Portugal recorded a decrease in the risk of poverty in 2024, according to data from the Living Conditions and Income Survey of the National Statistics Institute (INE). The rate stood at 15.4% of the population, 1.2 percentage points less than in 2023, but still represents 1.66 million residents in a situation of economic vulnerability – 101 thousand fewer than in the previous year.
INE highlights that this reduction was driven by social transfersrelated to illness, disability, family, unemployment and social inclusion, which contributed to reducing the risk of poverty by 5.4 percentage points, a figure higher than that recorded in the previous year (4.8 pp). This effect was particularly evident among the elderly population, whose risk of poverty fell by 3.3 percentage pointsreflecting the impact of retirement pensions and social support.
Between 2023 and 2024, the reduction in poverty was felt across all age groups and genders. The employed population saw the risk drop from 9.2% to 8.6%, while the unemployed population went from 44.3% to 42.6%.
However, not all households registered improvements: single-parent families with children and households consisting of two adults with two children registered an increase in risk.
Regional disparities remain significant. Greater Lisbon had the lowest risk of poverty, at 12.2%, followed by the Algarve (15.1%). Alentejo, the Azores and the West and Tagus Valley regions recorded rates above 17%.
In addition to reducing the risk of poverty, the data points to a reduction in economic inequality. The Gini coefficient – statistical measure that assesses inequality in the distribution of income or wealth in a population – fell from 31.9% in 2023 to 30.9% in 2024, and the S80/S20 ratio – a statistical indicator of income inequality that compares the share of total income received by the richest 20% (S80) with the share received by the poorest 20% (S20) of the population – fell from 5.2 to 4.9, indicating a more balanced income distribution.
The poverty intensity ratewhich measures the distance between the median income of people at risk of poverty and the poverty line itself, fell from 25.7% to 22.6%reinforcing the relative improvement in the purchasing power of the most vulnerable families.
Despite these advances, almost two million Portuguese remain at risk of poverty or social exclusion. INE highlights that the problem remains more serious among the elderly, families with dependent children and people with lower educational levels.