Portuguese GDP per-capita is one of the lowest in Europe, as well as the household consumption

The Portuguese GDP per-capita was one of the lowest in Europe in 2016, according to data disclosed this Thursday by Statistics Portugal (INE). Household consumption was also one of the lowest in EU.

In 2016, the Portuguese GDP per-capita, expressed in purchasing power parities, represented 77.3% of the European Union average. Even so, this number reveals an improvement in comparison to 2015, when it stood at 76.8%. Between 2015 and 2014 there was only an improvement of one tenth. Last year, the Portuguese economy had grown 1.5%.

In comparison to other European countries, Portugal stands among the weakest. In fact, the Portuguese GDP per-capita, measured in order to be comparable to other countries, is less than one third of the GDP of Luxembourg (257.6%) and less than half of the Irish GDP (183%).

As far as household consumption in purchasing power parities (paid for you or which incurs from transfers from public administrations, such as, for example, State subsidies for medicines), Portugal stood below the European Union average, although the number is not very distant.

In 2016, expenses on families’ final consumption represented 81.7% of the European average. Among countries with a higher GDP per-capita than the Portuguese, only Slovenia had a smaller consumption: 75.9% of the average. In comparison to 2015, and although the income return policy had begun in 2016, household consumption in purchasing power parities remained almost unchanged (it fell by one tenth).

As explained by INE, personal consumption expenses per-capita “is an appropriate indicator to reflect families’ well-being”, while GDP per-capita is an indicator that measures “the level of economic activity”. Numbers show that “because of income re-distribution effects”, the spread of GDP values per-capita in the European Union is higher than the values of household consumption.