The data is highlighted by the Portuguese environmental association Zero, which highlights that if every person on the planet lived like an average Portuguese person, humanity would require around 2.9 planets to sustain its use of resources.

But the association also states that Portugal delayed the day on which it starts using more resources than it should have by three weeks, as last year it exhausted the resources on May 7th.

However, explains Zero, the decline in the impact of the ecological footprint compared to 2023 results from the fact that some of the variables used to calculate consumption are related to 2020 and in that year the covid-19 pandemic led to a widespread halt in economic activity.

Zero highlights in a statement that Portugal has been lacking for many years in the capacity to provide the natural resources necessary for the activities carried out (production and consumption). But it highlights a positive trend towards a small reduction in “environmental debt”.

Food consumption (30% of the country's global footprint) and mobility (18%) are, according to Zero, among the activities that contribute most to Portugal's ecological footprint.

The association suggests measures to improve the situation, such as focusing on agriculture that gives preference to quality food, preserving soil, reducing pollution and water use, and enhancing ecosystems.

The Ecological Footprint assesses human needs for renewable resources and essential services and compares them with the Earth's capacity to provide such resources and services (biocapacity).

In the calculation to determine the day of the planet's overload, the “Global Footprint Network” placed the European Union in exhausting the resources allocated to it on May 3rd.

But the country that first exhausted its resources was Qatar, on February 11th, followed by Luxembourg, on the 20th, the United Arab Emirates, on March 4th, and the United States, on March 14th.

The last countries to exhaust their resources will be Ecuador and Indonesia, on November 24th, Iraq on the 15th, and Jamaica on the 12th.