Lisbon, Dec. 17, 2024 (Lusa) - Purchasing power in Portugal was 80.5% of the European average in 2023, 3.1 percentage points more than in 2022, with the country occupying 15th position among the 20 countries in the euro zone and 18th in the European Union.
According to figures released on Tuesday by the National Statistics Institute (INE), between 2022 and 2023, Portugal's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, expressed in Purchasing Power Parities (PPP), rose from 77.4% to 80.5% of the European Union (EU) average, with the country rising from 16th to 15th place among the 20 countries in the euro zone and from 20th to 18th place in the EU.
With regard to Individual Consumption Expenditure ‘per capita’, pointed out by INE as "a more appropriate indicator to reflect the well-being of families" (while GDPpc is mainly an indicator of the level of economic activity), it stood at 85.0% of the European Union average in 2023, 0.3 percentage points less than the previous year.
In this indicator, Portugal ranked 15th in the euro zone and 18th in the European Union, compared to 14th and 17th respectively in the previous year.
Last year, Portugal, with a GDP per capita index (GDPpc) of 80.5, ranked 15th out of the 20 countries in the euro zone, below countries like Lithuania (86.6), Spain (90.5) and Slovenia (91.8) and ahead of Estonia (79.9), Croatia (76.0) and Slovakia (73.8).
In nominal terms, Portugal's GDPpc increased by 8.5% in 2023, determined by the nominal increase in GDP (9.6%), since the population in 2023 was marginally higher than the previous year.
Overall, INE reports a ‘high dispersion’ of the GDPpc volume indicator measured in PPP in the 27 EU member states: Luxembourg (236.8) has the highest index among the 36 European countries analysed, corresponding to more than twice the EU27 average and almost four times that of Bulgaria (63.8), which is the EU country with the lowest figure.
The coefficient of variation of GDPpc in the 36 countries considered in the exercise stood at 44.9 %, lower than in 2022 (50.7 %).
Between 2023 and 2022, INE says there were ‘significant variations’ in the GDPpc volume indices, measured in PPP (Purchasing Power Parities), with reductions in 16 of the 36 countries analysed, with the biggest decreases in Norway (-42.6 percentage points), Ireland (-24.7 percentage points) and Luxembourg (-14.7 percentage points).
On the contrary, there were increases in the GDPpc volume indices in Romania (4.4 percentage points), Croatia (4.1 percentage points) and Turkey (3.9 percentage points).
With regard to Individual Consumption Expenditure ‘per capita’ (INCOpc), in 2023, for the 36 countries considered in the exercise, the coefficient of variation of this indicator was 26.2%, around 19 percentage points lower than that of GDPpc.
According to INE, GDPpc, "because it includes additional components that are subject to greater volatility, tends to show greater dispersion between countries when compared to ICSDpc".
Despite the lower dispersion compared to GDPpc, the statistical institute nevertheless reports ‘substantial differences’ in the INCOpc between EU member states.
The INE warns that the results released today "should be analysed with caution, particularly in terms of temporal evolution, since over time there are changes of a different nature".
These include changes in the selection of the common basket of goods and services being compared, the methods and sources of prices used in the Purchasing Power Parities exercise and the revision of national accounting figures.
"Moreover, in 2024 there was a generalised change in the basis of national accounts in the EU, which led to significant revisions of GDP and GDPpc in several EU countries," notes INE.
As a result, in the current financial year, the GDPpc for 2022 was revised by -4.2 percentage points for Sweden and +6.6 percentage points for Iceland, corresponding to the extreme revisions within the EU countries. Portugal, on the other hand, had a revision of -1.3 percentage points.
PD/AYLS // AYLS
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