efforts May Be a Warning for Greece|first=Landon Jr.|last=Thomas|date=14 February 2012|access-date=2 August 2017|newspaper=The New York Times|archive-date=27 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170827015107/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/15/business/global/portugals-debt-efforts-may-be-a-warning-for-greece.html|url-status=live}} By end of 2023, the share of debt as percentage of GDP fell below 100 percent, to 97.9%,{{cite web |title=Procedimento dos Défices Excessivos 2ª Notificação|url=https://www.ine.pt/xportal/xmain?xpid=INE&xpgid=ine_destaques&DESTAQUESdest_boui=645949245&DESTAQUESmodo=2 |publisher=INE |access-date=14 October 2024}} and fell further to 94.9% by the end of 2024.{{cite web |title=Procedimento dos Défices Excessivos - 2025|url=https://www.ine.pt/xportal/xmain?xpid=INE&xpgid=ine_destaques&DESTAQUESdest_boui=698316787&DESTAQUESmodo=2 |website=www.ine.pt |publisher=Instituto Nacional de Estatística |date=26 March 2025|access-date=26 March 2025}}

In 2024, the average gross salary was €1,602 per month,{{cite web |title=Em termos reais, a remuneração bruta total mensal média por trabalhador aumentou 3,2%. Em 2024, aumentou 3,8% - 4.º Trimestre de 2024 |url=https://www.ine.pt/xportal/xmain?xpid=INE&xpgid=ine_destaques&DESTAQUESdest_boui=695021120&DESTAQUESmodo=2 |publisher=INE |access-date=14 February 2025|date=14 February 2025}} and the minimum wage, which is regulated by law, is €870 per month (paid 14 times per annum) as of 2025.{{cite news|url=https://www.pordata.pt/pt/estatisticas/salarios-e-pensoes/salarios/salario-minimo-nacional|title=Salário mínimo nacional|publisher=Portdata|access-date=1 January 2025|language=pt}} The Global Competitiveness Report for 2019, published by the World Economic Forum, placed Portugal 34th. The Numbeo quality of life index placed Portugal 20th in the world in 2023.

File:Vehículos en el puerto de Setúbal, Portugal, 2019-05-24, DD 01.jpg cars in the Port of Setúbal]]

Companies listed on Euronext Lisbon stock exchange like EDP, Galp, Jerónimo Martins, Mota-Engil, Novabase, Semapa, Portucel Soporcel, Portugal Telecom and Sonae, are among the largest corporations by number of employees, net income or international market share. The Euronext Lisbon is the major stock exchange and part of the pan-European group of stock exchanges Euronext. The PSI-20 is Portugal's most selective and widely known stock index.

The OECD economic reports since 2018 show recovery.{{cite web|url=https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2017/06/29/mcs6292017-portugal-staff-concluding-statement-of-the-2017-article-iv-mission|title=Portugal: Staff Concluding Statement of the 2017 Article IV Mission |publisher=International Monetary Fund |access-date=2 August 2017|archive-date=2 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170802210018/https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2017/06/29/mcs6292017-portugal-staff-concluding-statement-of-the-2017-article-iv-mission|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/file_import/2019-european-semester-country-report-portugal_en_0.pdf|title=Country Report Portugal 2019 Including an In-Depth Review on the prevention and correction of macroeconomic imbalances|year=2019|publisher=European Commission|access-date=11 July 2020|archive-date=8 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308143234/https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/file_import/2019-european-semester-country-report-portugal_en_0.pdf|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://www.oecd.org/economy/portugal-economic-snapshot/|title=Portugal Economic Snapshot - OECD|publisher=OECD |access-date=13 April 2020|archive-date=3 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200403122638/http://www.oecd.org/economy/portugal-economic-snapshot/|url-status=live}} Rents and house prices have skyrocketed in Portugal, particularly Lisbon, where rents jumped 37% in 2022. The 8% inflation rate in the same year exacerbated the problem.{{Cite news |last1=Rua |first1=Patricia Vicente |last2=Demony |first2=Catarina |last3=Demony |first3=Catarina |date=17 February 2023 |title=Portugal ends Golden Visas, curtails Airbnb rentals to address housing crisis |language=en |publisher=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/portugal-ends-golden-visas-curtails-airbnb-rentals-address-housing-crisis-2023-02-16/ |access-date=17 February 2023 |archive-date=17 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230217132101/https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/portugal-ends-golden-visas-curtails-airbnb-rentals-address-housing-crisis-2023-02-16/ |url-status=live }} According to the IMF, Portugal's economic recovery from the COVID pandemic in 2022 was substantially better than the EU average. Although modest, economic growth continued in 2023 while inflation continued decreasing to 5%.{{Cite web|url=https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/CR/Issues/2023/06/21/Portugal-2023-Article-IV-Consultation-Press-Release-and-Staff-Report-535040#:~:text=IMF%20Staff%20Country%20Reports&text=Growth%20is%20projected%20to%20slow,core%20inflation%20declining%20more%20gradually|access-date=22 July 2023|title=Portugal 2023 Article IV Consultation|archive-date=24 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230724185359/https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/CR/Issues/2023/06/21/Portugal-2023-Article-IV-Consultation-Press-Release-and-Staff-Report-535040#:~:text=IMF%20Staff%20Country%20Reports&text=Growth%20is%20projected%20to%20slow,core%20inflation%20declining%20more%20gradually|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=https://economy-finance.ec.europa.eu/economic-surveillance-eu-economies/portugal/economic-forecast-portugal_en|title=Economic forecast for Portugal - European Commission|website=economy-finance.ec.europa.eu|access-date=30 August 2023|archive-date=30 August 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230830172558/https://economy-finance.ec.europa.eu/economic-surveillance-eu-economies/portugal/economic-forecast-portugal_en|url-status=live}} In 2024 the annual inflation continued a downward trend ending at 2.3% and accompanied by a small economic growth.{{cite web|url=https://economy-finance.ec.europa.eu/economic-surveillance-eu-economies/portugal/economic-forecast-portugal_en#:~:text=All%20in%20all%2C%20annual%20HICP,Autumn%20Forecast%20for%20both%20years. |title=Economic forecast for Portugal - European Commission }}{{cite web|url=https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/unhappy-anniversary-missed-opportunities-growth-and-convergence-portugal|title=Unhappy Anniversary Missed Opportunities Growth and Convergence Portugal|date=11 March 2024}} In 2025, the economy is expected to continue growing at 1.9 annually, while inflation is forecast at 2.1% for the fiscal year. These moderately optimistic indicators are supported by increased private consumption, investment, employment growth and unemployment easing.{{cite web|url=https://economy-finance.ec.europa.eu/economic-surveillance-eu-economies/portugal/economic-forecast-portugal_en|title=economic forecast portugal|publisher=European Commission|date=15 November 2025}}

Agriculture in Portugal is based on small to medium-sized family-owned dispersed units. However, the sector also includes larger scale intensive farming, export-oriented agrobusinesses. The country produces a variety of crops and livestock products, including: tomatoes, citrus, green vegetables, rice, wheat, barley, maize, olives, oilseeds, nuts, cherries, bilberry, table grapes, edible mushrooms, dairy products, poultry and beef. According to FAO, Portugal is the top producer of cork and carob in the world, accounting for about 50% and 30% of world production, respectively.{{cite web |url=http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QC |title=Crop production |publisher=FAO |access-date=21 July 2020 |archive-date=12 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161112130804/http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QC |url-status=live }} It is the third largest exporter of chestnuts and third largest European producer of pulp.{{cite web |url=https://florestas.pt/valorizar/de-portugal-para-o-mundo-produtos-florestais-lideres-de-mercado/ |title=De Portugal para o mundo: produtos florestais líderes de mercado |publisher=Florestas |date=18 March 2020 |access-date=24 December 2023 |archive-date=13 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230813184110/https://florestas.pt/valorizar/de-portugal-para-o-mundo-produtos-florestais-lideres-de-mercado/ |url-status=live }} Portugal is among the world's top ten largest olive oil producers and fourth largest exporter.{{Cite web|url=https://azeitedoalentejo.pt/en/o-azeite-do-alentejo/|title=Alentejo Olive Oil – Azeite do Alentejo|access-date=26 April 2021|archive-date=26 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210426151910/https://azeitedoalentejo.pt/en/o-azeite-do-alentejo/|url-status=live}} The country is one of the world's largest exporters of wine, reputed for its fine wines. Forestry has played an important economic role among the rural communities and industry. In 2001, the gross agricultural product accounted for 4% of the economy; in 2022 it was 2%.{{cite web |url=https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/Portugal/share_of_agriculture/ |title=Portugal GDP share of agriculture - data, chart |access-date=6 January 2024 |archive-date=2 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240202203838/https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/Portugal/share_of_agriculture/ |url-status=live }}

{{main|Tourism in Portugal}}

File:Praia da Marinha (35518737040).jpg]]

Travel and tourism is an important part of Portugal's economy. As of 2023, nearly half of real GDP growth was due to the tourism sector, with tourism accounting for 16.5% of GDP.{{cite web |title=O VAB e o consumo do turismo no território económico reforçaram o seu peso relativo no total da economia, atingindo máximos históricos - 2023 |url=https://www.ine.pt/xportal/xmain?xpid=INE&xpgid=ine_destaques&DESTAQUESdest_boui=646121022&DESTAQUESmodo=2 |publisher=Statistics Portugal |date=1 August 2024 |access-date=3 August 2024}} It has been necessary for the country to focus upon its niche attractions, such as health, nature and rural tourism, to stay ahead of its competitors.{{cite web |title=Travel and Tourism in Portugal |url=http://www.euromonitor.com/travel-and-tourism-in-portugal/report |publisher=Euromonitor International |date=September 2012 |access-date=12 May 2013 |archive-date=31 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130531002309/http://www.euromonitor.com/travel-and-tourism-in-portugal/report |url-status=live }}

Portugal is among the top 20 most-visited countries in the world, receiving more than 26,5 million foreign tourists by 2023.{{cite news |url=https://www.ine.pt/xportal/xmain?xpid=INE&xpgid=ine_destaques&DESTAQUESdest_boui=646074543&DESTAQUESmodo=2 |title=Estatísticas do Turismo 2023: atividade turística superou níveis de 2019 |work=INE |date=8 July 2024 |access-date=8 July 2024}} In 2014, Portugal was elected The Best European Country by USA Today.{{cite web |url=http://www.10best.com/awards/travel/best-european-country/ |title=Best European Country Winners: 2014 10 Best Readers' Choice Travel Awards |work=10Best |date=14 May 2014 |access-date=5 June 2014 |archive-date=6 June 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140606215138/http://www.10best.com/awards/travel/best-european-country/ |url-status=live }} In 2017, Portugal was elected both Europe's Leading Destination{{cite web|url=http://www.worldtravelawards.com/award-europes-leading-destination-2017|title=World Travel Awards Elects Portugal as Europe's Leading Destination 2017|website=Worldtravelawards.com|access-date=30 September 2017|archive-date=11 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171211160926/https://www.worldtravelawards.com/award-europes-leading-destination-2017|url-status=live}} and in 2018 and 2019, World's Leading Destination{{cite web|url=http://www.worldtravelawards.com/award-worlds-leading-destination-2017|title=World Travel Awards Elects Portugal as World's Leading Destination 2017|website=Worldtravelawards.com|access-date=10 December 2017|archive-date=11 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171211161049/https://www.worldtravelawards.com/award-worlds-leading-destination-2017|url-status=live}}

Tourist hotspots in Portugal are: Lisbon, Cascais, Algarve, Madeira, Nazaré, Fátima, Óbidos, Porto, Braga, Guimarães and Coimbra. Lisbon attracts the sixteenth-most tourists among European cities{{cite web |url=http://www.golisbon.com/blog/2013/05/30/lisbon-slowly-rising-as-one-of-europes-most-visited-cities/ |title=Go Lisbon Blog" Blog Archive" Lisbon Slowly Rising as One of Europe's Most-Visited Cities |publisher=Golisbon.com |date=30 May 2013 |access-date=31 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131102004548/http://www.golisbon.com/blog/2013/05/30/lisbon-slowly-rising-as-one-of-europes-most-visited-cities/ |archive-date=2 November 2013 |url-status=dead }} (with seven million tourists occupying the city's hotels in 2006).{{cite web|url=https://www.dn.pt/inicio/interior.aspx?content_id=651813|title=Cidades atraem mais turistas do que os destinos sol e mar|publisher=Diário das Noticias|access-date=30 April 2011|date=25 January 2007|location=Lisbon|language=pt|editor-first=DN|editor-last=Online|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110812140231/http://www.dn.pt/inicio/interior.aspx?content_id=651813|archive-date=12 August 2011}}

{{Main|Science and technology in Portugal}}

File:Fundação Champalimaud - Lisboa - Portugal (20864979843).jpg, one of the leading research centres for neuroscience and oncology in the world]]

Scientific and technological research activities are mainly conducted within a network of R&D units belonging to public universities and state-managed autonomous research institutions like the INETI – Instituto Nacional de Engenharia, Tecnologia e Inovação and the INRB – Instituto Nacional dos Recursos Biológicos. Funding and management of this system is conducted under the authority of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education and the {{lang|pt|Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia|italic=no}} (Foundation for Science and Technology). The largest R&D units of the public universities by volume of research grants and peer-reviewed publications, include biosciences research institutions.

