The INE Survey on Living Conditions and Income indicates that, in 2021, 10.6% of people lived in conditions of insufficient housing space, a proportion higher than in the previous three years, when the housing overcrowding rate was situated below 10% (9.6% in 2018, 9.5% in 2019 and 9.0% in 2020).

According to INE, more than one million people (1,096,549) live in dwellings where the number of habitable rooms (≥ 4 m2) was insufficient for the number and demographic profile of household members, plus 1.6 percentage points (p.p.) than in 2020.

“The percentage of people living in overcrowded conditions increased in most regions of the country, except for the Algarve region and the Autonomous Region of the Azores (2.5 p.p. less and 2.8 p.p. less, respectively)”, says INE.

The most significant increases were recorded in the North (up 2.4 p.p.), Centre (up 2.1 p.p.) and the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (up 1.4 p.p.).

As in previous years, the risk of living in a situation of insufficient housing space was more significant for the population at risk of poverty, 18.8%.

“Living in overcrowded accommodation was, in 2021, a condition that mainly affected families at risk of poverty (18.8%) and families living in densely populated areas (13.2%)”.

According to the final results of the survey, 0.3% of the population (0.6% in 2018) and 0.7% of the population at risk of poverty (1.5% in 2018) lived without an inside bathtub, shower and/or toilet.