Poverty and income inequality are issues that have been the source of concern of the contemporary society.
This article intends to show how poverty and inequality changed over the period 1995-1997. The type of poverty considered in this work is known as relative poverty as it takes into account the income distribution.
Since prices are different in several Portuguese regions, the purchasing power in NUTS II is also different. Hence, it is
necessary to correct the indicators that are traditionally computed using the cost of living indices.
Additionally, we present a detailed study of the income distribution of the Portuguese regions for the year 1997.
Lastly, the poor population of 1997 is characterised and it is compared with the persistent poor population, that is, with the households considered poor during three consecutive years.

Keywords: inequality indices, cost of living indices, persistent poverty.