According to data from the 15th edition of the Study on Municipal Purchasing Power (EPCC), for 2021, released by INE, “only 23 municipalities concentrated 50% of national purchasing power” and, as a whole, “the two metropolitan areas concentrated more than half (51%) of the purchasing power, despite congregating 44.5% of the country’s population.”
The majority of the 31 municipalities with per capita purchasing power higher than the national average are in AML (10 out of 18 municipalities) and AMP (five out of 17), with Lisbon, Oeiras and Porto having the highest have values, which emphasizes those values. and also Coimbra, Aveiro, Faro and Évora (district capitals).
In the EPCC, sixteen variables were assumed to generate three summary indicators: Per Capita Indicator (IpC), Percent Purchasing Power (PPC) and Relative Dynamics Factor (FDR).
The PPC is derived from the IpC to “evaluate the degree of concentration of purchasing power” in the territories and, in 2021, the NUTS II (nomenclature of territorial units for statistical purposes) regions AML and North “were concentrated by almost two-thirds ( 65.8%) of the purchasing power that regularly manifests itself in the country”.
AML (33.6%), simultaneously NUTS I and II, and AMP (17.4%) contributed decisively to this result, while the sub-regions with “less purchasing power were located in the interior of the North and Central regions: in ascending order, Alto Tâmega, Beira Baixa and Terras de Trás-os-Montes”.
“In addition to these sub-regions, Alto Alentejo, Alentejo Litoral and Baixo Alentejo also individually contributed less than 1% to the national purchasing power,” the study said.
At the municipal level, Lisbon stood out because it represented 9.7% of the total purchasing power, and only 22 other municipalities individually concentrated “more than 1% of the national purchasing power”.
This set corresponded to municipalities in the AML (Sintra, with 3.6%, Oeiras, Cascais, Loures, Almada, Amadora, Seixal, Odivelas, Vila Franca de Xira and Setúbal), in the AMP (Porto, Vila Nova de Gaia , Matosinhos, Maia, Gondomar and Santa Maria da Feira), as well as district capitals (Braga, Coimbra, Leiria), Funchal (Madeira), Guimarães and Vila Nova de Famalicão (Ave sub-region).
In the 2021 IpC, using the national value as a reference (equal to 100), the continent presented “a higher purchasing power than that observed in the two autonomous regions”, with 100.6 against 87.4 (Azores) or 87 ,2 (Wood).
AML was the only NUTS II region above the national value at 121.4, the document said.
INE highlights that “the municipality of Lisbon had the highest IpC (186.3)”, followed by Oeiras (165.5) and Porto (147.6), in addition to Cascais (121.8) and Alcochete (118.9), in AML, and Matosinhos (118.1) and São João da Madeira (116.7), in AMP.
As for the district capitals, Coimbra (119.8), Aveiro (119.7), Faro (116.0) and Évora (112.0) stood out with a purchasing power higher than the national average, as well as in regional terms Sines (120.3), in the Alentejo Litoral, Loulé (115.4), in the Algarve, and Azambuja (111.1), in Lezíria do Tejo.
“In the autonomous regions, Funchal (109.6) and Ponta Delgada (102.6) also presented values higher than the national average,” it added.
The study also points out that on the national territory, 119 municipalities (39% of the total) had “IpC values lower than 75”, and that of the 10 municipalities with the lowest purchasing power ‘per capita’, “five belonged to the North region, divided between the sub-regions Terras de Trás-os-Montes, Tâmega e Sousa and Alto Tâmega”.
In the analysis of the IpC by municipality, which simultaneously uses the national and regional context as a reference, which “makes it possible to evaluate the degree of intra-regional cohesion and to identify the municipalities that stand out in these contexts”, 24 municipalities at the same time had an IpC above the national and regional average purchasing power per capita”.
In this situation, in the North region there are five municipalities in the AMP (Porto, Matosinhos, São João da Madeira, Maia and Vila Nova de Gaia), and also Braga, as well as, in the Center region, three district capitals (Coimbra, Aveiro and Leiria ) and also Arruda dos Vinhos.
In AML there were three municipalities (Lisbon, Oeiras and Cascais), in Alentejo five (Sines, Évora, Azambuja, Castro Verde and Beja), in the Algarve four municipalities (Faro, Loulé, Albufeira and Portimão), and in autonomous regions, two municipalities (Funchal and Ponta Delgada).
On the other hand, 28 municipalities had purchasing power below the national average but above the regional average: nine in the Center region, eight in the Alentejo, six in the North region, and four municipalities in the Autonomous Region of the Azores. and one in the autonomous region of Madeira.
The EPCC recorded 249 municipalities (about 81% of the country’s municipalities) with a purchasing power ‘per capita’ below the national average and the respective regional average, while at NUTS II level this share “varied between 44%, in the Lisbon metropolitan area, and 87% in the Center region”.
The study also identified seven municipalities, all in the AML, with a purchasing power above the national average, but below the respective regional value (121.4): Amadora, Loures, Montijo, Mafra, Almada, Setúbal and Alcochete.
In the FDR, which reflects “the purchasing power of irregular manifestations, generally seasonal”, and is related to population flows from tourist activities, in 2021 it was observed that of the 19 municipalities with a value greater than one standard deviation, 13 municipalities were located in the Algarve: Vila do Bispo, Loulé, Aljezur, Albufeira, Lagos, Lagoa, Castro Marim, Tavira, Vila Real de Santo António, Portimão, Silves, Monchique and São Brás de Alportel.
The full results of the 15th edition of the EPCC are available at www.ine.pt.
Source: DN