Among the largest non-state-run research institutions are the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência and the Champalimaud Foundation, a neuroscience and oncology research centre. National and multinational high-tech and industrial companies, are responsible for research and development projects. One of the oldest learned societies of Portugal is the Lisbon Academy of Sciences, founded in 1779.

Iberian bilateral state-supported research efforts include the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory and the Ibercivis distributed computing platform. Portugal is a member of pan-European scientific organizations. These include the European Space Agency (ESA), the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN), ITER, and the European Southern Observatory (ESO). Portugal has the largest aquarium in Europe, the Lisbon Oceanarium, and have other notable organizations focused on science-related exhibits and divulgation, like the state agency Ciência Viva,{{cite web|title=Ciência Viva|url=http://www.cienciaviva.pt/cienciaviva/index.asp?accao=changelang&lang=en|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429101927/https://www.cienciaviva.pt/cienciaviva/index.asp?accao=changelang&lang=en|archive-date=29 April 2011|access-date=22 August 2010|publisher=Cienciaviva.pt}} the Science Museum of the University of Coimbra, the National Museum of Natural History at the University of Lisbon, and the Visionarium. The European Innovation Scoreboard 2011, placed Portugal-based innovation 15th, with increase in innovation expenditure and output.{{Cite web |url=http://economia.publico.pt/Noticia/portugal-ganha-terreno-no-ranking-da-inovacao_1478035 |title=Portugal ganha terreno no ranking da inovação |access-date=1 February 2011 |archive-date=1 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110201160623/http://economia.publico.pt/Noticia/portugal-ganha-terreno-no-ranking-da-inovacao_1478035 |url-status=live }} Portugal was ranked 31st in the Global Innovation Index in 2024.{{Cite book |author=World Intellectual Property Organization |year=2024 |title=Global Innovation Index 2024: Unlocking the Promise of Social Entrepreneurship |url=https://www.wipo.int/web-publications/global-innovation-index-2024/en/ |access-date=6 October 2024 |page=18 |publisher=World Intellectual Property Organization |language=en |doi=10.34667/tind.50062 |isbn=978-92-805-3681-2}}

{{Main|Transport in Portugal}}

File:Túnel do Marão.jpg{{cite web|url=http://servicos.infrastruturasdeportugal.pt/pt-pt/a-descobrir/obras-de-arte/tunel-do-marao-ips |title=Tunel do Marão |publisher=Infraestruturas de Portugal|date=May 2016 |access-date=16 January 2024}}]]

Portugal has a {{convert|68732|km|mi|0|abbr=on}} road network, of which almost {{convert|3000|km|mi|0|abbr=on}} are part of system of 44 motorways. On many highways, a toll needs to be paid (see Via Verde). Vasco da Gama bridge is the longest bridge in the EU (the second longest in Europe) at {{Convert|12.345|km|abbr=on}}.{{cite web|url=http://www.listafterlist.com/tabid/57/listid/7961/Travel++Places/Top+10+Longest+Bridges+in+the+World.aspx|title=ListAfterList.com|publisher=ListAfterList.com|access-date=22 August 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100502013507/http://www.listafterlist.com/tabid/57/listid/7961/Travel++Places/Top+10+Longest+Bridges+in+the+World.aspx|archive-date=2 May 2010}}{{cite web |url=http://www.curiousread.com/2008/02/ten-longest-bridges-in-world.html |title=Curious? Read |publisher=Curiousread.com |date=February 2008 |access-date=22 August 2010 |archive-date=3 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110503225226/http://www.curiousread.com/2008/02/ten-longest-bridges-in-world.html |url-status=live }}

Continental Portugal's {{convert|89015|km2|0|abbr=on}} territory is serviced by four international airports located near the principal cities of Lisbon, Porto, Faro and Beja. Lisbon's geographical position makes it a stopover for many foreign airlines at several airports within the country. The primary flag-carrier is TAP Air Portugal, although many other domestic airlines provide services within and without the country.

The most important airports are in Lisbon, Porto, Faro, Funchal (Madeira), and Ponta Delgada (Azores), managed by the national airport authority group ANA – Aeroportos de Portugal. A new airport, to replace the current Lisbon airport, has been planned for more than 50 years, but it has been always postponed by a series of reasons.{{cite web|url=https://sicnoticias.pt/economia/2023-12-04-Novo-aeroporto-relatorio-preliminar-e-mais-um-passo-num-tema-com-50-anos-9ec0dabe|title=Novo aeroporto: relatório preliminar é mais um passo num tema com 50 anos|publisher=SIC Notícias|date=4 December 2023|access-date=13 January 2024|archive-date=12 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231212033951/https://sicnoticias.pt/economia/2023-12-04-Novo-aeroporto-relatorio-preliminar-e-mais-um-passo-num-tema-com-50-anos-9ec0dabe|url-status=live}}

A national railway system that extends throughout the country and into Spain, is supported and administered by Comboios de Portugal (CP). Rail transport of passengers and goods is derived using the {{convert|2791|km|mi|0|abbr=on}} of railway lines currently in service, of which {{convert|1430|km|mi|0|abbr=on}} are electrified and about {{convert|900|km|mi|0|abbr=on}} allow train speeds greater than {{convert|120|km/h|mph|0|abbr=on}}. The railway network is managed by Infraestruturas de Portugal while the transport of passengers and goods are the responsibility of CP, both public companies. In 2006, the CP carried 133,000,000 passengers and {{convert|9750000|t|LT ST|sigfig=3|abbr=off|lk=on}} of goods.

File:Metro do Porto - MP 100 (6289259423).jpg Bombardier Flexity Swift train in Maia]]

The major seaports are located in Sines, Leixões, Lisbon, Setúbal, Aveiro, Figueira da Foz, and Faro. The two largest metropolitan areas have subway systems: Lisbon Metro and Metro Sul do Tejo light rail system in the Lisbon metropolitan area, and Porto Metro light metro system in the Porto Metropolitan Area, each with more than {{convert|35|km|mi|0|abbr=on}} of lines. Coimbra is currently developing a Bus rapid transit system, Metro Mondego, as is the Algarve, Algarve Metrobus.

In Portugal, Lisbon tram services have been supplied by the Companhia de Carris de Ferro de Lisboa (Carris), for over a century. In Porto, a tram network, of which only a tourist line on the shores of the Douro remains, began construction on 12 September 1895 (a first for the Iberian Peninsula). All major cities and towns have their own local urban transport network, as well as taxi services.

{{Main|Energy in Portugal}}

File:Alqueva dam.JPG, the largest dam and artificial lake in Western Europe]]

As of 2023, oil made up 44% of Portugal's total energy supply. However the country phased out coal-fired generation in 2021 and has been developing renewable energies such as hydopower and wind power{{Cite web |title=Portugal - Countries & Regions |url=https://www.iea.org/countries/portugal |access-date=11 March 2025 |website=IEA |language=en-GB}} and investing in public transport and electric vehicles.{{Cite web |title=Portugal's recovery and resilience plan - European Commission |url=https://commission.europa.eu/business-economy-euro/economic-recovery/recovery-and-resilience-facility/country-pages/portugals-recovery-and-resilience-plan_en#:~:text=Key%20measures%20for%20the%20green,part%20of%20the%20REPowerEU%20chapter. |access-date=11 March 2025 |website=commission.europa.eu |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=Portugal's National Energy and Climate Plan for 2021-2030 - Climate Change Laws of the World |url=https://climate-laws.org/document/portugal-s-national-energy-and-climate-plan-for-2021-2030_47f6 |access-date=11 March 2025 |website=climate-laws.org}}

Portugal has considerable wind and hydropower resources. In 2006, the world's then largest solar power plant, the Moura Photovoltaic Power Station, began operating, while the world's first commercial wave power farm, the Aguçadoura Wave Farm, opened in the Norte region (2008). By 2006, 66% of the country's electrical production was from coal and fuel power plants, while 29% were derived from hydroelectric dams, and 6% by wind energy.{{cite web |url=https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/data-tools/energy-statistics-data-browser?country=PORTUGAL&fuel=Energy%20supply&indicator=ElecGenByFuel |title=IEA Energy Statistics: Portugal |access-date=7 April 2009 |publisher=International Energy Agency |year=2006 |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221104142037/https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/data-tools/energy-statistics-data-browser?country=PORTUGAL&fuel=Energy%20supply&indicator=ElecGenByFuel }} In 2008, renewable energy resources were producing 43% of the nation's electricity, even as hydroelectric production decreased with severe droughts.{{Cite news |url=https://diariodigital.sapo.pt/news.asp?section_id=114&id_news=381941 |title=Fontes renováveis originaram 43% da electricidade consumida |work=Diário Digital |author=Staff |date=8 April 2009 |language=pt |access-date=17 April 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514163035/http://diariodigital.sapo.pt/news.asp?section_id=114&id_news=381941 |archive-date=14 May 2011 |url-status=dead }} As of 2010, electricity exports had outnumbered imports and 70% of energy came from renewable sources.{{Cite news |url=http://www.agenciafinanceira.iol.pt/empresas/portugal-agencia-financeira-ren-energia-electricidade/1168567-1728.html |title=Portugal já exportou mais electricidade este ano que em 2009 |work=Agência Financeira |date=8 June 2010 |language=pt |access-date=8 June 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100619070535/http://www.agenciafinanceira.iol.pt/empresas/portugal-agencia-financeira-ren-energia-electricidade/1168567-1728.html |archive-date=19 June 2010 }}

Portugal's national energy transmission company, Redes Energéticas Nacionais (REN), uses modelling to predict weather, especially wind patterns. Before the solar/wind revolution, Portugal had generated electricity from hydropower plants on its rivers for decades. New programmes combine wind and water: wind-driven turbines pump water uphill at night; then water flows downhill by day, generating electricity, when consumer demand is highest. Portugal's distribution system is now two-way. It draws electricity small generators, like rooftop solar panels.

