Portuguese Republic República Portuguesa (Portuguese) | |
|---|---|
| Anthem: "A Portuguesa" "The Portuguese" | |
 Location of Portugal (dark green) – inEurope (green & dark grey) | |
| Capital and largest city | Lisbon 38°46′N9°9′W / 38.767°N 9.150°W /38.767; -9.150 |
| Official languages | Portuguese |
| Recognised regional languages | Mirandese[note 1] |
| Nationality(2022)[3] | |
| Religion (2021)[4] |
|
| Demonym(s) | Portuguese |
| Government | Unitarysemi-presidentialconstitutional republic[5] |
| Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa | |
| Luís Montenegro | |
| Legislature | Assembly of the Republic |
| Establishment | |
• County | 868 |
| 24 June 1128 | |
• Kingdom | 25 July 1139 |
| 5 October 1143 | |
| 23 September 1822 | |
• Republic | 5 October 1910 |
| 25 April 1974 | |
| 25 April 1976[a] | |
| 1 January 1986 | |
| Area | |
• Total | 92,212 km2 (35,603 sq mi)[7] (109th) |
• Water (%) | 1.2 (2015)[6] |
| Population | |
• 2023 estimate |  10,639,726[8] (88th) |
• 2021 census |  10,343,066[9] |
• Density | 115.4/km2 (298.9/sq mi) |
| GDP (PPP) | 2024 estimate |
• Total |  $485.742 billion[10] (50th) |
• Per capita | $47,070[10] (40th) |
| GDP (nominal) | 2024 estimate |
• Total | $298.949 billion[10] (47th) |
• Per capita | $28,969[10] (39th) |
| Gini (2023) |  33.7[11]medium inequality |
| HDI (2022) | 0.874[12] very high (42nd) |
| Currency | Euro (€) (EUR) |
| Time zone | UTC (WET) UTC−1 (Atlantic/Azores) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+1 (WEST) UTC (Atlantic/Azores) |
| Note:Continental Portugal andMadeira use WET/WEST; theAzores are 1 hour behind. | |
| Date format | dd/mm/yyyy |
| Calling code | +351 |
| ISO 3166 code | PT |
| Internet TLD | .pt |
| |
Part ofa series on the |
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TheThird Portuguese Republic (Portuguese:Terceira República Portuguesa) is a period in thehistory of Portugal corresponding to the currentdemocratic regime installed after theCarnation Revolution of 25 April 1974, that put an end to the paternal autocratic regime ofEstado Novo ofAntónio de Oliveira Salazar andMarcelo Caetano. It was initially characterized by constant instability and was threatened by the possibility of a civil war during the early post-revolutionary years. Anew constitution was drafted, censorship was prohibited, free speech declared, political prisoners were released and major Estado Novo institutions were closed. Eventually the country granted independence toits African colonies and began a process of democratization that led to the accession of Portugal to theEEC (today'sEuropean Union) in 1986.
In Portugal, 1926 marked the end of theFirst Republic, in a military coup that established an authoritarian government calledEstado Novo, that was led byAntónio de Oliveira Salazar until 1968, when he was forced to step down due to health problems. Salazar was succeeded byMarcelo Caetano. The government faced many internal and external problems, including thePortuguese Colonial War.
On 25 April 1974 a mostlybloodless coup of young military personnel forced Marcelo Caetano to step down. Most of the population of the country soon supported this uprising. It was called theCarnation Revolution because of the use of the carnation on soldiers' rifles as a symbol of peace. This revolution was the beginning of the Portuguese Third Republic. The days after the revolution saw widespread celebration for the end of 48 years of dictatorship and soon exiled politicians likeÁlvaro Cunhal andMário Soares returned to the country for the celebration ofMay Day, in what became a symbol of the country's regained freedom.
After the fall of theEstado Novo, differences began to emerge on which political direction the country should take, including among the military. The revolution was mainly the result of the work of a group of youngofficers unified under theMovimento das Forças Armadas (MFA). Within this group, there were several different political views, among them those represented byOtelo Saraiva de Carvalho and considered to be the more radical wing of the movement and those represented byErnesto Melo Antunes, considered to be the more moderate one.
In addition to that, to ensure the success of the uprising, the MFA looked for support among the conservative sections of the military that had been disaffected with the Caetano government, chief among which were the former Head of the Armed Forces, GeneralFrancisco da Costa Gomes, and GeneralAntónio de Spínola. Both had been expelled from theEstado-Maior-General das Forças Armadas for criticizing the government.
The differing political views came to be broadly represented by three main informal groups, which included both military and civilians. However, even within these groups that shared similar political views there were considerable disagreements.
