5 / 188
Health systems in transition
Portugal
5
the reduction of public spending and the increase of tax revenues to decrease
the budget deficit, as well as other measures to stabilize the financial sector
together with structural reforms in several areas, including labour, goods,
services and housing (Maresso et al., 2014). The MoU considered 34 measures
and actions concerning the health sector (Campos & Simões, 2014). Those
measures were a combination of cost-containment actions and strategies to
improve efficiency in the National Health Service (NHS) on a permanent
basis (Barros, 2012).
In 2015, 5.2 million people (58.6% of the population 15 years or older)
were active in the labour market, with women accounting for 48.4% of the
country’s workforce (INE, 2016b). Compared to the last quarter of 2010,
at the end of 2015 there were 387 300 (–7.8%) fewer people employed, due
both to the rise in unemployment and emigration (INE, 2016b). Between
2010 and 2013, unemployment increased from 10.8% to 16.2% (World Bank,
2016), reflecting the effects of the deep economic crisis in Portugal. Since
then the unemployment rate has declined, but in 2015 Portugal was still
among the five EU countries with the highest unemployment rate (12.4%),
after Greece, Spain, Croatia and Cyprus (Eurostat, 2016a). Also, youth
unemployment (those less than 25 years old) in Portugal rose from 28.2%
in 2010 to a peak of 38.0% in 2012 (Eurostat, 2016a). In 2015, that rate was
32.0% (EU average 20.3%), placing Portugal among the EU countries with the
highest youth unemployment, after Spain, Greece, Croatia, Italy and Cyprus
(Eurostat, 2016a).
In 2015, 19.0% of the population was living below the poverty line,
defined as 60% of the median income (€5268 in 2015). This percentage has
been growing since 2010, when it was 18.0% (Table 1.2). Income disparities
in Portugal are high and have deepened during the Adjustment Programme.
In 2015, the income ratio of the richest 20% and the poorest 20% was 5.9
(5.7 in 2010), while the income ratio of the richest 10% and the poorest 10%
was 10.1 (9.4 in 2010) (INE, 2016a). Portugal is among the EU countries
where income is most unequally distributed, after Bulgaria, Greece, Romania,
Spain, Latvia and Lithuania (Eurostat, 2016b), with children and youths being
particularly affected (OECD/EU, 2016).