In 2023 Portugal emitted around 339 million tonnes of greenhouse gases (about 5 tonnes per person), equivalent to around 1% of global total emissions.{{Cite report |last1=Jones |first1=Matthew W. |title=National contributions to climate change due to historical emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide |date=13 November 2024 |publisher=EU Open Research Repository |url=https://zenodo.org/records/14054503 |access-date=11 March 2025 |doi=10.5281/zenodo.14054503 |last2=Peters |first2=Glen P. |last3=Gasser |first3=Thomas |last4=Andrew |first4=Robbie M. |last5=Schwingshackl |first5=Clemens |last6=Gütschow |first6=Johannes |last7=Houghton |first7=Richard A. |last8=Friedlingstein |first8=Pierre |last9=Pongratz |first9=Julia}} As an EU member state, Portugal is part of their joint plan to reduce emissions by a minimum of 55% by 2030, compared to the level of emissions in 1990. Portugal has committed to carbon neutrality and net zero by 2050.{{Cite web |title=Portugal Climate Change Data {{!}} Emissions and Policies |url=https://www.climatewatchdata.org/countries/PRT?end_year=2021&start_year=1990 |access-date=11 March 2025 |website=climatewatchdata.org}}

{{Main|Demographics of Portugal|Portuguese people}}

File:Mapa densidade portugal.png by statistical area:

{{collapsible list

| title = Per km²

|{{Legend|#ffff00|0-49}}

|{{Legend|#ffcc00|50-99}}

|{{Legend|#ffa500|100-499}}

|{{Legend|#ff6600|500-999}}

|{{Legend|#ff0000|1000-1999}}

|{{Legend|#880404|2000+}}

}}

]]

Statistics Portugal ({{langx|pt|INE – Instituto Nacional de Estatística}}) estimates that, by 31 December 2023, the population was 10,639,726, of which 52.2% was female and 47.8% male.{{Cite web |title=População residente (Série longa, início 1991 - N.º) por Local de residência (NUTS - 2013), Sexo e Idade; Anual |url=https://www.ine.pt/xportal/xmain?xpid=INE&xpgid=ine_indicadores&contecto=pi&indOcorrCod=0000256&selTab=tab0 |access-date=23 April 2023 |publisher=Instituto Nacional de Estatística |date=15 June 2023 |language=pt |archive-date=17 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230617163238/https://www.ine.pt/xportal/xmain?xpid=INE&xpgid=ine_indicadores&contecto=pi&indOcorrCod=0000256&selTab=tab0 |url-status=live }} In 2024 the median life expectancy was 82.8 years{{cite web|url=https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/PRT/portugal/life-expectancy#:~:text=The%20current%20life%20expectancy%20for,a%200.22%25%20increase%20from%202021.title=Portugal|access-date=19 January 2024|title=Portugal Life Expectancy 1950-2024 | MacroTrends|archive-date=2 February 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240202203839/https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/PRT/portugal/life-expectancy#:~:text=The%20current%20life%20expectancy%20for,a%200.22%25%20increase%20from%202021.title=Portugal|url-status=live}} and United Nations projections point to 90 or above, by 2100.{{cite web|url=https://zonzeewerk.nl/blog/portugal-in-numbers|title=Demographics of Portugal|website=zonzeewerk.nl|access-date=9 April 2020|url-status=dead|archive-date=13 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200613115155/https://zonzeewerk.nl/blog/portugal-in-numbers/}} The population has been relatively homogeneous for most of its history, with a single religion (Catholic church) and language.

Despite good economic development, the Portuguese have been the shortest in Europe since around 1890. This emerging height gap started in the 1840s and increased. A driving factor was modest real wage growth, given late industrialization and economic growth compared to the European core. Another determinant was delayed human capital formation.{{cite journal |last1=Stolz |first1=Yvonne |last2=Baten |first2=Jörg |last3=Reis |first3=Jaime |year=2013 |title=Portuguese living standards, 1720–1980, in European comparison: heights, income, and human capital |journal=Economic History Review |volume=66 |issue=2 |pages=545–578 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-0289.2012.00658.x |hdl=10451/20518 |s2cid=73565474 |hdl-access=free }}

Portugal has to deal with low fertility levels: the country has experienced a sub-replacement fertility rate since the 1980s.{{cite web |url=http://www.cefage.uevora.pt/en/producao_cientifica/projectos/projectos_financiados_por_instituicoes_nacionais_de_apoio_a_investigacao/fertility_in_portugal_a_macro_micro_economic_perspective |title=Fertility in Portugal: a Macro/Micro Economic Perspective |publisher=Cefage.uevora.pt |access-date=31 January 2014 |archive-date=16 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171016222801/http://www.cefage.uevora.pt/en/producao_cientifica/projectos/projectos_financiados_por_instituicoes_nacionais_de_apoio_a_investigacao/fertility_in_portugal_a_macro_micro_economic_perspective |url-status=dead }} The total fertility rate (TFR) {{As of|2024|lc=y}} was estimated at 1.36 children born/woman, one of the lowest in the world, similarly to countries such as Japan, South Korea, Italy, all well below the replacement rate of 2.1,{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2127rank.html|title=Total Fertility Rate |work=The World Factbook|access-date=19 January 2024|archive-date=28 October 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091028133713/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2127rank.html|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/PRT/portugal/fertility-rate|date=1 March 2024|title=Fertility Rate}} and considerably below the high of 5 children born per woman in 1911.{{cite web |url=https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/children-born-per-woman?year=1800&country=PRT|title=Total Fertility Rate around the world over the last centuries|first=Max|last=Roser|year=2014|work=Our World In Data |publisher=Gapminder Foundation|access-date=7 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180807185922/https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/children-born-per-woman?year=1800&country=PRT|archive-date=7 August 2018|url-status=dead}} In 2016, 53% of births were to unmarried women.{{cite web|url=http://www.pordata.pt/en/Portugal/Live+births+outside+of+marriage++with+parents+co+habiting+or+not+(percentage)-620|title=Live births outside of marriage, with parents co-habitating or not (%) – Portugal|website=Pordata.pt|access-date=2 August 2017|archive-date=3 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170803004624/http://www.pordata.pt/en/Portugal/Live+births+outside+of+marriage++with+parents+co+habiting+or+not+(percentage)-620|url-status=live}} Portugal's population has been steadily ageing and was the 11th oldest in the world, with a median age of 46.4 years in 2024. In the same year, it had the world's 4th highest number of citizens over 65 years, at 21.8% of the whole population.{{cite web |url=https://www.prb.org/resources/countries-with-the-oldest-populations-in-the-world/ |date=19 January 2024 |title=Countries with the Oldest Populations in the World |access-date=18 January 2024 |archive-date=26 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230926224925/https://www.prb.org/resources/countries-with-the-oldest-populations-in-the-world/ |url-status=live }}

The structure of Portuguese society shows social inequality, which in 2019 placed the country 24th in the Social Justice Index, in the EU.{{cite web|url=https://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/fileadmin/files/BSt/Publikationen/GrauePublikationen/SJI_2019.pdf|title=Social Justice in the EU – Index Report 2019|website=Bertelsmann-stiftung.de|access-date=19 November 2023|archive-date=19 November 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231119022735/https://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/fileadmin/files/BSt/Publikationen/GrauePublikationen/SJI_2019.pdf|url-status=live}} In 2018, Portugal's parliament approved a budget plan for 2019 that included tax breaks for returning emigrants in a bid to attract back those who left during the 2008 financial crisis.{{cite web|url=http://theportugalnews.com/news/government-creates-credit-line-for-emigrants-returning-to-invest/48771|title=Government creates credit line for emigrants returning to invest|website=The Portugal News |access-date=2 April 2019|archive-date=2 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402192937/http://theportugalnews.com/news/government-creates-credit-line-for-emigrants-returning-to-invest/48771|url-status=live}} According to projections by the national statistics office, Portugal's population will fall to 7.7 million by 2080 from 10.6 million and the population will continue to age.{{cite web|url=https://punchng.com/portugal-offers-tax-breaks-to-returning-emigrants/|title=Portugal offers tax breaks to returning emigrants|website=Punchng.com|date=29 November 2018|access-date=1 December 2018|archive-date=2 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181202024624/https://punchng.com/portugal-offers-tax-breaks-to-returning-emigrants/|url-status=live}}

According to a National Statistics Institute (INE) study, conducted shortly after the 2021 census, between 2022 and 2023, 6,4 million people aged between 18 and 74 years old identified themselves as White (84%), more than 262,000 identify as Mixed-race (3%), nearly 170,000 as Black (2%), 57,000 as Asian (<1%), and 47,500 as Romani (<1%){{Cite web |date=22 December 2023 |title=Mais de 1,2 milhões de pessoas já sofreram discriminação em Portugal - 2023 |url=https://www.ine.pt/xportal/xmain?xpid=INE&xpgid=ine_destaques&DESTAQUESdest_boui=625453018&DESTAQUESmodo=2 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231222125218/https://www.ine.pt/xportal/xmain?xpid=INE&xpgid=ine_destaques&DESTAQUESdest_boui=625453018&DESTAQUESmodo=2 |archive-date=22 December 2023 |access-date=13 January 2023 |publisher=Instituto Nacional de Estatística}}

Based on commuting patterns, OECD and Eurostat define eight metropolitan areas of Portugal.{{cite web |author=OECD |date=July 2022 |title=Portugal - Functional urban areas |url=http://www.oecd.org/cfe/regional-policy/Portugal.pdf |access-date=2 August 2019 |archive-date=2 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190802070220/http://www.oecd.org/cfe/regional-policy/Portugal.pdf |url-status=live }} Only two have populations over 1 million, and since the 2013 local government reform, these are the only two which also have administrative legal status of metropolitan areas: Lisbon and Porto,{{cite web|title=Law nr. 75/2013|url=http://dre.pt/pdf1s/2013/09/17600/0568805724.pdf|access-date=13 August 2014|work=Diário da República|publisher=Assembly of the Republic (Portugal)|language=pt|archive-date=26 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226150136/https://dre.pt/application/dir/pdf1s/2013/09/17600/0568805724.pdf%20|url-status=live}}Fernanda Paula Oliveira (2009), {{PDFWayback|url=http://www.cityfutures2009.com/PDF/96_Oliveira_Fernanda_Paula.pdf|title=The Evolution and Regulation of the Metropolitan Areas in Portugal|date=20130204143458|size=677 kB}} Several smaller metropolitan areas (Algarve, Aveiro, Coimbra, Minho and Viseu) also held this status from 2003 to 2008, when they were converted into intermunicipal communities, whose territories are roughly based on the NUTS III statistical regions.{{cite web|title=Law nr. 45/2008|url=http://www.dre.pt/util/getpdf.asp?s=dip&serie=1&iddr=2008.165&iddip=20082445|access-date=13 August 2014|work=Diário da República|publisher=Assembly of the Republic (Portugal)|language=pt|format=PDF|archive-date=2 February 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240202203958/https://diariodarepublica.pt/dr/error|url-status=live}}

{{Largest cities

| country = Portugal

| kind = Municipalities

| stat_ref = INE 2023 Estimate{{Cite web|url=https://www.ine.pt/xportal/xmain?xpid=INE&xpgid=ine_indicadores&indOcorrCod=0008272&contexto=bd&selTab=tab2|title=Statistics Portugal - Web Portal|publisher=INE|access-date=5 July 2023|archive-date=18 June 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230618173525/https://www.ine.pt/xportal/xmain?xpid=INE&xpgid=ine_indicadores&indOcorrCod=0008272&contexto=bd&selTab=tab2|url-status=live}}

