In 2023, according to the Regional Development Composite Index, five out of the 26 NUTS 3 sub-regions stood above the national average in terms of the overall regional development – Grande Lisboa (107.77), Área Metropolitana do Porto (103.33), Região de Aveiro (101.51), Região de Coimbra (100.97), and Alto Minho (100.61).

In the competitiveness index only three sub-regions stood above the national average: standing out was Grande Lisboa (116.30), followed by Região de Aveiro (107.18) and Área Metropolitana do Porto (106.60). The competitiveness index revealed the highest disparity among the three dimensions of regional development.

In the cohesion index, nine NUTS 3, mostly from the Mainland Coast, stood above the national average. In this dimension, Grande Lisboa (108.84), Região de Coimbra (106.09), and Cávado (104.89) stood out with the highest cohesion indices.

The environmental index results bring out the Inner Mainland sub-regions and the two Autonomous Regions with higher values. The national average was exceeded by 14 NUTS 3 sub-regions, with a regional disparity lower than the one observed for competitiveness and cohesion indices. Terras de Trás-os-Montes (112.68) was the sub-region with the highest score in the environmental index.