Statistical information is nowadays an essential form of knowledge necessary for full citizenship, promoting scientific research on issues with relevance for our society, indispensable in decision-making for the setting-up and progress of enterprises, fundamental to the framework of policies governing nations.

Statistics Portugal is the entity responsible for ensuring the production and dissemination of official statistical information against the background of independence and permanent vigilance with regard to the emergence of new  requirements, in a society where such information has become a prerequisite for economic and social development.

It was created in 1935 and has its head office in Lisbon, in the same building (by the architect P. Pardal Monteiro) inaugurated in the year of its setting-up. Delegations have been established in Porto, Coimbra, Évora and Faro.

Statistics Portugal is a public institution which has legal personality, administrative autonomy and technical independence in the exercise of its official statistical activity. The law also confers on Statistics Portugal statistical authority and legal obligation to confidentiality.

Statistical confidentiality is intended to safeguard the privacy of citizens, preserve competition among economic agents and ensure the confidence of information providers in the statistical system.