In March 2026, the unit value index (prices) of exports halted the downward trajectory initiated in February 2025, recording a positive change (+0.3%; -2.3% in February 2026 and -1.5% in March 2025). A negative variation continued to be observed in imports (-2.7%; -3.2% in February 2026 and -1.0% in March 2025).

The share of the employed population who has teleworked, that is who has worked from home using information and communication technologies, was 21.1% (1,118.9 thousand people), 0.1 percentage points (pp) less than in the 4th quarter of 2025 and 0.2 pp more than in the 1st quarter of that year.

The unemployed population, estimated at 346.3 thousand people, increased by 6.1% (20.0 thousand) from the previous quarter and decreased by 5.3% (19.5 thousand) from a year earlier.

The unemployment rate stood at 6.1%, up 0.3 pp from the previous quarter, but down 0.5 pp in the year-on-year comparison.

The labour underutilisation covered 588.0 thousand people, increasing by 2.9% (16.8 thousand) from the previous quarter and decreasing by 6.4% (40.4 thousand) from a year before. The labour underutilisation rate (10.2%) increased by 0.3 p.p. from the previous quarter and decreased by 0.9 pp from the same quarter of 2025.

The inactive population aged 16 and over (3,738.8 thousand) has increased by 0.2% (8.7 thousand) from the previous quarter and decreased by 0.3% (12.0 thousand) from a year earlier.

In the first quarter of 2026, trade sales registered a year-on-year growth of 2.1%, slightly accelerating (by 0.2 p.p.) compared to the previous quarter.

The indices of employment, wages and hours worked adjusted for calendar effects recorded year-on-year changes of 0.3%, 5,8% and 3.6% in March, respectively (0.3%, 6.8% and -0.2% in February).

The number of deaths of residents in the national territory was 121,817, 3,421 more (+2.9%) than in 2024. Of these, 246 deaths were children under 1 year of age (eight less than in 2024). The decrease in infant deaths and the increase in the number of live births has resulted in a decrease in the infant mortality rate to 2.8 deaths per thousand live births (3.0‰ in 2024).

The worsening of the natural balance, in 2025, to -34,053 (-33,754 in 2024) was therefore determined by the increase in the number of deaths. The Grande Lisboa was the only NUTS 2 region where, for the third consecutive year, a positive natural balance was registered (+414).

In 2025, 37,714 marriages were celebrated in Portugal, 1,081 more (+3.0%) than in 2024, of which 36,651 were opposite-sex marriages and 1,063 same-sex marriages.

On Labour Day, this comparative analysis with the European Union reinforces the importance of policies focused not only on job creation, but also on ensuring that jobs match the characteristics of the potential workforce.

The growth in overnight stays resulted from positive contributions from non-residents, whose overnight stays increased by 2.9% (-0.2% in February), reaching 4.0 million, whilst overnight stays by residents decreased by 2.3% (following +2.6% in February), totalling 1.6 million.

Among the top ten inbound markets, the Irish and Spanish markets stood out with the highest growth rates (+16.2% and +14.0%, respectively), whilst the Brazilian market recorded the sharpest decline (-7.0%). 

This month, the revenue per available room (RevPAR) stood at EUR 49.7 (+1.9%), while the average daily rate (ADR) was EUR 98.6 (+2.9%). 

It should be noted that the March results may have been influenced by the moving structure of the calendar, i.e., by the effect of the holiday period associated with Carnival and Easter.

Compared to the fourth quarter of 2025, GDP in volume stabilised, after an increase of 0.9% in the previous quarter. The contribution of net external demand to the quarter-on-quarter rate of change of GDP turned negative, as imports of goods and services recovered more significantly than exports of goods and services. In the opposite direction, the contribution of domestic demand turned positive, with a marked acceleration of investment, while private consumption slowed down.

The CPI monthly rate is estimated to be 1.4% (2.0% in March and 0.7% in April 2025), while the CPI 12-month average rate was estimated to be 2.4% (2.3% in the previous month). 

The estimate of the Portuguese Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) annual rate of change was 3.3% (2.7% in the previous month). 

The April CPI final results will be released on May 13th, 2026.

In the 4th quarter of 2025, both flows recorded decreases: -2.8% in exports (-3.6% excluding TTE) and -4.2% in imports (-3.1% when TTE are excluded). Accordingly, in the 1st quarter of 2026, the downward trajectory of exports intensified, while the trend in imports reversed, resulting in a deterioration of the trade balance.

• The unemployment rate stood at 5.8%, up from January 2026 by 0.2 percentage points (pp), and from November 2025 by 0.1 pp, but down by 0.5 pp from February of that year.

• The labour underutilisation rate was estimated at 9.8%, up from the previous month (0.2 pp), equal to three months earlier, but down from the same month of a year before (0.8 pp).

March 2026 (provisional estimates):

• The unemployment rate stood at 5.8%, as in February 2026, up from December 2025 (0.2 pp), but down from March of a year before (0.5 pp).

• The labour underutilisation rate was estimated at 9.8%, the same value as in the previous month, up from three months before (0.1 pp), but down from a year earlier (0.9 pp).

• The youth unemployment rate stood, in March 2026, at 18.1%, reaching the lowest value since October 2022 (17.5%).