| div_name = Region

| city_1 = Lisbon

| div_1 = Região de Lisboa{{!}}Lisboa

| pop_1 = 567,131

| img_1 = Aerial view of Augusta Street, Lisbon (50644280948).jpg

| city_2 = Sintra

| div_2 = Região de Lisboa{{!}}Lisboa

| pop_2 = 395,528

|img_2 = Palacio Nacional, Sintra, Portugal, 2019-05-25, DD 78.jpg

| city_3 = Vila Nova de Gaia

| div_3 = Norte Region, Portugal{{!}}Norte

| pop_3 = 311,223

|img_3 = DJI 0006 (36961995516).jpg

| city_4 = Porto

| div_4 = Norte Region, Portugal{{!}}Norte

| pop_4 = 248,769

|img_4 = Metro, Ponte e Porto.jpg

| city_5 = Cascais

| div_5 = Região de Lisboa{{!}}Lisboa

| pop_5 = 219,636

| city_6 = Loures

| div_6 = Região de Lisboa{{!}}Lisboa

| pop_6 = 207,065

| city_7 = Braga

| div_7 = Norte Region, Portugal{{!}}Norte

| pop_7 = 201,583

| city_8 = Almada

| div_8 = Região de Lisboa{{!}}Lisboa

| pop_8 = 181,232

| city_9 = Matosinhos

| div_9 = Norte Region, Portugal{{!}}Norte

| pop_9 = 179,558

| city_10 = Amadora

| div_10 = Região de Lisboa{{!}}Lisboa

| pop_10 = 178,253

| city_11 = Oeiras, Portugal{{!}}Oeiras

| div_11 = Região de Lisboa{{!}}Lisboa

| pop_11 = 175,677

| city_12 = Seixal

| div_12 = Região de Lisboa{{!}}Lisboa

| pop_12 = 173,163

| city_13 = Gondomar, Portugal{{!}}Gondomar

| div_13 = Norte Region, Portugal{{!}}Norte

| pop_13 = 168,582

| city_14 = Guimarães

| div_14 = Norte Region, Portugal{{!}}Norte

| pop_14 = 156,789

| city_15 = Odivelas

| div_15 = Região de Lisboa{{!}}Lisboa

| pop_15 = 153,708

| city_16 = Coimbra

| div_16 = Centro Region, Portugal{{!}}Centro

| pop_16 = 144,822

| city_17 = Maia, Portugal{{!}}Maia

| div_17 = Norte Region, Portugal{{!}}Norte

| pop_17 = 142,594

| city_18 = Santa Maria da Feira

| div_18 = Norte Region, Portugal{{!}}Norte

| pop_18 = 139,837

| city_19 = Vila Franca de Xira

| div_19 = Região de Lisboa{{!}}Lisboa

| pop_19 = 139,452

| city_20 = Vila Nova de Famalicão

| div_20 = Norte Region, Portugal{{!}}Norte

| pop_20 = 135,994

}}

{{main|Immigration to Portugal}}

File:Foreigners in Portugal.png

In 2023, Portugal had 10,639,726 inhabitants, of whom 1,293,463 accounted for legal resident foreigners.{{Cite web |date=8 April 2025 |title=Relatório intercalar, Recuperação de processos pendentes na AIMA, População Estrangeira em Portugal |url=https://aima.gov.pt/media/pages/documents/4a518251d7-1744128191/relatorio-intercalar-recuperacao-de-processos-pendentes-na-aima-populacao-estrangeira-em-portugal.pdf |access-date=8 April 2025 |website=aima.gov.pt |language=pt-PT}}{{Cite web |title=Statistics Portugal - Web Portal |url=https://www.ine.pt/xportal/xmain?xpgid=ine_main&xpid=INE |access-date=5 July 2023 |publisher=INE |archive-date=9 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170109182931/https://www.ine.pt/xportal/xmain?xpgid=ine_main&xpid=INE |url-status=live }} Resident foreigners make up approximately 12% of the population. These figures do not include Portuguese citizens of foreign descent, as in Portugal it is illegal to collect data based on ethnicity. For instance, more than 340,000 resident foreigners who acquired Portuguese citizenship between 2008 and 2022 - and thus constitute around 3.27% of the country's population in 2022 - were not taken into account in immigration figures as they became official Portuguese citizens.{{Cite web |title=Acquisition of citizenship by age group, sex and former citizenship |url=https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/MIGR_ACQ__custom_11587481/default/table?lang=en |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230705132848/https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/MIGR_ACQ__custom_6784189/default/table?lang=en |archive-date=5 July 2023 |access-date=5 July 2023 |publisher=European Commission}} In 2022 alone, almost 21,000 foreign residents acquired Portuguese citizenship, of which 11,170 were female and 9,674 were male.{{cite web|title=Foreign population that acquired portuguese nationality: total and by sex|url=https://www.pordata.pt/en/Portugal/Foreign+population+that+acquired+portuguese+nationality+total+and+by+sex-3250-292118|access-date=6 October 2021|website=Pordata|archive-date=20 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211020004214/https://www.pordata.pt/en/Portugal/Foreign+population+that+acquired+portuguese+nationality+total+and+by+sex-3250-292118|url-status=live}}

Portugal, for long a country of emigration (the vast majority of Brazilians have Portuguese ancestry),[http://countrystudies.us/portugal/48.htm Portugal – Emigration] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629081956/http://countrystudies.us/portugal/48.htm |date=29 June 2011 }}, Eric Solsten, ed. Portugal: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1993. became a country of net immigration."[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4436276.stm Portugal sees integration progress] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171119221956/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4436276.stm |date=19 November 2017 }}", BBC News, 14 November 2005 The influx of immigrants didn't come just from the last Indian (Portuguese until 1961), African (Portuguese until 1975), and Far East Asian (Portuguese until 1999) overseas territories, but from other parts of the world as well. Even though in the aftermath of the COVID-19 Pandemic, Portugal's emigration rate increased to 6.9‰ in 2022, it was still well below the immigration rate of around 11.3‰.{{Cite web |title=Imigrantes permanentes: total e por sexo |url=https://www.pordata.pt/portugal/imigrantes+permanentes+total+e+por+sexo-3254 |access-date=28 May 2024 |website=pordata.pt}}{{Cite web |title=Emigrantes por mil habitantes |url=https://www.pordata.pt/portugal/emigrantes+por+mil+habitantes-832 |access-date=28 May 2024 |website=pordata.pt}} It is also noteworthy that the overwhelming majority of Portuguese emigrants tend to leave the country for short periods, with 56.8% of those having left the country in 2022 doing so for less than a year.{{Cite web |title=Emigrantes: total e por tipo e sexo |url=https://www.pordata.pt/portugal/emigrantes+total+e+por+tipo+e+sexo-23 |access-date=28 May 2024 |website=pordata.pt}}

Since the 1990s, along with a boom in construction, several new waves of Ukrainian, Brazilian, Afro-Portuguese and other Africans have settled in the country. Romanians, Moldovans, Kosovo Albanians, Russians, Bulgarians, and Chinese have also migrated to the country. The numbers of Venezuelan, Pakistani, Indian, and Bangladeshi migrants are also significant. Moreover, Portugal's Romani population is estimated at 50,000.{{Cite web |last=Portugal |first=Rádio e Televisão de |date=25 October 2022 |title=Mais de 95% da etnia cigana em Portugal vive abaixo do limiar da pobreza |url=https://www.rtp.pt/noticias/pais/mais-de-95-da-etnia-cigana-em-portugal-vive-abaixo-do-limiar-da-pobreza_a1442067 |access-date=5 July 2023 |website=Mais de 95% da etnia cigana em Portugal vive abaixo do limiar da pobreza |language=pt |archive-date=13 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230813183906/https://www.rtp.pt/noticias/pais/mais-de-95-da-etnia-cigana-em-portugal-vive-abaixo-do-limiar-da-pobreza_a1442067 |url-status=live }}

It is estimated that over 30,000 seasonal, often illegal immigrants work in agriculture, mainly southern cities such as Odemira where they are often exploited by organised seasonal workers' networks. These migrants, who frequently arrive without due documentation or work contracts, make up over 90% of agricultural workers in the south of Portugal. Most are Southeast Asians from India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Thailand. In the interior of the Alentejo there are many African workers. Significant numbers also come from Eastern Europe, Moldova, Ukraine, Romania and Brazil.{{cite web|last=LP|date=1 May 2020|title=Trabalhadores agrícolas imigrantes: Precários e explorados|url=https://jornaldoalgarve.pt/trabalhadores-agricolas-imigrantes-precarios-e-explorados/|access-date=21 June 2021|website=Jornal do Algarve|language=pt-PT|archive-date=7 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210707064311/https://jornaldoalgarve.pt/trabalhadores-agricolas-imigrantes-precarios-e-explorados/|url-status=live}}

In addition, a significant number of EU citizens, mostly from Italy, France, Germany or other northern European countries, have become permanent residents in the country.{{Cite web|url=https://www.sef.pt/pt/Documents/RIFA2022%20vF2a.pdf|title=Estrangeiros em Portugal em 2022|access-date=5 July 2023|archive-date=23 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230723201450/https://www.sef.pt/pt/Documents/RIFA2022%20vF2a.pdf|url-status=live}} There is also a large expatriate community made up of Britons, Canadians and people from the United States of America. The British community is mostly composed of retired pensioners who live in the Algarve and Madeira.

A National Statistics Institute (INE) study, conducted between 2022 and 2023, found out that 1.4 million people, (13% of the population) have immigrant background, in which 947,500 are first generation immigrants, concentrated mainly in the Lisbon metropolitan area and the Algarve. It is noteworthy that the survey was only carried out amongst people living legally in the country for at least one year at the time of the interview and that in 2022 the statistical office figures suggested that 16.1% of the country's population or 1,683,829 people were first generation immigrants.{{Cite web |title=Population on 1 January by age group, sex and country of birth |url=https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/MIGR_POP3CTB/default/table?lang=en |access-date=2 August 2023 |website=ec.europa.eu}}{{Cite web |title=Statistics Portugal – Web Portal |url=https://www.ine.pt/xportal/xmain?xpid=INE&xpgid=ine_indicadores&contecto=pi&indOcorrCod=0000256&selTab=tab0 |access-date=2 August 2023 |publisher=INE}}{{Cite web |title=Statistics Portugal - Web Portal |url=https://www.ine.pt/xportal/xmain?xpid=INE&xpgid=ine_indicadores&indOcorrCod=0006031&contexto=bd&selTab=tab2 |access-date=27 January 2024 |publisher=INE}}

{{Main|Religion in Portugal}}

{{Pie chart

| thumb = right

| caption = Religion in Portugal {{small|(Census 2021)}}{{cite web |url=https://www.rtp.pt/noticias/pais/censos-2021-catolicos-diminuem-mas-ainda-sao-mais-de-80-dos-portugueses_n1449073 |title=Censos 2021. Católicos diminuem, mas ainda são mais de 80% dos portugueses |publisher=RTP |date=23 November 2022 |access-date=23 November 2022 |archive-date=23 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221123182010/https://www.rtp.pt/noticias/pais/censos-2021-catolicos-diminuem-mas-ainda-sao-mais-de-80-dos-portugueses_n1449073 |url-status=live }}

|label1 = Roman Catholicism

|value1 = 80.2

|color1 = #d4213d

|label2 = Protestantism

|value2 = 2.1

|color2 = DodgerBlue

|label3 = Jehovah's Witnesses

|value3 = 0.7

|color3 = Aquamarine

|label4 = Eastern Orthodoxy

|value4 = 0.7

|color4 = Purple

|label5 = Other Christian

|value5 = 1.0

|color5 = Pink

|label6 = Islam

|value6 = 0.4

|color6 = Green

|label7 = Hinduism

|value7 = 0.2

|color7 = Orange

|label8 = Buddhism

|value8 = 0.2

|color8 = Gold

|label9 = Judaism

|value9 = 0.03

|color9 = Blue

|label10 = Other religion

|value10 = 0.3

|color10 = Gray

|label11 = No religion

|value11 = 14.1

|color11 = Honeydew

}}

Roman Catholicism, which has a long history in Portugal, remains the dominant religion. Portugal has no official religion, though in the past, the Catholic Church in Portugal was the state religion.{{cite book|title=Possessed by the Virgin: Hinduism, Roman Catholicism, and Marian Possession in South India|first=Kristin |last=C. Bloomer|year=2018 |isbn=9780190615093 |page=14|publisher=Oxford University Press|quote=}}{{cite book|title=American History from a Global Perspective: An Interpretation|first=David |last=J. Russo|year=2000 |isbn=9780275968960 |page=314|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group}}

According to the 2021 Census, 80.2% of the Portuguese population was Roman Catholic Christian. The country has small Protestant, Latter-day Saint, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Eastern Orthodox Church, Jehovah's Witnesses, Baháʼí, Buddhist, Jewish and Spiritist communities. Influences from African Traditional Religion and Chinese Traditional Religion are also felt among many people, particularly in fields related with Traditional Chinese Medicine and Traditional African Herbal Medicine. Some 14.1% of the population declared themselves to be non-religious.

Portugal is a secular state: church and state were formally separated during the First Portuguese Republic, and this was reiterated in the 1976 Portuguese Constitution. Other than the Constitution, the two most important documents relating to religious freedom in Portugal are the 1940 Concordata (later amended in 1971) between Portugal and the Holy See and the 2001 Religious Freedom Act. Many Portuguese holidays, festivals and traditions have a Christian origin or connotation.

