Portugal's general discussion (general events)

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Thanks for these updates. Obrigado!

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

More 2021 Census results: Population by district and regions, compared with 2011.

2021 Census, Population by district:

     236,413 Azores (-10,359)
     700,787 Aveiro (-13,413)
     144,401 Beja (-8,357)
     846,293 Braga (-1,892)
     122,804 Braganza (-13,448)
     177,962 Castelo Branco (-18,302)
     408,551 Coimbra (-21,553)
     152,444 Évora (-14,282)
     467,343 Faro (+16,337)
     142,974 Guarda (-17,965)
     458,605 Leiria (-12,325)
  2,275,385 Lisbon (+24,852)
     250,744 Madeira (-17,041)
     104,923 Portalegre (-13,583)
  1,785,405 Porto (-31,767)
     424,973 Santarém (-28,665)
     874,806 Setúbal (+23,548)
     231,266 Viana do Castelo (-13,570)
     185,695 Vila Real (-20,966)
     351,292 Viseu (-26,361)

10,343,066 Total Portugal (-219,112)

2021 Census, Population by region:

     236,413 Azores (-10,359)
     704,533 Alentejo (-52,769)
     467,343 Algarve (+16,337)
  2,227,239 Centro (-100,516)
  2,870,208 Lisbon (+48,332)
     250,744 Madeira (-17,041)
  3,586,586 Norte (-103,096)

10,343,066 Total Portugal (-219,112)

Of the 20 districts in the country, just 3, Lisbon, Faro and Setúbal, had population growth. The rest had a big decline in population. The only expection, in this group, is Braga district which just lost almost 1,900 inhabitants, as the massive population growth of Braga city was able to offset the big population declines in more rural villages in the district.

Of the 7 regions, just 2 grew and they match the few districts that saw their population grow.

The declines in Vila Real, Portalegre, Garda, and Evora are utterly brutal. Ouch.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

The declines in Vila Real, Portalegre, Garda, and Evora are utterly brutal. Ouch.

2021 Census: Parish map with changes 2021 vs 2011.


https://www.ine.pt/scripts/db_censos_2021.html
Orange for increase, Blue for Decrease.

Image link

This map shows the clear emptying of rural Portugal. In the more rural districts, only the main cities have increases, and even those are very modest and, in some cases, they basically stagnate or even have small decreases.

Obrigado for the interesting map.
It looks likely that the district magnitudes of some rural Portuguese constituencies in the parliament will shrink as the decade goes on.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Obrigado for the interesting map.
It looks likely that the district magnitudes of some rural Portuguese constituencies in the parliament will shrink as the decade goes on.

That's an interesting point and a curious one, because voters rolls don't add up with the population in some districts, mainly rural ones. Take Vila Real district for example, according to the Interior ministry, the district has around 210,000 registered voters, but the Census says it has less than 186,000 inhabitants. Why does this happens? Because, many residents left the country but didn't changed their address and they continue registered in their home parishes. And because, Parliamentary and local seats are distributed by the number of registered voters and not by population, rural districts are still benefited a bit. Otherwise, if seats were allocated by population, districts like Vila Real, Braganza, Viseu, Guarda, Castelo Branco, Évora and Beja would lose seats to the big districts of Lisbon, Porto, Braga, Setúbal and Faro.

I was thinking that rural Portugal's woes are from older people dying off. I was not aware that people often forgot to change their registration, but that might be a by-product of the fact that local-based representation does not seem to matter in Portugal. I would guess that there's little incentive for people to change registration as a result of that. In which case, my thesis looks correct but for slightly different reasons than I imagined.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

The declines in Vila Real, Portalegre, Garda, and Evora are utterly brutal. Ouch.

A late follow up for this comment: The "aging of Portugal" since 2001:

https://mobile.twitter.com/HFerrinhoLopes/status/1605533696374607873
Yellow - Municipalities with more younger people than older.
Blue - Municipalities with more older people than younger.

Thanks for the reply. It's a sea of blue so big Vasco da Gama could sail across it without much trouble.
It seems that the islands areas are demographically healthier than the mainland? The blue spots in Madeira caught my eyes, though.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Thanks for the reply. It's a sea of blue so big Vasco da Gama could sail across it without much trouble.
It seems that the islands areas are demographically healthier than the mainland? The blue spots in Madeira caught my eyes, though.

One of the comments to this tweet is literally "Floods in Portugal".

Well, Madeira and Azores have the lowest life expectancy rate in the country: 78,5 years for Madeira and 78,0 years for Azores. The national average is 81,1 years. The blue spots in Madeira are the most underdeveloped areas in the island. The majority of the population in Madeira is concentrated in the South part of the island: Ribeira Brava, Funchal, Santa Cruz and Machico. In these 4 municipalities, the airport, hospitals, industries and the Madeira "Exclusion Zone" are located.