In 2001,António Guterres, the Prime Minister since 1995, resigned after the local elections, and afterlegislative elections on the following year,José Manuel Barroso was appointed as the new prime minister.[13] In July 2004, Prime Minister Barroso resigned as prime minister to becomePresident of the European Commission.[14] He was succeeded byPedro Santana Lopes, as leader of Social Democratic Party andPrime Minister of Portugal.[15] In 2005, Socialists got a landslide victory in earlyelections. Socialist Party leaderJose Socrates became the new prime minister after the elections.[16] In2009 elections Socialist Party won re-election but lost its overall majority. In October 2009, Prime Minister Jose Socrates formed a new minority government.[17]
On 1 January 2002, Portugal adopted theeuro as its currency in place of theescudo.[18]
Euro 2004 was held across Portugal. The final match was won byGreece againstPortugal. Several new stadia were built or rebuilt for the event. This event granted Portugal an opportunity to show its hosting abilities to the rest of the world.[19]
The Portuguese presidentialelection were held on 22 January 2006 to elect a successor to the incumbent PresidentJorge Sampaio, who was prevented from running for a third consecutive term by the Constitution of Portugal. The result was a victory in the first round forAníbal Cavaco Silva of the Social Democratic Party, the former prime minister, who won 50.59 per cent of the vote in the first round, just over the majority required to avoid a runoff election. Voter turnout was 62.60 per cent of eligible voters.[20]
From 2007 to 2008 onwards, Portugal was severely affected by theEuropean sovereign-debt crisis. The legacy of considerable borrowing from earlier years became an almost unsustainable debt for the Portuguese economy, bringing the country to the verge of bankruptcy by 2011. This resulted in urgent measures to address structural problems in the economy, raise taxes and reduce public-sector spending. Increasing unemployment also led to increased emigration.
Portugal suffered from a severeeconomic crisis between 2009 and 2016.[21]
In January 2011,Anibal Cavaco Silva was easily re-elected as President of the Republic of Portugal for a second five-year term in the first round of theelection.[22]
In 2011, Portugal applied for EU assistance, as the third European Union country after Greece and Ireland, to cope with its budget deficit caused by the financial crisis.[23]
In June 2011, center-right Passos Coelho became the new prime minister of the financially-troubled country, succeeding former Socialist Prime Minister Jose Socrates. The Social Democrat Party, led byPedro Passos Coelho, won the parliamentaryelection earlier same month.[24]
Austerity budgets included spending cuts and higher taxes, which caused worsening living standards in the country and higher unemployment to above 16%.[25]
In October 2015 parliamentaryelections, the governing centre-right coalition of Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho won narrowly, but the coalition lost its absolute majority in parliament.[26]
The new minority government led by Passos Coelho was soon toppled in a parliamentary vote. The 11-day-old government was the shortest-lived national government in the Portuguese history. In November 2015, The Socialist leaderAntonio Costa became Portugal's prime minister, after forming an alliance with Communist, Green and Left Bloc parties.[27]
In January 2016, centre-right politicianMarcelo Rebelo de Sousa waselected as the new president of Portugal.[28]
In October 2016, former Portuguese Prime MinisterAntonio Guterres was officially appointed as the nextUnited Nations Secretary-General. He took office on 1 January 2017, whenBan Ki-moon's second five-year term ended.[29]
In October 2019, Prime Minister Antonio Costa won the parliamentaryelection. His Socialist party won the most votes, but it did not get the absolute majority in parliament. The party continued its pact with two far-left parties - the Left Bloc and the Communists. Portugal's economy had grown above the EU average and many cuts to public sector had been reversed.[30]
In January 2021, Portugal's centre-right president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa won re-election, after taking 60.7% of the votes in the first round of theelection.[31]
In June 2021, United Nations General Assembly unanimously elected Antonio Guterres to a second five-year term as secretary-general.[32]
The ruling Socialist Party, led by Prime Minister António Costa, won an outright majority in theJanuary 2022 snap general election. The Socialist Party won 120 seats in the 230 seat parliament, defeating the right-wing to form theXXIII Constitutional Government of Portugal.[33]
On 2 April 2024, the new center-right minority government, led by Prime MinisterLuís Montenegro, took office, resulting from the slim victory of theDemocratic Alliance in the snapelection.[34]
On 1 December 2024, former Portuguese Prime Minister, António Costa, took office asPresident of the European Council.[35]
Presidents of the Republic (1974–present)
Prime Ministers (1974–present)
GDP growth %
 | Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. Updates on reimplementing the Graph extension, which will be known as the Chart extension, can be found onPhabricator and onMediaWiki.org. |
GDP per capita (in US$ PPP)
| Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. Updates on reimplementing the Graph extension, which will be known as the Chart extension, can be found onPhabricator and onMediaWiki.org. |
Source:[36]
