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From march 2020 to february 2021: 12 months marked by the pandemic
A Year of Pandemic: a Brief Overview
March 2020 to February 2021
From march 2020 to february 2021: 12 months marked by the pandemic
28 May 2021

Summary

The comparison of statistical results available for the first year of the pandemic (March 2020 to February 2021) with the pre-pandemic period (March 2019 to February 2020), allows to have a more informed notion about the impact of the pandemic and to evaluate its effects in the various areas.
Thus, among the indicators made available in the publication disseminated today “A year of pandemic: a brief overview”, the following results stand out:
• Average monthly number of 11,170 deaths increased by 21.9% which, combined with the reduction in live-births (-4.8%), resulted in a worsening of the negative natural balance that went from 23,441 in the pre-pandemic year to 51,680 in the first year of the pandemic;
• Compared to the previous year, a reduction of 2.1% in employment, increases in the unemployment rate from 6.7% to 7.2% and in the labour underutilisation rate from 12.9% to 14.5%, despite the policy measures to support employment and income, such as the simplified Lay-off, which will have prevented the achievement of results in the labour market similar to those seen during the adjustment program of the Portuguese economy;
• Contraction of 8.4% in GDP in volume vis-à-vis the pre-pandemic year;
• More sharply decrease in imports than in exports (-17.4% and -11.2%, respectively) allowing a reduction of the trade deficit;
• Very negative impact on tourist and related activities, with special emphasis on the contraction in demand for the respective services by non-residents, determining that the balance of goods and services has shown a negative balance despite the reduction in the trade deficit;
• Construction activity showed some resilience, with a growth in average terms in new housing transactions (+7.3% in value), cement sales in quantity (+8.0%) and an increase of 7.8% in housing prices, compared to the pre-pandemic year;
• In the domain of environment, a 13.7% reduction in the greenhouse gases emissions (variation of -9.9% in the pre-pandemic period).

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Press release
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