New DINÂMIA’CET-Iscte Study: 40 Years of Portugal's European Integration

A new study by DINÂMIA’CET-Iscte shows that Portugal reaches 40 years of integration with higher income, but also with a "silent divergence": the majority of employed young people are on temporary contracts, the housing crisis primarily penalizes low-income earners and tenants, and energy poverty remains at more than double the European median.

Portugal reaches 40 years of European integration with higher income, more employment, and a greater incorporation of renewable energies. But it also arrives older, with a high incidence of temporary contracts among young people and with housing costs that primarily penalize lower-income groups and tenants.

This is the central conclusion of the Research Note "40 Anos de Integração Europeia de Portugal" (40 Years of Portugal's European Integration), released today by DINÂMIA’CET-Iscte. The study, coordinated by economist Nuno Bento, and with contributions from Sérgio Lagoa, Paulo Marques, Sandra Marques Pereira, and Fátima Suleman, takes stock of a convergence that it characterizes as "slow, incomplete, and threatened".

The research note analyses Portugal’s trajectory over four decades of European integration along two complementary dimensions: the country’s absolute progress and its relative position within Europe. It shows that Portugal converged in some central dimensions of living standards, notably income and certain material indicators, but diverged or became more fragile in areas that are decisive for well-being, such as demography, job quality and housing. The energy transition represents a structural opportunity, but its social impact will remain limited unless it is accompanied by improvements in material living conditions and in households’ economic capacity. This study helps inform the debate on some of the main challenges Portugal will face over the next four decades, namely the need to reverse the deterioration of its relative position in key socioeconomic indicators.

Read the Research Note "40 Anos de Integração Europeia de Portugal".