{{Main|Languages of Portugal|Portuguese language}}

File:Genísio04.jpg in Miranda do Douro, Trás-os-Montes]]

Portuguese is the official language of Portugal. Mirandese is also recognised as a co-official regional language in some municipalities of North-Eastern Portugal. It is part of the Astur-Leonese group of languages.{{cite web|url=https://termcoord.eu/2015/05/discovering-mirandese/|title=Discovering Mirandese|date=26 May 2015|publisher=Terminology Coordination Unit|access-date=5 July 2020|archive-date=6 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806144357/https://termcoord.eu/2015/05/discovering-mirandese/|url-status=live}} An estimate of between 6,000 and 7,000 Mirandese speakers has been documented for Portugal.{{cite web |title=Linguagens Fronteiriças: Mirandês |url=http://www.clul.ul.pt/pt/investigacao/210-project-border-languages-mirandese |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923204856/http://www.clul.ul.pt/pt/investigacao/210-project-border-languages-mirandese |archive-date=23 September 2015 |access-date= |publisher=Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa}} Furthermore, a particular dialect known as Barranquenho, spoken in Barrancos, is also officially recognised and protected in Portugal since 2021.{{cite news|url=https://www.tsf.pt/portugal/sociedade/o-barranquenho-ja-tem-protecao-agora-falta-quem-o-ensine-e-quem-o-mantenha-original-14425613.html|title=O barranquenho já tem proteção. Agora falta quem o ensine e quem o mantenha original|first1=Guilhermina|last1=Sousa|first2=Gonçalo|last2=Teles|publisher=TSF|date=20 December 2021|language=pt|access-date=9 January 2022|archive-date=9 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220109141226/https://www.tsf.pt/portugal/sociedade/o-barranquenho-ja-tem-protecao-agora-falta-quem-o-ensine-e-quem-o-mantenha-original-14425613.html|url-status=live}} Minderico, a sociolect of the Portuguese language, is spoken by around 500 people in the town of Minde.{{cite news|url=https://www.publico.pt/2019/09/27/culturaipsilon/video/quer-falar-mirandes-barranquenho-minderico-20190927-151045|title=Quem quer falar mirandês, barranquenho, minderico?|first=Vera|last=Moutinho|newspaper=Público|date=27 September 2019|language=pt|access-date=9 January 2022|archive-date=9 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220109142505/https://www.publico.pt/2019/09/27/culturaipsilon/video/quer-falar-mirandes-barranquenho-minderico-20190927-151045|url-status=live}}

According to the International English Proficiency Index, Portugal has a high proficiency level in English, higher than those of other Romance-speaking European countries like France, Italy or Spain.{{cite web|url=http://www.ef.co.uk/epi/|title=EF English Proficiency Index – A comprehensive ranking of countries by English skills|website=Ef.co.uk|access-date=2 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170802000431/http://www.ef.co.uk/epi/|archive-date=2 August 2017|url-status=dead}}

{{Main|Education in Portugal}}

The educational system is divided into preschool (for those under age six), basic education (nine years, in three stages, compulsory), secondary education (three years, compulsory since 2010), and higher education (subdivided in university and polytechnic education). Universities are usually organised into faculties. Institutes and schools are also common designations for autonomous subdivisions of Portuguese higher education institutions.

The total adult literacy rate in Portugal was 99.8% in 2021.{{cite web|url=https://www.globaldata.com/data-insights/macroeconomic/literacy-rate-in-portugal/|title=literacy rate in Portugal|access-date=13 June 2023|archive-date=13 June 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230613013710/https://www.globaldata.com/data-insights/macroeconomic/literacy-rate-in-portugal/|url-status=live}} According to the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018, Portugal scored around the OECD average in reading, mathematics and science.{{cite web |title=Testes PISA: Portugal supera média da OCDE |work=Jornal visao |date=6 December 2016 |url=https://visao.sapo.pt/actualidade/sociedade/2016-12-06-Testes-PISA-Portugal-supera-media-da-OCDE |publisher=Visão |language=pt |access-date=29 July 2018 |archive-date=17 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180917113126/http://visao.sapo.pt/actualidade/sociedade/2016-12-06-Testes-PISA-Portugal-supera-media-da-OCDE |url-status=live }}{{cite web |title=E agora no PISA: alunos portugueses melhoram a ciências, leitura e matemática |url=https://expresso.sapo.pt/sociedade/2016-12-06-E-agora-no-PISA-alunos-portugueses-melhoram-a-ciencias-leitura-e-matematica |work=Expresso |language=pt |access-date=29 July 2018 |archive-date=13 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181213064034/https://expresso.sapo.pt/sociedade/2016-12-06-E-agora-no-PISA-alunos-portugueses-melhoram-a-ciencias-leitura-e-matematica |url-status=dead }} In reading and mathematics, mean performance in 2018 was close to the level observed in 2009 to 2015; in science, mean performance in 2018 was below that of 2015, and returned close to the level observed in 2009 and 2012, near below average.{{cite magazine|url=https://visao.sapo.pt/actualidade/sociedade/2016-12-06-Testes-PISA-Portugal-supera-media-da-OCDE|title=Testes PISA: Portugal supera média da OCDE|magazine=Visão|language=pt|access-date=29 July 2018|archive-date=17 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180917113126/http://visao.sapo.pt/actualidade/sociedade/2016-12-06-Testes-PISA-Portugal-supera-media-da-OCDE|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://expresso.sapo.pt/sociedade/2016-12-06-E-agora-no-PISA-alunos-portugueses-melhoram-a-ciencias-leitura-e-matematica|title=E agora no PISA: alunos portugueses melhoram a ciências, leitura e matemática|work=Expresso|language=pt|access-date=29 July 2018|archive-date=13 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181213064034/https://expresso.sapo.pt/sociedade/2016-12-06-E-agora-no-PISA-alunos-portugueses-melhoram-a-ciencias-leitura-e-matematica|url-status=dead}}{{Cite web |last=Viana |first=Clara |date=5 December 2023 |title=PISA 2022: queda "sem precedentes" nas médias dos alunos da OCDE. Portugal acompanha trambolhão |url=https://www.publico.pt/2023/12/05/sociedade/noticia/pisa-2022-queda-precedentes-medias-alunos-ocde-portugal-acompanha-trambolhao-2072556 |access-date=10 January 2024 |website=Público |language=pt |archive-date=10 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240110140041/https://www.publico.pt/2023/12/05/sociedade/noticia/pisa-2022-queda-precedentes-medias-alunos-ocde-portugal-acompanha-trambolhao-2072556 |url-status=live }}

About 47.6% of college-age citizens (20 years old) attend one of Portugal's higher education institutions{{cite web|url=http://www.portugal.gov.pt/pt/GC18/Governo/Ministerios/MCTES/Intervencoes/Pages/20100111_MCTES_Int_Contrato_Confianca_EnsSup.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724173015/http://www.portugal.gov.pt/pt/GC18/Governo/Ministerios/MCTES/Intervencoes/Pages/20100111_MCTES_Int_Contrato_Confianca_EnsSup.aspx |archive-date=24 July 2011 |title=Um Contrato de confiança no Ensino Superior para o futuro de Portugal |publisher=Government of Portugal, Portugal.gov.pt |language=pt |date=11 January 2010 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web|url=http://www.cnedu.pt/content/noticias/CNE/ensino_superior.pdf|title=Ensino Superior|website=Cnedu.pt|access-date=2 August 2017|archive-date=16 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171016222806/http://www.cnedu.pt/content/noticias/CNE/ensino_superior.pdf|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://op.europa.eu/webpub/eac/education-and-training-monitor-2022/en/country-reports/portugal.html|title=European Commission Education and Training Monitor 2022|date=19 January 2024|access-date=19 January 2024|archive-date=2 February 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240202203847/https://op.europa.eu/webpub/eac/education-and-training-monitor-2022/en/country-reports/portugal.html|url-status=live}} (compared with 50% in the United States and 35% in the OECD on average). In addition to being a destination for international students, Portugal is also among the top places of origin for international students. All higher education students, both domestic and international, totalled 380,937 in 2005.

Image:Coimbra BW 2018-10-06 10-11-56.jpg, the first university in Portugal founded in 1290 by King Diniz]]

Portuguese universities have existed since 1290. The oldest Portuguese university{{cite web|url=https://www.topuniversities.com/universities/university-coimbra|title=University of Coimbra|date=16 July 2015|website=Top Universities|access-date=16 March 2020|archive-date=7 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200307221441/https://www.topuniversities.com/universities/university-coimbra|url-status=live}} was first established in Lisbon before moving to Coimbra. Historically, within the scope of the Portuguese Empire, the Portuguese founded the oldest engineering school of the Americas (the Real Academia de Artilharia, Fortificação e Desenho of Rio de Janeiro) in 1792, as well as the oldest medical college in Asia (the Escola Médico-Cirúrgica of Goa) in 1842. Presently, the largest university in Portugal is the University of Lisbon.

The Bologna process has been adopted by Portuguese universities and poly-technical institutes in 2006. Higher education in state-run educational establishments is provided on a competitive basis, a system of numerus clausus is enforced through a national database on student admissions. However, every higher education institution offers also a number of additional vacant places through other extraordinary admission processes for sportsmen, mature applicants (over 23 years old), international students, foreign students from the Lusosphere, degree owners from other institutions, students from other institutions (academic transfer), former students (readmission), and course change, which are subject to specific standards and regulations set by each institution or course department.

Most student costs are supported with public money. Portugal has entered into cooperation agreements with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and other US institutions to further develop and increase the effectiveness of Portuguese higher education and research.{{cite book |last1=Carvalho |first1=Luís |last2=Camacho |first2=Nuno |last3=Amorim |first3=Gonçalo |last4=Esperança |first4=José Paulo |editor1-last=Information Resources Management Association |title=Foreign Direct Investments: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications |date=2020 |publisher=IGI Global |isbn=978-1-7998-2449-7 |page=1921 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=22V2EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1921 |access-date=25 December 2023 |archive-date=25 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231225204525/https://books.google.com/books?id=22V2EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1921 |url-status=live }}

{{Main|Health in Portugal}}

In 2025, Portugal ranked as 23rd best healthcare system in the world,{{cite web|url=https://www.numbeo.com/health-care/rankings_by_country.jsp|title=Healthcare Index by Country in 2025|publisher=NUMBEO}} which was visibly lower than the previous 12th place in the 2000 World Health Organisation ranking of best public health systems in the world. The health system is characterised by three coexisting systems: the National Health Service (Serviço Nacional de Saúde, SNS), special social health insurance schemes for certain professions (health subsystems) and voluntary private health insurance. The SNS provides universal coverage. In addition, about 55% of the population is covered by the health subsystems,{{cite web|url=https://eco.sapo.pt/2024/10/16/estudo-medis-acesso-digital-melhora-a-percecao-dos-portugueses-quanto-ao-sns/|title=Estudo Médis: Acesso digital melhora a perceção dos portugueses quanto ao SNS |website=eco.sapo.pt|access-date=19 October 2024|date=16 October 2024}} 43% by private insurance schemes and another 12% by mutual funds.{{cite web|url=https://expresso.pt/economia/2024-03-07-Maioria-dos-beneficiarios-da-ADSE-sao-mulheres-e-tem-mais-de-50-anos-f2f706f5|title=Maioria dos beneficiários da ADSE são mulheres e têm mais de 50 anos|website=expresso.pt|date=7 March 2024|access-date=19 October 2024}}{{cite web|url=https://www.pordata.pt/Portugal/Beneficiarios+da+ADSE-612|title=Beneficiários da ADSE|website=pordata.pt|access-date=15 January 2024|archive-date=28 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928104312/https://www.pordata.pt/portugal/beneficiarios+da+adse-612|url-status=live}}File:Hospitais da Universidade de Coimbra - main entrance.JPG]]The Ministry of Health is responsible for developing health policy as well as managing the SNS. Five regional health administrations are in charge of implementing the national health policy objectives, developing guidelines and protocols and supervising health care delivery. Decentralisation efforts have aimed at shifting financial and management responsibility to the regional level. In practice, the autonomy of regional health administrations over budget setting and spending has been limited to primary care. The SNS is predominantly funded through general taxation. Employer (including the state) and employee contributions represent the main funding sources of the health subsystems. In addition, direct payments by the patient and voluntary health insurance premiums account for a large proportion of funding.