Although both regions have also lost population in the last 2 decades, the "generation renovation" is higher than in the rest of the country, mainly, probably, because of the low life expectency.

Ah. Interesting. Obrigado for the info!
What makes the islands of yellow in mainland Portugal unique? (particularly rural Portugal)

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Portugal is the country that most wine consumes per capita in the world:

https://twitter.com/SICNoticias/status/1656995696044539905

Portugal is the country in the world that consumes the most wine "per capita"

Portugal is the country in the world that consumes the most wine 'per capita' and consumption has been increasing, revealed today the Deputy Director General of the Intervention Service for Addictive Behaviors and Dependencies (SICAD).

"The elderly consume more wine", teenagers and young adults drink beer and the youngest drink spirits ('shots'), said the public health doctor in the parliamentary subcommittee on Global Health, where he was heard together with the director general of the SICAD, Joao Goulao.

He noted, however, that in Portugal, contrary to the rest of Europe, spirits are "very little consumed", representing about 10%, while wine totals 60% and the rest is beer consumption.
(...)
"Portugal is one of the countries with the highest 'per capita' consumption of alcohol in world terms", he clarified, adding that the average consumption of liters of pure alcohol per inhabitant had fallen slightly, having reached 11.9 in 2015, value that rose to 12.1 in 2019.

"It seems a small amount, but we have entered into a counter cycle with the rest of Europe and, therefore, it is an added concern", stressed the official.

The specialist expressed concern about "the suffering that can be added to these consumptions", both for himself and for third parties.

Manuel Cardoso revealed that, according to the general population survey, in 2012, 60% of the Portuguese had consumed alcohol, a figure that increased to 61.5% in 2022.
(...)

For Americans reading this: 12.1 liters is the equivalent of 3.196 liquid galloons.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

The universe works in mysterious ways:

In 2016, a viral moment was caugh on camera with Cristiano Ronaldo throwing a CMTV microfone to a lake after becoming annoyed with a reporter from the same channel. Ronaldo and CMTV, a TV channel, owned by Correio da Manhã newspaper, that is known for its sensational news and that has a viewing share of 5-6%, had always a bad relationship due to the stories CMTV reported regarding Ronaldo and his family.

The 2016 viral moment:

But now, Cofina, the company the owns Correio da Manhã and CMTV, is going to be bought by new shareholders and one of them is... Cristiano Ronaldo, who is expected to own 30% of the company.

Ronaldo: "I'm something of an investor myself".

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Ronaldo: "I'm something of an investor myself".

It's not his first adventure into the bussiness sector. He owns a museum about himself in Funchal city, has 2 hotels, one in Funchal and another one in Lisbon, and seems to have a his own mineral water brand.

Ronaldo owning a museum about himself along with his own mineral water brand is really quite something. Now all he needs is to own a book publishing company and make it publish an autobiography of himself.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Ronaldo: "I'm something of an investor myself".

It's not his first adventure into the bussiness sector. He owns a museum about himself in Funchal city, has 2 hotels, one in Funchal and another one in Lisbon, and seems to have a his own mineral water brand.

Ronaldo owning a museum about himself along with his own mineral water brand is really quite something. Now all he needs is to own a book publishing company and make it publish an autobiography of himself.

He already has one: Moments: The autobiography of Cristiano Ronaldo

Ronaldo is wealthy enough to become the Tio Patinhas of Portugal.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Good news for the Socialists, presumably?

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

The main 4 credit agencies now have Portugal with an "A level", the first time in 13 years:

https://twitter.com/ECO_PT/status/1763673394115977693

S&P raises Portugal's rating. Sovereign debt rating returns to level A in the four main agencies

Standard & Poor’s (S&P) decided to raise, this Friday, the Portuguese debt rating from BBB+ to A-, with a positive outlook. Portugal is once again, after 13 years, at level A in all rating agencies.

The agency had already signaled this decision last September when it improved the outlook for sovereign debt from stable to positive – an outlook that maintains the new assessment, which opens the door to a further increase in the rating. Almost a week before early elections, S&P believes that the “next Government” will continue on the path of “financial discipline” and “concentrate on the execution of the funds” of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), it indicates, in a note , the press.

The “rapid” reduction in the public debt ratio and the “strong budgetary performance” are highlighted by the agency to justify raising one level on the rating scale. “We expect this trend to continue, albeit more slowly”, anticipates S&P, before adding that it foresees “moderate growth”, supported by “a strong performance in tourism, an increase in public investment and a recovery in private consumption”.

GDP should slow down from 2.3% in 2023 to 1.4% this year, estimates the agency, which also points to unemployment growing “slightly” to 6.7% this year. In macro numbers, S&P estimates an increase in public investment to 3.3% GDP in 2024 (compared to 2.8% last year).
(...)

Does this help PS?

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

How did he lose so badly?