Lisbon, July 2, 2025 (Lusa) - Portugal is among the five OECD countries where most people express concern about geopolitical risk, climate change and health issues when thinking about the next one or two years.
The findings, released on Wednesday, are the result of the ‘Risks that Matter’ survey, conducted between November and December last year among more than 27,000 people aged 18 to 64 in 27 countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Looking ahead to the next year or two, the main concern in all countries is related to geopolitical risk, cited by 77% of respondents.
Israel, at war in the Gaza Strip since October 2023, tops the list of countries most concerned about this issue (88%), but there are eight others also above 80%: Spain, Portugal (86%), Turkey, Italy, Austria, Greece, Germany and Lithuania.
In the report, the Portuguese once again stand out in most indicators.
Right after geopolitical risk, climate change (82%) is a cause for concern for the majority, but so is a range of health-related issues.
For 78% of respondents in Portugal, access to quality healthcare or the possibility of becoming ill is a concern, with seven out of 10 worried about access to quality long-term care.
With regard to healthcare, half of Portuguese people were willing to contribute an additional 2% to healthcare, above the OECD average (38%).
On this issue, Portugal is also among the five countries with the highest percentage of people who say they are concerned or very concerned, alongside Chile, Greece, Mexico and Spain.
When looking ahead to the next year or two, there is only one criterion that concerns less than half of Portuguese people: the need to give up work or their career to care for children, elderly relatives or relatives with an illness or disability (49%).
The concerns shared by the Portuguese are common to other countries such as Chile, Greece, Italy, Mexico, Spain and Turkey, where almost all the issues assessed are a cause for concern for the majority of respondents.
In contrast, countries in central and northern Europe, such as Austria, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, the United Kingdom and South Korea stand out.
In addition to the short term, the survey also assessed concerns beyond 10 years, with climate change and geopolitical risks again emerging at the top of the list for the Portuguese.
In the long term, financial security in old age is another major concern, cited by 85% of respondents in Portugal - well above the OECD average (65%) and again on a par with Chile (90%), Mexico (87%), Greece (85%), Spain (83%) and Italy (80%).
On financial issues, the report shows that Portuguese people trust family and friends more than government social responses to support them in the face of personal financial problems.
Nearly 70% believe that they or another adult in their household could work more to increase their income, and almost 60% believe that a friend or family member would be available to help. On the other hand, less than 30% believe that government support would be sufficient.
Portugal is also the second country where most people are concerned about the ageing of the population (79%), behind only South Korea (85%).
When asked about public policies to respond to the ageing of the population, the majority advocate, above all, incentives to increase the birth rate and support for greater participation of women and other minorities in the labour market.
In a chapter dedicated to the challenges of new technologies, the report shows that, in general, people tend to emphasise the positive impacts and in Portugal more than half believe that technologies can help make work more compatible with personal life and make work less boring, stressful and mentally demanding.
On the other hand, as in most countries, the Portuguese are more sceptical about the possibility of being replaced at work by a robot, artificial intelligence or someone providing the same service on an online platform, and about the possibility of losing their job because they are not good enough with technology.
Specifically in relation to artificial intelligence, the majority believe that it will create more unemployment, and just over 30% believe that it will create more jobs.
For the Portuguese, the greatest impact of artificial intelligence will be the need to retrain workers for different roles.
MCA/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