The balances of Consumers’ opinions on the past evolution of households’ financial situation and the country’s economic situation declined over the last three months, with a significant drop in April, when they recorded their largest decreases since April and May 2020, respectively. The balance of opinions on past price developments increased significantly in April, recording the highest rise since May 2008. By contrast, the balance of expectations on future price developments declined, after increasing in the previous three months, markedly in March, when it registered the second largest increase of the series and reached its highest level since March 2022.

The economic climate indicator increased in April, after having decreased in the previous month. The confidence indicators increased in Trade and in Construction and Public Works, having decreased in Manufacturing Industry and in Services. 

Spain (38.8%; -1.8 p.p.), France (9.7%, +0.2 p.p.), and Italy (6.3%, +0.1 p.p.) remained the main destination countries for residents’ trips abroad.

In the 4th quarter of 2025, residents in Portugal made 6.0 million trips, representing growth of 13.2% (+8.0% in the 3rd quarter of 2025). Domestic trips increased by 12.8%, accounting for 85.9% of all trips (5.2 million). Trips abroad grew by 15.7% (+2.1% in the 3rd quarter of 2025), totalling 846.5 thousand trips, which accounted for 14.1% of the total.

Considering all national elections in Portugal from 1975 to 2026, the average electoral participation rate for the population residing both in Portugal and abroad was 58.5%. This figure rises to 61.2% when considering only the registered and voting population residing in Portugal.

The five sub-regions with the highest median house prices – Grande Lisboa, Algarve, Península de Setúbal, Região Autónoma da Madeira, and Área Metropolitana do Porto – also presented the highest values in both categories of the purchaser's tax residence (national territory and foreign). In the Grande Lisboa and Área Metropolitana do Porto sub-regions, the median price (€/m2) of transactions carried out by purchasers with foreign tax residence exceeded the price of transactions by purchasers with tax residence in the national territory by 49.0% and 35.6%, respectively.

In the 4th quarter of 2025, house prices accelerated (that is, they recorded increases in year-on-year change rates) in 13 of the 24 municipalities with more than 100 thousand inhabitants (compared with 12 in the 3rd quarter of 2025), with the municipalities of Barcelos (+14.5 percentage points (p.p.)), and Maia (+14.1 p.p.) showing the largest increases. The biggest decreases in the year-on-year rate of change occurred in the municipalities of Matosinhos (-27.6 p.p.) and Coimbra (-25.7 p.p.). The municipalities of Lisboa and Porto recorded increases of 2.2 p.p. and 3.8 p.p. in the year-on-year growth rates from the 3rd to the 4th quarter of 2025. The municipalities of Lisboa (5,198 €/m2), Cascais (4,654 €/m2), and Oeiras (4,225 €/m2) had the highest house prices.

In 2025, the median house price of dwellings sales in Portugal was 2,076 €/m2, with the sub-regions Grande Lisboa (3,439 €/m2), Algarve (3,139 €/m2), Península de Setúbal (2,596 €/m2), Região Autónoma da Madeira (2,500 €/m2), and Área Metropolitana do Porto (2,305 €/m2) recording values higher than the national level.

In the first quarter of 2026, industrial producer prices decreased by 1.9% (-3.2% in the previous quarter).

The month-on-month rate stood at 2.3%, reversing the 1.3% decline recorded in March 2025.

In the first quarter of 2026, there were 34,328 deaths on national territory, 768 (+2.3%) more than in the same period of 2025.

In February 2026, 6,450 live births were registered, 948 less (-12.8%) than in January 2026, but 33 more (+0.5%) compared to the same month of 2025.

In February 2026, the natural balance was -3,708, having improved in relation to the same month of 2025, when it reached -3,756.

In February 2026, 1,601 marriages were celebrated, 62 less (-3.7%) than in January 2026 and 67 less (-4.0%) than in February 2025.

The incidence of innovation varies significantly with enterprise size: 78.7% of enterprises with 250 or more persons employed were innovative, while in the 10 to 249 persons employed breakdown, the percentage of enterprises with innovation activities was 41.7%. By economic activity, the Information and communication sector (68.9%) had the highest proportion of innovative enterprises, followed by Financial services (59.7%), Distributive trade (45.4%) and Manufacturing and energy (45.1%).

In the same period, 59.6% of innovative enterprises introduced innovations with environmental benefits obtained in the enterprise and/or during the consumption or use of the goods or services by the end user, of which 57.3% were innovations with environmental benefits obtained in the enterprise and 48.7% were innovations with benefits obtained during the consumption or use of the goods or services by the end user.

8.4% of enterprises were both innovative and cooperated with other enterprises or organizations in R&D or other innovation activities between 2022-2024.

In 2024, the total expenditure on innovation activities reached 4,865 million euros, 25.3% more than in 2022. This result represented around 1,0% of total turnover from enterprises (the same proportion in 2022).

14.9% of enterprises' turnover in 2024 resulted from the introduction of new or improved products (-0.3 p.p. compared to 2022), with 11.9% resulting from the introduction of new goods or services for the enterprise and 3.0% from the introduction of new goods or services for the market (10.8% and 4.4% in 2022, respectively).

Between 2022-2024, 62.6% of enterprises considered a strong focus on high-quality (quality leadership) to be of high importance as a strategy for their economic performance.

See the infographic