Titled “Who can pay for essential expenses? An analysis of absolute poverty in Portugal”, the document reveals that “the unemployed (25%) and families with children (12.2%) are among the groups at greatest risk of absolute poverty”.

“In 2022, the absolute poverty risk rate varied between 8.5% and 12.6%, below the 16.4% relative poverty risk rate”, it indicates, arguing that “absolute poverty is more common in urban areas (8.8%) than in rural areas (6.9%)”.

The analysis published by the “la Caixa” Foundation and BPI and prepared by the Nova SBE team highlights that the absolute poverty risk rate is lower than the relative poverty risk rate in all regions, except in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area due to “the high cost of life, especially with housing.”

The autonomous regions of the Azores and Madeira are those where there is the “greatest risk of absolute poverty”, with 22.1% and 15%, respectively.

“These differences come from the distribution of families with children and non-monetary income (self-consumption and self-rental), which vary significantly between regions,” he notes.