Unlock The World
Overseas Havens Reports
Conference Kits
Lahardan Books
Services
Our Customer Service team is here to assist with any questions or concerns CustomerService@LiveandInvestOverseas.com
Unlock The World
Overseas Havens Reports
Conference Kits
Lahardan Books
Services
Our Customer Service team is here to assist with any questions or concerns CustomerService@LiveandInvestOverseas.com
The Economy in Portugal is based on services and manufacturing. The economy is predicted to continue growing in the coming years.
Once one of the world’s richest countries because of its vast empire in Asia, Africa, and South America, Portugal began slipping into relative economic irrelevance in the 19th and 20th centuries because the wealth generated overseas was not used to develop domestic industrial production.
After the revolution of the 1970s, Portugal began reorienting itself away from overseas possessions and toward Europe. And, it joined the European Economic Community (the precursor to the European Union) in 1986 and adopted the euro as its currency on January 1, 2002, along with 11 other EU countries.
Reviewed By Lief Simon
Lief Simon is the managing editor of Global Property Advisor, Simon Letter, and Offshore Living Letter. He has purchased more than 45 properties, investing in 23 different countries around the world.
Start Your New Overseas Life Today
A world full of fun, adventure, and profit awaits! Sign up for our free daily e-letter, Overseas Opportunity Letter, and we’ll send you a FREE report on the 10 Best Places To Retire In Style Overseas Today 2025
We Value Your Privacy! We will not share your email address with anyone else, period.
At the time it joined the European Community, Portugal’s economy was unique among its continental counterparts.
It was heavily dependent on tourism receipts and remittances from foreign workers engaged primarily in temporary work in high-income countries such as France.
Also, it harbored an anachronistic agricultural sector with small family farms in the north and large collective farms in the south where productivity, despite the country’s natural resources and climate, was a quarter of the European average. It’s public sector also substantially exceeded those seen in other Western European countries.
Beginning in the 1990s, Portuguese governments recognized the highly politicized public enterprise sector as a major obstacle to economic growth and began privatizing many state-controlled firms and liberalizing key areas of the economy.
Much like other western European countries, the Portuguese economy is now dominated by services. Manufacturing also contributes a significant share to the economy, but agriculture is negligible — contributing less than 3% of the nation’s GDP.
Most importantly, large inflows of capital since Portugal’s entry into the EU have fostered and sustained development to the point that Portugal is now classified by the World Bank as an upper-middle-income economy.
Portugal was one of the countries hardest hit by the euro-zone debt crisis of 2009, and a raft of government measures proved ineffective at halting the country’s economic meltdown.
In 2011 the EU and the International Monetary Fund authorized a 78 billion euro bailout package for Portugal, contingent on the adoption of strict austerity guidelines.
As a result, the austerity measures caused the economy in Portugal to contract in 2009, and again from 2011 to 2014, but a modest recovery began in 2013 and gathered steam in 2014.
Portugal showed strong economic growth in 2015 but has faced some headwinds more recently. Beginning in the third quarter of 2014, the economy began expanding at a rate of 0.4% quarterly and ended the year at a 1.5% annual clip.
Unemployment fell steadily throughout the year and dropped from 14.1% in 2014 to 12.7% in 2015; government deficits dropped to -4.4% of GDP in 2015 from -7.2% in 2014.
More recent data suggest that the positive momentum has continued into 2016. Industrial production and retail sales increased notably early in the year and confidence among businesses and consumers improved.
A center-left government led by the Socialist Party (PS) put forth a budget in the first quarter of 2016 that targets an overall fiscal deficit of 2.2% of GDP in 2016 that was welcomed by the markets.
So, it remains to be seen whether the budget will require a significant revision by European authorities, however, which would put the coalition government under pressure.
After a growth of 3.0% in 2017 and 2018, Portugal’s economic growth dropped to 2.0% in 2019. As of right now growth in 2020 is expected to be around 1.7%.
| Information Type | Notes |
|---|---|
| Real annual growth rate (2024) | 2.8% |
| Per capita income | US$28,969 |
| Inflation rate (2024) | 2.25% |
| Natural resources | wine, oil products, wood and cork, wood pulp, and paper. |
| Primary sectors (76% of GDP) | Services (tourism, telecommunications, financial services) |
| Secondary sectors (21.6% of GDP) | Industry (textiles, chemicals, automobiles, and parts) |
| Tertiary sectors (2.3% of GDP) | Agriculture (paper and pulp, dairy products, wine) |
| Exports (2023) | US$58.2 billion: agricultural products, cars, wine, oil products, chemical products, plastics and rubber, hides, leather, wood and cork, wood pulp and paper, textile materials, clothing, leather footwear, machinery, and tools, base metals |
| Major trade markets | Spain 23.7%, France 11.8%, Germany 11.8% |
| Imports (2023) | |
| Major suppliers | Spain 25.8%, Germany 10.8%, France 13% |
| Labor force | 5,387,900 |
Reviewed By Lief Simon
Lief Simon is the managing editor of Global Property Advisor, Simon Letter, and Offshore Living Letter. He has purchased more than 45 properties, investing in 23 different countries around the world.
Start Your New Overseas Life Today
A world full of fun, adventure, and profit awaits! Sign up for our free daily e-letter, Overseas Opportunity Letter, and we’ll send you a FREE report on the 10 Best Places To Retire In Style Overseas Today 2025
We Value Your Privacy! We will not share your email address with anyone else, period.
Portugal’s tourism industry is the most popular among investors. It represents close to 20% of the country’s GDP. Portugal receives more than 20 million tourists annually.
We would stand at the window—Lief, young Jackson, and I—watching the scene 14 floors down until it was time for...
Bocas del Toro is one of the most pristine areas on Panama’s Caribbean coast, with true white-sand beaches, clean turquoise...
When Vincent Barone went on vacation with his parents to Sardinia, Italy, for the first time, something felt right immediately....
Monday, at 8 a.m., 10 little girls assembled at Las Cruces. Our Maria Fernanda was standing by to collect them…...
We Value Your Privacy! We will not share your email address with anyone else, period.
As seen in
Top Countries
Budgets
Affordable
Resources
Real Estate
Overseas Property Alert
How To Become Independently Wealthy And Fund The Lifestyle Of Your Dreams
Buying Real Estate For Cashflow
Discover tips and strategies used by global property investing veterans
Explore Our Latest Posts
Learn how to invest and purchase property abroad…
Conferences
Live and Invest In Panama Conference
Live And Invest In Greece Workshop
Live And Invest In Portugal Conference
Contact Our Events Team:
Toll-Free U.S. and Canada:
1 (888) 627 8834
From Outside North America:
1 (443) 599 1221
Working Hours
Monday – Friday 08:00 am – 17:00 pm EST.
Reach us with your questions by email at: events@liveandinvestoverseas.com
Store
Overseas Havens Reports
Conference Kits
Lahardan Books
Services
Free Report
FREE Report
The 12 Best Places to Retire in 2026
Simply sign up for our FREE daily Overseas Opportunity Letter, and we’ll immediately email you our editors’ latest research report… absolutely FREE
We Value Your Privacy! We will not share your email address with anyone else, period.
Follow Us:
© 2008 - Live and Invest Overseas - All Rights Reserved.
RETIRE OVERSEAS AND
LIVE LIKE ROYALTY
Sign up for FREE and learn how to live the good life on a modest budget, find bargain property, and more. Plus, check out our FREE report on the 12 BEST PLACES TO RETIRE.
