Get to know Portugal! This compilation of quick references, including geographical data, people, economy and statistics, provides an easy access to facts that may help you to be familiar with the country's business environment.
Geography
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Location: Southwestern Europe, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, west of Spain. Also includes Açores and Madeira Islands located along western sea, approaching the Strait of Gibraltar.
- Area: Has a total of 92.391 sq km (91.951 sq km are land and 440 sq km are water).
- Climate: Predominantly maritime temperate; cool and rainy in north, warmer and drier in south.
- Terrain: Mountainous north of the Tejo River; rolling plains in south; the highest point has 2.351 m on Pico Island in the Açores.
- Natural Resources: Fish, cork, iron ore, copper, zinc, tin, silver, gold, uranium, marble, clay, gypsum, salt, arable land, hydropower.
People
Politics
- Government Type: Parliamentary democracy.
- Constitution: 25 April 1976, revised many times.
- Capital: Lisboa.
- Administrative Divisions: 18 districts (Aveiro, Beja, Braga, Bragança, Castelo Branco, Coimbra, Évora, Faro, Guarda, Leiria, Lisboa, Portalegre, Porto, Santarém, Setúbal, Viana do Castelo, Vila Real, Viseu) and two autonomous regions (Açores and Madeira).
- Executive: The chief of state is the President Aníbal Cavaco Silva and the head of government is the Prime Minister José Sócrates.
- Political Parties: Portuguese Socialist Party; Social Democratic Party; Portuguese Communist Party; Popular Party; The Left Bloc; Communist Party of the Portuguese Workers - Reorganizative Movement Proletariat Party; New Democracy Party; Humanistic Party; National Renewer Party; Monarchical Popular Party; Land Party; Ecologist Party - The Greens; Working Party of Socialist Unity; Atlantic Democratic Party; Revolutionary Socialistic Party.
- National Elections: All citizens may vote from 18 years of age.
- Flag: Two vertical bands of green (hoist side, two-fifths) and red (three-fifths) with the Portuguese coat of arms centred on the dividing line.
Economy
- GDP at Market Prices: 135,4 billion euros
- GDP - Real Percentage Change: 0,3 in 2005, 0,9 in 2006 (forecast) and 1,1 in 2007 (forecast).
- Inflation Rate: 2,3 in 2005, 2,7 in 2006 (forecast) and 2,4 in 2007 (forecast).
- Unemployment Rate: 7,6 in 2005, 8,1 in 2006 (forecast) and 8,3 in 2007.
- Currency: Euro.
Statistics
Portugal runs his economy according to principles of steady growth. In the last forty years, for instance, the country was within the governments with the highest GDP growth rates in Europe, says OECD (Organisation for the Economical Co-operation and Development).
Besides, the joining to the EU in 1986 enabled positive changes in the economical, social and cultural sectors, approaching the national environment to his European partners.
Today, Portugal’s economy expresses a stable inflation rate, which has suffered a remarkable decline, a unemployment rate around 8,1% and a public sector and debt that have decreased, according to the National Statistical Institute.
On the website of the AICEP Portugal Global you will be able to find an array of statistical information related with exportation, importation, foreign investment and business costs.