Similarly to other 'Eur-A countries', (Western Europe), most Portuguese die from noncommunicable diseases.{{cite web|url=https://www.pordata.pt/portugal/obitos+por+algumas+causas+de+morte+(percentagem)-758|title=Óbitos por algumas causas de morte (%)|website=pordata.pt|access-date=15 January 2024|archive-date=28 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230328092519/https://www.pordata.pt/portugal/obitos+por+algumas+causas+de+morte+(percentagem)-758|url-status=live}} Mortality from cardiovascular diseases (CVD) is around 30,000 deaths per year, a third of all annual deaths,{{cite web|url=https://sicnoticias.pt/saude-e-bem-estar/2023-05-11-A-cada-15-minutos-morre-uma-pessoa-por-doenca-cardiovascular-em-Portugal-721ef0b0|title=A cada 15 minutos, morre uma pessoa por doença cardiovascular em Portugal|website=sicnoticias.pt|date=11 May 2023|access-date=15 January 2024|archive-date=6 June 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230606152335/https://sicnoticias.pt/saude-e-bem-estar/2023-05-11-A-cada-15-minutos-morre-uma-pessoa-por-doenca-cardiovascular-em-Portugal-721ef0b0|url-status=live}} but its two main components, ischaemic heart disease and cerebrovascular disease, display inverse trends compared with the Eur-A, with cerebrovascular disease being the single biggest killer in Portugal, with more than 11,000 deaths per year.{{cite web|url=https://expresso.pt/sociedade/2022-05-17-Por-que-morreram-mais-pessoas-por-AVC-em-Portugal--O-grande-fator-deste-aumento-e-a-pandemia-dizem-especialistas-6ce5a103|title=Por que morreram mais pessoas por AVC em Portugal? "O grande fator deste aumento é a pandemia", dizem especialistas|website=expresso.pt|date=17 May 2022|access-date=15 January 2024|archive-date=15 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240115005343/https://expresso.pt/sociedade/2022-05-17-Por-que-morreram-mais-pessoas-por-AVC-em-Portugal--O-grande-fator-deste-aumento-e-a-pandemia-dizem-especialistas-6ce5a103|url-status=live}} Oncological diseases represent 22% of all deaths in the country, with lung and breast cancer cases being lower, and cervical and prostate cancer being more frequent. Diabetes mortality rates have been decreasing, from 4.5% in 2010 down to 2.8% in 2021.

Portugal's infant mortality rate (IMR) stood at 2,25 deaths per 1,000 live births as of 2024.{{cite web |url=https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/PRT/portugal/infant-mortality-rate#:~:text=The%20infant%20mortality%20rate%20for,a%204.88%25%20decline%20from%202021|title=Portugal Infant Mortality Rate 1950-2024|access-date=19 January 2024|archive-date=19 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240119011122/https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/PRT/portugal/infant-mortality-rate#:~:text=The%20infant%20mortality%20rate%20for,a%204.88%25%20decline%20from%202021|url-status=live}} A Eurostat opinion-poll in 2023 found that 55.4% of adults rated their health as good or very good, the third lowest rate collected in the European Union.{{cite web|url=https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Self-perceived_health_statistics|title=Self-perceived health statistics|publisher=Eurostat}} The largest university hospital in the country is Hospital de Santa Maria, Lisbon.{{cite web |title=Area of expertise |url=https://ern-cranio.eu/network-partners/ern-cranio-centres/hospital-de-santa-maria-centro-hospitalar-lisboa-norte/ |website=European Reference Networks |access-date=11 February 2020 |archive-date=4 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190604124407/https://ern-cranio.eu/network-partners/ern-cranio-centres/hospital-de-santa-maria-centro-hospitalar-lisboa-norte/ |url-status=dead }}

{{Main|Culture of Portugal|Mass media in Portugal}}

File:Feira de Barcelos (05Set) 040.jpg, the iconic Portuguese souvenir and symbol]]

Portugal has developed a specific culture while being influenced by various civilisations that have crossed the European continent and Mediterranean, or were introduced when it played an active role during the Age of Discovery. In the 1990s and 2000s (decade), Portugal modernised its public cultural facilities, in addition to the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation established in 1956 in Lisbon.

These include the Belém Cultural Centre in Lisbon, Serralves Foundation and the Casa da Música, both in Porto, as well as new public cultural facilities like municipal libraries and concert halls that were built or renovated in many municipalities across the country. Portugal is home to 17 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, ranking it 9th in Europe and 18th in the world.

{{Main|Architecture of Portugal}}

File:Casa da Música - Porto, Portugal, 2012 - 001.jpg is an example of modern architecture.]]

Traditional architecture is distinctive and include the Manueline, also known as Portuguese late Gothic a sumptuous, composite Portuguese style of architectural ornamentation of the first decades of the 16th century, followed by Pombaline style of the 18th century.

A 20th-century interpretation of traditional architecture, Soft Portuguese style, appears extensively in major cities, especially Lisbon. Modern Portugal has given the world renowned architects like Eduardo Souto de Moura, Álvaro Siza Vieira (both Pritzker Prize winners) and Gonçalo Byrne. In Portugal Tomás Taveira is also noteworthy, particularly for stadium design.{{in lang|pt}} [https://www.dn.pt/Inicio/interior.aspx?content_id=615671 Estádios de Tomás Taveira e Souto Moura premiados] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429003508/http://www.dn.pt/Inicio/interior.aspx?content_id=615671 |date=29 April 2011 }}, Diário de Notícias (8 July 2005)Tomás Taveira, Geoffrey Broadbent (introduction), Publisher: St Martins Pr (February 1991) The azulejo is a mainstream, typical element among Portugal's traditional building materials and construction techniques.{{Cite web |date=17 July 2017 |title=A história do azulejo português |url=https://comunidadeculturaearte.com/a-historia-do-azulejo-portugues |access-date=15 May 2023 |website=Comunidade Cultura e Arte |language=pt |archive-date=16 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230516000147/https://comunidadeculturaearte.com/a-historia-do-azulejo-portugues/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |last=Life |first=Portugal the Simple |date=21 May 2021 |title=Azulejos – Get to know the famous Portuguese tiles |url=https://www.portugal-the-simple-life.com/post/azulejos-portuguese-tiles |access-date=15 May 2023 |website=Portugal Simple Life |language=en |archive-date=16 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230516001643/https://www.portugal-the-simple-life.com/post/azulejos-portuguese-tiles |url-status=live }}

{{Main|Portuguese cuisine|Portuguese wine}}

File:Lisboa L1190316 (24864204799).jpg in Lisbon]]

Portuguese cuisine is diverse, part of the Atlantic diet. A significant ingredient in the Portuguese diet is dry cod (bacalhau in Portuguese). They say that the Portuguese have mastered 365 different ways to prepare codfish, meaning a cod dish for each day of the year, to name a few recipes: bacalhau à Brás, bacalhau à Gomes de Sá, bacalhau com natas, bacalhau à Minhota, bacalhau espiritual, bacalhau à Lagareiro, bacalhau assado, bacalhau à Zé do Pipo, pastéis de bacalhau. Other fish recipes include grilled sardines, mackerel,{{cite web|url=https://www.jn.pt/4287431595/peixes-dos-mais-pescados-aos-mais-consumidos/|publisher=Jornal de Notícias|title=peixes dos mais pescados aos mais consumidos|date=24 July 2024 |language=pt}} sea bream, and caldeirada, a tomato-based stew that can be made from several types of fish or shellfish, with a mix of onion, garlic, bay leaf, potatoes, peppers, parsley.{{Cite web |url=https://www.feastingathome.com/portuguese-fish-stew-caldeirada/ |title=Portuguese Fish Stew (Caldeirada) |author=Sylvia Fountaine |date=3 June 2020 |website=Feasting At Home |access-date=25 December 2023 |archive-date=25 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231225163848/https://www.feastingathome.com/portuguese-fish-stew-caldeirada/ |url-status=live}}

Typical Portuguese meat recipes made out of the customary beef, pork, chicken, goat, lamb or duck meat, include cozido à portuguesa, feijoada, frango de churrasco, leitão (roast suckling pig), chanfana and carne de porco à alentejana. Typical fast food dishes include the Francesinha (Frenchie) from Porto and bifanas (grilled pork) or prego (grilled beef) sandwiches.{{Cite web|url=https://simply-delicious-food.com/easy-portuguese-prego-rolls/|title=Easy Portuguese prego rolls|first=Alida|last=Ryder|date=18 May 2019|website=Simply Delicious|access-date=25 December 2023|archive-date=25 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231225163848/https://simply-delicious-food.com/easy-portuguese-prego-rolls/|url-status=live}} An egg custard tart pastry, the pastel de nata, typical and popular among the Portuguese, became popular abroad and among foreign tourists visiting the country as well.{{Cite web |title=Portuguese custard tarts (Pastéis de nata) |url=https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/pasteis-de-nata |access-date=16 January 2024 |website=BBC Good Food |language=en |archive-date=28 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230128142950/https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/pasteis-de-nata |url-status=live }}{{Cite journal |last1=Oliveira |first1=Sónia |last2=Fradinho |first2=Patrícia |last3=Mata |first3=Paulina |last4=Moreira-Leite |first4=Bruno |last5=Raymundo |first5=Anabela |date=1 October 2019 |title=Exploring innovation in a traditional sweet pastry: Pastel de Nata |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878450X19300320 |journal=International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science |volume=17 |pages=100160 |doi=10.1016/j.ijgfs.2019.100160 |s2cid=194348439 |issn=1878-450X}}

Portuguese wines have enjoyed recognition since the Romans, who associated Portugal with their god Bacchus, due to its climate. Some of the best Portuguese wines are Vinho Verde, Alvarinho, Vinho do Douro, Vinho do Alentejo, Vinho do Dão, Vinho da Bairrada and the sweet Port Wine, Madeira Wine, and the Moscatel from Setúbal and Favaios.

{{main|Portuguese art}}

File:A Adoração dos Magos (1828) - Domingos Sequeira.png was one of the most prolific neoclassical painters (Adoration of the Magi; 1828).]]

Portugal has a rich history in painting. The first well-known painters dating back to the 15th century – like Nuno Gonçalves and Vasco Fernandes – were part of the late Gothic painting period.{{Cite web|url=https://ensina.rtp.pt/artigo/nuno-goncalves/|title=O mítico Nuno Gonçalves|date=2012|website=RTP Ensina|access-date=4 January 2025}}{{Cite web|url=https://ensina.rtp.pt/artigo/nuno-goncalves/|title=Grão Vasco, o lendário pintor de Viseu|date=2012|website=RTP Ensina|access-date=4 January 2025}} During the Renaissance, Portuguese painting was highly influenced by Northern European painting.{{Cite web|url=https://estudoemcasaapoia.dge.mec.pt/recurso/producao-artistica-em-portugal-manuelino-e-tendencias-do-renascimento|title=Produção Artística em Portugal: Manuelino e tendências do Renascimento|website=Ministry of Education|access-date=4 January 2025}} In the Baroque period Josefa de Óbidos and Vieira Lusitano were the most prolific painters.{{Cite web|url=https://ensina.rtp.pt/artigo/josefa-de-obidos-1630-ou1634-1684/|title=Josefa de Óbidos, a pintora das naturezas mortas|date=2012|website=RTP Ensina|access-date=4 January 2025}}

José Malhoa, known for his work Fado, and Columbano Bordalo Pinheiro (who painted the portraits of Teófilo Braga and Antero de Quental) were both references in naturalist painting.{{Cite web|url=https://ensina.rtp.pt/artigo/jose-malhoa-1855-1933/|title=José Malhoa, pintor de costumes e tradições|date=2012|website=RTP Ensina|access-date=4 January 2025}}{{Cite web|url=https://ensina.rtp.pt/artigo/columbano-bordalo-pinheiro-1857-1929/|title=Columbano Bordalo Pinheiro, mestre do retrato|date=2012|website=RTP Ensina|access-date=4 January 2025}}

