Portugal: Politics, Economics, and the Social Climate

My name is Grace and today I am going to discuss the political, economic, and social climate of Portugal.

 Firstly, for the political climate, Portugal is a stable parliamentary democracy. They have a multiparty political system, along with regular transfers of power between political parties. 

Portugal has both a President and a Prime Minister. The president is the head of state, who carries out a 5 year term. The Prime Minister is the head of government and is appointed by the President. 

The President is Marcelo Rebels de Sousa and the Prime Minister is Antonio Costa. 

Some of the political problems Portugal faces are the following: legal constraints on journalism, corruption, poor/abusive conditions for prisoners, and the effects of racial discrimination and xenophobia. 

Portugal is a member of the European Union, the Latin Union, and the United Nations. They are also founding members of NATO and OECD.

Next we will discuss the economic climate of Portugal.

The GDP of Portugal is predicted to trend around $260.00 billion in 2022 and $280.00 billion in 2023 (Trading Economics, 2022).

Like other countries, the global lockdowns due to COVID19 affected Portugal very negatively in 2020 and 2021. A large amount of pressure was put onto Portugal’s health care system resulting in increased poverty and inequality. The Portuguese currency is the euro and they have been a Euro-area member since January 1st, 1999. Their consumer price index rate increased to 2.6% in November of 2021. The annual inflation rate as of now is 1.7%. 

Portugal’s exports are: cars, vehicle parts, refined petroleum, leather footwear, and uncoated paper. These exports mainly go to Spain, Germany, France, the UK, and the USA.

Their main imports are: cars, crude petroleum, aircrafts, vehicle parts, and packaged medicaments. These products come from countries such as Spain, Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Italy. 

Portugal’s standard corporate income tax rate is 21% and the average unemployment rate for 2020 was 7.2%. 

Portugal's minimum wage rate is €618.33 ($680) per month in 12 payments or €530 per month ($593) in 14 payments for all full-time workers,rural workers,and domestic employees ages 18 and older. Finally the minimum working age is 16 years old. 

Next I will discuss the social climate of Portugal. 

The population of Portugal according to Worldometer is approximately 10.2 million. Most people who reside in Portugal are ethnic Portuguese, but there is a good number of migrant people who are from Brazil, Africa, and Asia.

A survey published by the Pew Research Center in 2018 shows that 77 percent of the population identifies as Roman Catholic, 4 percent as Protestant, and 4 percent as “other,” while 15 percent are religiously unaffiliated. Also, the median age of people who reside. in Portugal is 46.2 years. The people of Portugal enjoy football and many other sports such as cycling, golf, water sports, and motorsports. Also, Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the most famous footballers in the world. Most of the Portuguese claim him to be the best footballer in Portuguese history.

On a more negative side, Portugal struggles socially with poverty, the housing crisis, and the migrant crisis.