Portugal

Overview

Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira are part of Portugal.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, as the result of pioneering the Age of Discovery, Portugal expanded western influence and established a global empire that included possessions in Africa, Asia, Oceania, and South America, becoming one of the world’s major economic, political and military powers. The Portuguese Empire was the first transoceanic empire in history and also the longest lived of the European colonial empires.

After the 1910 revolution deposed the monarchy, the unstable Portuguese First Republic was established being then superseded by the “Estado Novo” dictatorship. Democracy was restored after the Portuguese Colonial War and the Carnation Revolution in 1974, and Portugal’s last overseas provinces became independent (most prominently Angola and Mozambique); the last overseas territory, Macau, was ceded to China in 1999.

Portugal is a developed country with an advanced and high-income economy. A member of the European Union and the United Nations, it is as well a founding member of the Latin Union, the Organization of Ibero-American States, OECD, NATO, Community of Portuguese Language Countries, the Eurozone and the Schengen Agreement.

Although a developed country and a high income country, Portugal has the lowest GDP per capita in Western Europe and its population has one of the lowest incomes per head among member states of the European Union.

In 1986, Portugal joined the European Economic Community (EEC) that later became the European Union (EU). In the following years Portugal’s economy progressed considerably as result of EEC/EU structural and cohesion funds and Portuguese companies’ easier access to foreign markets. Portugal’s last overseas territory, Macau, was not handed over to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) until 1999, under the 1987 joint declaration that set the terms for Macau’s handover from Portugal to the PRC. In 2002, the independence of East Timor (Asia) was formally recognized by Portugal, after an incomplete decolonization process that was started in 1975 because of the Carnation Revolution.

Economic disruption in the wake of the late-2000s financial crisis led the country to negotiate in 2011 with the IMF and the European Union, through the European Financial Stability Mechanism (EFSM) and the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), a loan to help the country

The territory of Portugal includes an area in the Iberian Peninsula (referred to as the continent by most Portuguese) and two archipelagos in the Atlantic Ocean: the archipelagos of Madeira and the Azores.

Portugal is defined as a Mediterranean climate and is one of the warmest European countries: the annual average temperature in mainland Portugal varies from 13 °C (55.4 °F) (in the mountainous interior north) to over 18 °C (64.4 °F) (in the South and on the Guadiana river basin). The Algarve, separated from the Alentejo region by mountains reaching up to 900 metres in altitude, has a climate similar to that of the southern coastal areas of Spain.

Portugal has been a democratic republic since the ratification of the Constitution of 1976, with Lisbon, the nation’s largest city, as its capital. The constitution grants the division, or separation, of powers among legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The four main institutions as described in this constitution are the President of the Republic, the Parliament, known as the Assembleia da República (English: Assembly of the Republic), the Government, headed by a Prime Minister, and the courts.

Capital (and largest city) – Lisbon

Official language – Portuguese

Government – Parliamentary republic

Area – 92,090 km2 (110th)

Currency – Euro

Drives on the – right

ISO 3166 code – PT

Internet TLD – .pt4

Calling code – 351

Government website – http://www.portugal.gov.pt

Statistics

	2013	2014	2015

Population (millions)	10.81	10.81	10.82
Gross Domestic Product (10^9 USD)	281.6	284.1	288.6
Real Growth Rate (%)	-1.3	0.9	1.6
Gross National Income per capita (USD) in PPP	27,100.00	27,300.00	27,800.00
Inflation – annual average (%)	0.4	-0.2	0.6
Unemployment rate (%)	16.2	13,9	12,6
Imports (10^6 USD)	72630	74810	66440
Exports (10^6 USD)	62980	62920	57200
Exchange rate to the USD	0.76	0.74	0.88
External debt (10^9 USD)	531.6	493.7	N.A.
External help per capita (USD)	N.A.	N.A.	N.A.

Sources: World Bank