The 20th century saw the arrival of Modernism, and along with it came the most prominent Portuguese painters: Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso, who was heavily influenced by French painters, particularly the Delaunays (Robert and Sonia).{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.pt/historia/amadeo-souza-cardoso-biografia-o-genio_4346|title=Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso: O génio que viveu furiosamente|date=5 June 2024|website=National Geographic Portugal|access-date=4 January 2025}} Among his best-known works is Canção Popular – a Russa e o Fígaro. Other great modernist painters/writers include Carlos Botelho and Almada Negreiros, friend to the poet Fernando Pessoa, who painted Pessoa's portrait. He was deeply influenced by both Cubist and Futurist trends.{{Cite web|url=https://ensina.rtp.pt/artigo/jose-de-almada-negreiros/|title=José de Almada Negreiros: artista multimédia|date=1999|website=RTP Ensina|access-date=4 January 2025}}{{Cite web|url=https://arquivos.rtp.pt/conteudos/botelho-um-olhar-na-cidade/|title=Botelho: um Olhar na Cidade|date=5 May 1982|website=RTP|access-date=4 January 2025}}

Prominent international figures in visual arts today include painters Vieira da Silva,{{Cite web|url=https://gulbenkian.pt/cam/artist/maria-helena-vieira-da-silva/|title=Maria Helena Vieira da Silva|website=Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation|access-date=4 January 2025}} Júlio Pomar,{{Cite web|url=https://gulbenkian.pt/cam/artist/julio-pomar/|title=Júlio Pomar|website=Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation|access-date=4 January 2025}} Joana Vasconcelos,{{Cite web|url=https://www.rtp.pt/programa/tv/p44926/e5|title=Joana Vasconcelos|date=2024|website=RTP|access-date=4 January 2025}} Julião Sarmento{{Cite web|url=https://gulbenkian.pt/cam/artist/juliao-sarmento/|title=Julião Sarmento |website=Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation|access-date=4 January 2025}} and Paula Rego.{{Cite web|url=https://ensina.rtp.pt/artigo/uma-biografia-de-paula-rego/|title=Uma biografia de Paula Rego|date=2022|website=RTP Ensina|access-date=4 January 2025}}

{{Main|Portuguese literature}}

File:Camões, por Fernão Gomes.jpg, legendary poet of the Portuguese Renaissance]]

Portuguese literature, one of the earliest Western literatures, developed through text as well as song. Until 1350, the Portuguese-Galician troubadours spread their literary influence to most of the Iberian Peninsula,{{Cite book |last=Ferreira |first=Maria Ema |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/52071315 |title=Poesia e prosa medievais |date=1998 |publisher=Editora Ulisseia |isbn=972-568-124-X |page=9 |oclc=52071315 |access-date=17 January 2022 |archive-date=2 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240202204001/https://search.worldcat.org/title/52071315 |url-status=live }} like King D. Dinis (1261–1325) who became famous for his poetry. Other kings would write and sponsor works of literature across Portuguese history, like D. Fernando (1367–1383) who supported Pêro Menino in writing o Livro da Falcoaria.

Adventurer and poet Luís de Camões (c. 1524–1580) wrote the epic poem Os Lusíadas (The Lusiads), with Virgil's Aeneid as his main influence.{{cite web |date=1800–1882 |title=The Lusiads |url=http://www.wdl.org/en/item/11198/ |access-date=31 August 2013 |website=World Digital Library |archive-date=14 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171014103951/https://www.wdl.org/en/item/11198/ |url-status=live }} Modern Portuguese poetry is rooted in neoclassic and contemporary styles, as exemplified by Bocage (1765–1805), Antero de Quental (1842–1891) and Fernando Pessoa (1888–1935). Modern Portuguese literature is represented by authors such as Almeida Garrett, Camilo Castelo Branco, Eça de Queirós, Fernando Pessoa, Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, António Lobo Antunes, Miguel Torga and Agustina Bessa-Luís. Particularly popular and distinguished is José Saramago, recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature.

{{Main|Music of Portugal}}

File:AmaliaRodrigues1969 (cropped).jpg performing in 1969]]

The Music of Portugal encompasses a wide variety of genres. The traditional one is the Portuguese folk music which has deep roots in local customs, utilising instruments such as bagpipes (gaita),{{Cite web|url=https://ensina.rtp.pt/artigo/o-gaiteiro-mirandes/|title=O gaiteiro mirandês|date=2000|website=RTP Ensina|access-date=4 January 2025}} drums, flutes, tambourines, accordions and ukuleles (cavaquinho).{{Cite web|url=https://ensina.rtp.pt/artigo/o-cavaquinho-para-o-mundo/|title=O "Cavaquinho" para o mundo|date=2013|website=RTP Ensina|access-date=4 January 2025}} Within Portuguese folk music is the renowned genre of Fado, a melancholic urban music originated in Lisbon in the 19th century, probably inside bohemian environments, usually associated with the Portuguese guitar and saudade, or longing.{{Cite web|url=https://www.museudofado.pt/en/fado-history-en|title=Fado History|website=Museu do Fado|access-date=4 January 2025}} Coimbra fado, a unique type of "troubadour serenading" fado, is also noteworthy. Internationally notable performers include Amália Rodrigues, Carlos Paredes, José Afonso, Mariza, Carlos do Carmo, António Chainho, Mísia, Dulce Pontes and Madredeus.{{Cite web|url=https://arquivos.rtp.pt/colecoes/amalia-rodrigues/|title=Amália Rodrigues|date=2013|website=Museu do Fado|access-date=4 January 2025}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.rtp.pt/programa/tv/p32352|title=Carlos do Carmo: Um Homem no Mundo|date=2013|website=RTP|access-date=4 January 2025}}

In addition to Folk, Fado and Classical music, other genres are present at Portugal like pop and other types of modern music, particularly from North America and the United Kingdom, as well as a wide range of Portuguese, Caribbean, Lusophone African and Brazilian artists and bands. Artists with international recognition include Dulce Pontes,{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1487930/bio/|title=Dulce Pontes|website=imdb.com|access-date=4 January 2025}} Moonspell,{{Cite web|url=https://www.publico.pt/2024/10/25/culturaipsilon/entrevista/principio-morbid-god-sonho-vieram-moonspell-sucesso-2108716|title=No princípio havia os Morbid God e um sonho, depois vieram os Moonspell e o sucesso|date=25 October 2024|website=Público|access-date=4 January 2025}} Buraka Som Sistema,{{Cite web|url=https://media.rtp.pt/festivaldacancao/autores/blasted/|title=Blasted Mechanism|website=RTP|access-date=4 January 2025}} Blasted Mechanism,{{Cite web|url=https://www.publico.pt/2016/03/11/culturaipsilon/noticia/terminar-porque-1725625|title=Buraka Som Sistema: dez anos da história mais surpreendente da música portuguesa |website=Público|date=11 March 2016|access-date=4 January 2025}} David Carreira and The Gift,{{Cite web|url=https://www.infopedia.pt/artigos/$the-gift|title=The Gift|date=2013|website=infopédia|access-date=4 January 2025}} with the three latter being nominees for a MTV Europe Music Award.{{Cite web|url=https://www.rtp.pt/noticias/cultura/premios-europeus-da-mtv_n155279|title=Prémios Europeus da MTV|website=RTP|date=3 November 2005|access-date=4 January 2025}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.rtp.pt/noticias/cultura/david-carreira-venceu-premio-da-mtv_v960106|title=David Carreira venceu prémio da MTV|website=RTP|date=7 November 2016|access-date=5 January 2025}}

Portugal has several summer music festivals, such as Festival Sudoeste in Zambujeira do Mar,{{Cite web|url=https://www.sabado.pt/gps/musica/detalhe/o-que-slow-j-gostaria-de-ver-no-meo-sudoeste|title=O que Slow J gostaria de ver no MEO Sudoeste|date=1 July 2023|website=Sábado|access-date=4 January 2025}} Festival de Paredes de Coura in Paredes de Coura,{{Cite web|url=https://sicnoticias.pt/especiais/vodafone-paredes-de-coura/2023-08-15-30-anos-do-Paredes-de-Coura-quatro-amigos-sonharam-pegaram-em-160-contos-e-fizeram-um-festival-0ea8f863|title=30 anos do Paredes de Coura: quatro amigos sonharam, pegaram em 160 contos e fizeram um festival|date=15 August 2023|website=SIC Notícias|access-date=4 January 2025}} Festival Vilar de Mouros near Caminha, Boom Festival in Idanha-a-Nova municipality, NOS Alive, Sumol Summer Fest in Ericeira, Rock in Rio Lisboa{{Cite web|url=https://www.publico.pt/2024/06/23/culturaipsilon/noticia/rock-in-rio-lisboa-regressa-parque-tejo-2026-2095016|title=Rock in Rio Lisboa regressa ao Parque Tejo em 2026|date=23 June 2024|website=Público|access-date=4 January 2025}} and Super Bock Super Rock in Greater Lisbon, plus Primavera Sound Porto and MEO Marés Vivas in the Greater Porto area.{{Cite web|url=https://expresso.pt/blitz/2025-01-06-todos-os-concertos-marcados-para-2025-em-portugal-53436cea|title=Todos os concertos marcados para 2025 em Portugal|date=6 January 2025|website=Expresso Blitz|access-date=6 January 2025}}

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The student festivals of Queima das Fitas, which are major events in a number of cities across Portugal, show every year a selection of well-established, high-profile musicians and bands to the public as well as newer, on the rise, upcoming success artists seeking definite recognition.{{Cite web |title=Queima das Fitas: A Festa dos Universitários em Portugal |url=https://atlanticbridge.com.br/artigos/queima-das-fitas |access-date=25 May 2023 |website=Atlantic Bridge |language=en |archive-date=25 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230525234154/https://atlanticbridge.com.br/artigos/queima-das-fitas |url-status=live }} In 2005, Portugal held the MTV Europe Music Awards, in Pavilhão Atlântico, Lisbon.{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0495859/|title=MTV Europe Music Awards Lisboa 2005|website=imdb.com|access-date=4 January 2025}} Furthermore, Portugal won the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 in Kyiv with the song "Amar pelos dois" presented by Salvador Sobral, and subsequently hosted the 2018 contest.{{cite web |date=14 May 2017 |title=Portugal Wins the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest! |url=https://eurovision.tv/story/portugal-salvador-sobral-winner-eurovision-2017 |access-date=2 August 2017 |publisher=Eurovision Song Contest |archive-date=14 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171014103948/https://eurovision.tv/story/portugal-salvador-sobral-winner-eurovision-2017 |url-status=live }}{{cite web |date=25 July 2017 |title=Lisbon revealed as Host City of the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest! |url=https://eurovision.tv/story/eurovision-2018-dates-and-host-city-confirmed |access-date=20 April 2021 |publisher=Eurovision Song Contest |archive-date=4 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170804042227/https://eurovision.tv/story/eurovision-2018-dates-and-host-city-confirmed |url-status=live }}

