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Portugal: Housing & Utility Bill Arrears

An editorial snapshot of country living conditions with trend, regional spread, and context links.

Portugal

Latest value

· 2025

5.20% of people

EU 10.47 · -5.3 pp vs Europe

European ranking

19 / 23

Down 1 positions compared with previous year

Recent trend

Open trend

Population

10.7M

Country population · 2025

What this indicator measures

Measures the share of people living in households with arrears on mortgage or rent payments, utility bills, or hire-purchase instalments.

Lower values generally represent a more favorable situation.

Data source: Eurostat Arrears on housing or utility bills ILC_MDES05

Explore this indicator

Regional map

· 2025 · 9 regions

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Internal regions

Comparison of values across the country's regions for this indicator.

  1. 1

    Península de Setúbal

    +76.92

    9.20

  2. 2

    Grande Lisboa

    +61.54

    8.40

  3. 3

    Algarve

    +19.23

    6.20

  4. 4

    Região Autónoma da Madeira

    +5.77

    5.50

  5. 5

    Oeste e Vale do Tejo

    -11.54

    4.60

  6. 6

    Região Autónoma dos Açores

    -15.38

    4.40

  7. 7

    Alentejo

    -25.00

    3.90

  8. 8

    Norte

    -30.77

    3.60

  9. 9

    Centro (PT)

    -36.54

    3.30

More context on this indicator

At a glance

Portugal performs more favourably than the European benchmark on Arrears on housing or utility bills, with a large gap. The trend context points to clearer recent change. The wider topic context is mixed, combining pressure signals and relative strengths. Regional evidence also shows internal variation.

European comparison in Portugal

In Portugal, Arrears on bills stands clearly better than the European benchmark: 5.2% versus 10.5% in 2025, a large gap of 5.3 percentage points.

Recent trend

In Portugal, the medium-term pattern is broadly stable: the value moved from 5.40% in 2020 to 5.20% in 2025. Although the primary period is broadly stable, the latest step, from 5.70% in 2024 to 5.20% in 2025, shows material improvement and provides a clearer recent signal.

Regional differences in Portugal

In Portugal, regional differences in Arrears on bills are pronounced. Across 9 comparable regions, Península de Setúbal records the highest value (9.2%) and Centro (PT) the lowest (3.3%), a gap of 5.9 percentage points.

Reading within the topic

In Portugal, Housing & Energy Stress shows a mixed picture: pressure signals and relative strengths coexist across this indicator and its related indicators compared with Europe. Recent changes among related indicators are also mixed, with improvement in some and deterioration in others.