AICEP
Agência para o Investimento e Comércio Externo de Portugal

The school attendance rate has risen significantly in recent years, particularly regarding secondary school. The regions of Lisbon, Centre and North had the highest school attendance rates, at a university level, in 2012/2013.

In 2012 there were over 300 higher education establishments, of which 67% of these were located in the North and Lisbon areas. In the school year of 2012/2013 there were over 371,000 students enrolling into University; business management was the most popular subject (15.5%), followed by engineering (15.1%) and health-related subject (13.8%). The number of enrolled students in both scientific and technological areas represented, in 2012/2013, around 30% of the total enrolment rate.

The Lisbon, North and Centre regions held over 92% of the students enrolled in higher education in 2012/2013.

Around 66% of the country’s R&D units are located in the North and Lisbon regions.

Between 2010 and 2014 the working population with higher education rose to 34%.

In 2013 the regions with the highest percentage of working population with higher education were Lisbon (20% of the total in the region), Algarve (19%), North and Madeira (18% each).

The GDP per capita (at PPP) in 2013, corresponded to a 79% average of the EU28. In terms of NUTS II, only Lisbon (110%) exceeded the European average, while the Algarve remained equal (79%). In the North and Centre Regions the GPD per capita (at PPP) was of 64% and 68%, respectively.

The non-financial companies (which represent over 98% of the Portuguese corporate structure and 90% of the GVA), noticed, between 2010 and 2013 a decline in its main economical indicators. The number of companies decreased on average by 1.4% per year in the period, the business volume 3.1%, and the gross value added 4,9%.

The North, Lisbon and Centre Regions hold 84% of the total of Portuguese companies and 89% of the companies connected to the processing industry.

In terms of Apparent Labour Productivity, only Lisbon was above the national average (21.7 thousand Euros per worker in 2013).

The weight of investment in gross value added (GVA) did not surpass the national average (15.8% in 2013) only in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, North and Madeira.

The companies based in Lisbon represented 27.8% of the total of non financial companies, having generated 47.3% of the national business volume and 46.8% of the national Gross Value Added in 2013.

In the whole of the processing industry, the country’s North region leads the business volume (36% of the total), followed by Lisbon (34%) and the Centre (23%).