Portuguese classical music constitutes an important chapter of Western music.{{Cite web|url=https://www.infopedia.pt/artigos/$musica-classica-portuguesa-(sec.-xviii)|title=Música Clássica Portuguesa (séc. XVIII)|website=Infopédia|access-date=4 January 2025}} Over the centuries, names of composers and performers have stood out, such as the troubadours Martim Codax{{Cite web|url=https://www.infopedia.pt/artigos/$martin-codax|title=Martin Codax|website=Infopédia|access-date=4 January 2025}} and King Denis I,{{Cite web|url=https://arquivos.rtp.pt/conteudos/dom-dinis/|title=Dom Dinis |website=RTP|date=24 October 2008|access-date=4 January 2025}} the polyphonists Duarte Lobo,{{Cite web|url=https://www.kennedy-center.org/artists/l/lo-lz/duarte-lobo/|title=Duarte Lobo |website=The Kennedy Center|access-date=4 January 2025}} Filipe de Magalhães, Manuel Cardoso{{Cite web|url=https://mpmp.pt/manuel-cardoso|title=Manuel Cardoso|website=MPMP Património Musical Vivo|access-date=4 January 2025}} and Pedro de Cristo, the organist Manuel Rodrigues Coelho, the composer and harpsichordist Carlos Seixas,{{Cite web|url=https://arquivos.rtp.pt/conteudos/carlos-de-seixas/|title=Carlos de Seixas|date=14 August 1991|website=RTP|access-date=4 January 2025}} the singer Luísa Todi,{{Cite web|url=https://arquivos.rtp.pt/conteudos/luisa-todi/|title=Luísa Todi|date=3 September 1991|website=RTP|access-date=4 January 2025}} symphonist and pianist João Domingos Bomtempo{{Cite web|url=https://arquivos.rtp.pt/conteudos/domingos-bomtempo/|title=Domingos Bomtempo|date=30 November 1986|website=RTP|access-date=4 January 2025}} or composer and musicologist Fernando Lopes Graça.{{Cite web|url=https://ensina.rtp.pt/artigo/no-som-de-fernando-lopes-graca/|title=No som de Fernando Lopes-Graça|date=2006|website=RTP Ensina|access-date=4 January 2025}} The golden period of Portuguese music coincided, arguably, with the heyday of classical polyphony in the 17th century (Escola de Évora, Santa Cruz de Coimbra). Among the great current references, the names of pianists Artur Pizarro,{{Cite web|url=https://gulbenkian.pt/musica/biography/artur-pizarro/|title=Artur Pizarro|website=Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation|access-date=4 January 2025}} Maria João Pires{{Cite web|url=https://www.publico.pt/2024/09/10/culturaipsilon/noticia/pianista-maria-joao-pires-distinguida-praemium-imperiale-japao-2103581|title=Pianista Maria João Pires distinguida com Praemium Imperiale do Japão|date=10 September 2024|website=Público|access-date=4 January 2025}} and Sequeira Costa,{{Cite web|url=https://gulbenkian.pt/musica/noticias/sequeira-costa/|title=Sequeira Costa (1929-2019) |website=Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation|date=22 February 2019|access-date=4 January 2025}} violinist Carlos Damas,{{Cite web|url=https://cesem.fcsh.unl.pt/pessoa/carlos-alexandre-mourao-de-carvalho-e-damas/|title=Carlos Alexandre Mourão de Carvalho e Damas|website=CESEM|access-date=4 January 2025}} composer Emmanuel Nunes,{{Cite web|url=https://arquivos.rtp.pt/conteudos/emanuel-nunes-no-principio-era-o-som/|title=Emanuel Nunes – No Princípio Era o Som…|date=5 January 1994|website=RTP|access-date=4 January 2025}} composer and conductor Álvaro Cassuto{{Cite web|url=https://arquivos.rtp.pt/conteudos/alvaro-cassuto/|title=Álvaro Cassuto|date=28 February 2006|website=RTP|access-date=4 January 2025}} stand out. The most important symphony orchestras are the Fundação Gulbenkian,{{Cite web|url=https://gulbenkian.pt/musica/coro-e-orquestra/orquestra-gulbenkian/|title=Orquestra Gulbenkian|website=Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation|access-date=4 January 2025}} the Porto National Orchestra and the Portuguese Symphony Orchestra.{{Cite web|url=https://www.orquestrasinfonicaportuguesa.pt/en/|title=Orquestra Sinfónica Portuguesa|website=Teatro Nacional de São Carlos|access-date=4 January 2025}} When it comes to opera, the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon is the most representative.{{Cite web|url=https://www.saocarlos.pt/sobre/|title=TNSC Sobre|website=Teatro Nacional de São Carlos|access-date=4 January 2025}}

{{Main|Sport in Portugal}}

File:Cristiano Ronaldo Portugal.jpg is considered one of the greatest football players of all time]]

Football is the most popular sport in Portugal. There are several football competitions ranging from local amateur to world-class professional level. All-time greats Eusébio, Figo and Cristiano Ronaldo are major symbols of Portuguese football history.{{Cite web |title=Eusébio, Figo e CR7 na história da Bola de Ouro - Internacional - Jornal Record |url=https://www.record.pt/internacional/detalhe/eusebio-figo-e-cr7-na-historia-da-bola-de-ouro-734571 |access-date=8 March 2024 |website=Record}}{{Cite web |date=19 October 2020 |title=Encontrar a melhor equipa de todos os tempos. Ronaldo, Figo e Eusébio nomeados |url=https://sicnoticias.pt/desporto/2020-10-19-Encontrar-a-melhor-equipa-de-todos-os-tempos.Ronaldo-Figo-e-Eusebio-nomeados |access-date=8 March 2024 |website=SIC Notícias |language=pt}} Portuguese football managers are also noteworthy, with José Mourinho{{Cite web |title=IFFHS |url=https://iffhs.com/posts/964 |access-date=10 April 2023 |website=iffhs.com |archive-date=2 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240202203954/https://iffhs.com/posts/964 |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |title=SIC International Distribution JOSÉ MOURINHO - THE BEST COACH IN THE WORLD |url=https://internationaldistribution.sic.pt/catalogue/lifestyle/2017-02-23-JOSE-MOURINHO---THE-BEST-COACH-IN-THE-WORLD |access-date=7 December 2023 |website=SIC International Distribution |language=pt-PT |archive-date=7 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231207180717/https://internationaldistribution.sic.pt/catalogue/lifestyle/2017-02-23-JOSE-MOURINHO---THE-BEST-COACH-IN-THE-WORLD |url-status=live }} and Abel Ferreira{{Cite web |title=Abel vence Campeonato Paulista e é o treinador estrangeiro com mais títulos do Brasil |url=https://www.dn.pt/desporto/abel-vence-campeonato-paulista-e-e-o-treinador-estrangeiro-com-mais-titulos-do-brasil-16149727.html |access-date=10 April 2023 |website=dn.pt |date=9 April 2023 |language=pt-PT |archive-date=10 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410135028/https://www.dn.pt/desporto/abel-vence-campeonato-paulista-e-e-o-treinador-estrangeiro-com-mais-titulos-do-brasil-16149727.html |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |title=Abel para a eternidade: Palmeiras revalida título do Brasileirão e português consolida estatuto lendário |url=https://tribuna.expresso.pt/futebol-internacional/2023-12-07-Abel-para-a-eternidade-Palmeiras-revalida-titulo-do-Brasileirao-e-portugues-consolida-estatuto-lendario-f3afeeed |access-date=7 December 2023 |website=Tribuna Expresso |date=7 December 2023 |language=pt-PT |archive-date=7 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231207180709/https://tribuna.expresso.pt/futebol-internacional/2023-12-07-Abel-para-a-eternidade-Palmeiras-revalida-titulo-do-Brasileirao-e-portugues-consolida-estatuto-lendario-f3afeeed |url-status=live }} among the most renowned.

The Portugal national football team has won one UEFA European Championship title: the UEFA Euro 2016, with a 1–0 victory in the final over France, the tournament hosts. In addition, Portugal finished first in the 2018–19 UEFA Nations League, second in the Euro 2004, third in the 1966 FIFA World Cup and fourth in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. At youth level, Portugal have won two FIFA World Youth Championships.

S.L. Benfica, Sporting CP and FC Porto are the largest sports clubs by popularity and number of trophies, often known as "os três grandes" ("the big three"). They have won eight titles in the European UEFA club competitions and present in 21 finals. The Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) – Federação Portuguesa de Futebol – annually hosts the Algarve Cup, a women's football tournament.

Other than football, many Portuguese sports clubs, including the "big three", compete in other sports events with a varying level of success and popularity, these include roller hockey, basketball, futsal, handball, volleyball and athletics. The Portuguese national rugby union team qualified for the 2027 Rugby World Cup and the Portuguese national rugby sevens team has played in the World Rugby Sevens Series.

Road cycling, with Volta a Portugal the most important race, is a popular sports event and includes professional cycling teams such as Sporting CP, Boavista, Clube de Ciclismo de Tavira and União Ciclista da Maia. In motorsport, Portugal is noted for the Rally of Portugal, and the Estoril and Algarve Circuits as well as the revived Porto Street Circuit which holds a stage of the WTCC every two years, as well as for a number of internationally noted racers such as Miguel Oliveira, Tiago Monteiro, António Félix da Costa, Filipe Albuquerque, Pedro Lamy, Armindo Araújo and others in a range of varied motorsports.

In water, Portugal has three major sports: swimming, water polo and surfing. Portugal had success in canoeing with several world and European champions, such as olympic medalist Fernando Pimenta. Annually, the country hosts one of the stages of the World Surf League men's and women's Championship Tour, the MEO Rip Curl Pro Portugal at the Supertubos in Peniche. Northern Portugal has its own original martial art, Jogo do Pau, in which fighters use staffs to confront one or several opponents. Other popular sport-related recreational outdoor activities include airsoft, fishing, golf, hiking, hunting and orienteering. Portugal is one of the world's leading golf destinations.{{cite web |title=Why Portugal is still Europe's #1 golf destination |url=http://www.globalgolfermag.com/matthewmooreblogspot/why-portugal-is-still-europes-1-golf-destination/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211082330/http://www.globalgolfermag.com/matthewmooreblogspot/why-portugal-is-still-europes-1-golf-destination/ |archive-date=11 February 2017 |access-date=2 August 2017 |website=Globalgolfermag.com}}{{cite web |date=9 December 2016 |title=World Golf Awards 2016: Portugal Voted the Best Golf Destination in the World |url=http://tripwix.com/2016/12/world-golf-awards-2016-portugal-voted-the-best-golf-destination-in-the-world/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170803011446/https://tripwix.com/2016/12/world-golf-awards-2016-portugal-voted-the-best-golf-destination-in-the-world/ |archive-date=3 August 2017 |access-date=2 August 2017 |website=Tripwix.com}}

{{Portal|Portugal|Europe}}

• Outline of Portugal

{{Notelist|30em}}

{{reflist|30em}}

{{refbegin|30em}}

• {{cite book |last=Disney |first=A. R. |year=2009 |title=A History of Portugal and the Portuguese Empire, vol. 1: Portugal |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-60397-3 }}
• {{Cite book |last1=Page |first1=Melvin Eugene |title=Colonialism: An International, Social, Cultural, and Political Encyclopedia |last2=Sonnenburg |first2=Penny M. |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-57607-335-3 |volume=2|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic }}
• {{cite book |last=Livermore |first=Harold V. |year=1969 |title=A New History of Portugal |publisher=Cambridge University Press }}
• {{Cite book |title=Grande Enciclopédia Universal |publisher=Durclub |year=2004}}
• {{Cite book |title=Constituição da República Portuguesa |year=2004 |edition=VI Revisão Constitucional |language=pt |trans-title=Constitution of the Portuguese Republic}}

{{refend}}

{{Sister project links|voy=Portugal|d=Q45}}

{{Commons category|Portugal}}

{{Wikivoyage}}

• {{osmrelation-inline|295480}}
• [http://www.theportugalnews.com/ National English language newspaper]
• [http://www.winesofportugal.info/?market=2 National Wine Website]
• [http://portuguese-american-journal.com/?s=portugal&x=0&y=0 News about Portugal] from the Portuguese American Journal
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080727024243/http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu/govpubs/for/portugal.htm Portugal] at UCB Libraries GovPubs
• [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17758217 Portugal profile] from the BBC News
• [https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/portugal/ Portugal]. The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency.
• {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Portugal |volume=22 |last1=Prestage |first1=Edgar |author1-link=Edgar Prestage |last2=Jayne |first2=Kingsley Garland |pages=134–163 |short=1}}
• [https://www.loc.gov/rr/rarebook/coll/portpam.html Portuguese Pamphlets Collection] from the [https://www.loc.gov/rr/rarebook/ Rare Book and Special Collections Division at the Library of Congress]
• {{Wikiatlas|Portugal}}

; Government

• [http://www.en.parlamento.pt/ Official Parliament website]
• [http://www.portugal.gov.pt/en.aspx Official Portuguese Government website] {{in lang|en|pt}}

;Trade

• [http://wits.worldbank.org/CountryProfile/en/Country/PRT/Year/2012/Summary World Bank Summary Trade Statistics Portugal]

; Travel

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20220407215705/http://www.turismodeportugal.pt/Paginas/PageNotFoundError.aspx?requestUrl=http://www.turismodeportugal.pt/english/TurismodeportugalIP/Pages/TurismodePortugalIP.aspx Official Portuguese Government Travel/media website]
• [https://www.visitportugal.com/en Official Travel and Tourism office website]

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