Two Portugals?
Official statistics and online experience, 2015-2026
Official statistics and Portuguese online talk seem to describe two different countries. The paper tests that impression topic by topic and finds they rarely contradict each other because they rarely measure the same quantity; explanations for the gaps are stated as hypotheses, not findings.
Key findings
- Housing cost overburden is 6,3 % of all persons but 27,2 % of market-rent tenants (p. 3; Section 4.1, p. 13-14).
- New-lease rents rose 10,2 % in the year to 2026-Q2, against 5,2 % for HICP rents (p. 14-15; Figure 3 on p. 15).
- 96 % of respondents say corruption is widespread, while 1 % report being a victim or witness (p. 17; Figure 5).