According to data from the 15th edition of the Study on Municipal Purchasing Power (EPCC), for 2021, released by INE, "only 23 municipalities concentrated 50% of the national purchasing power" and as a whole, "the two metropolitan areas concentrated more than half (51%) of the purchasing power, despite compromising 44.5% of the country’s population".

The majority of the 31 municipalities with per capita purchasing power that was higher than the national average are located in AML (10 out of 18 municipalities) and AMP (5 out of 17), with Lisbon, Oeiras and Porto having the highest values, also notable Coimbra, Aveiro, Faro and Évora (district capitals).

In the EPCC, 16 variables were considered to generate the three indicators of the synthesis: Per Capita Indicator (IpC), Percentage of Purchasing Power (PPC) and Relative Dynamism Factor (FDR).

The PPC acquires from the IpC the ‘evaluation of the degree of concentration of purchasing power’ in the territories, in 2021, the NUTS II regions (classified the territorial units for statistical purposes) AML and North ‘concentrated almost two-thirds (65.8%) of the purchasing power regularly manifested in the country’.

AML (33.6%) simultaneously NUTS I and II and the AMP (17.4%) contributed to this result, while the subregions with ‘less purchasing power were located in the interior of the North and Center regions: In order from least to most purchasing power, Alto Tâmega, Beira Baixa, and Terras de Trás-os-Montes’.

"In addition to these sub-regions, Alto Alentejo, Alentejo Litoral and Baixo Alentejo also contributed individually with less than 1% to national purchasing power", the study reads.

At a municipal level, Lisbon stood out as it represents 9.7% of the total purchasing power and only 22 other municipalities individually concentrated ‘more than 1% of the national purchasing power’.

This grouping corresponds to municipalities in the AML (Sintra, with 3.6%, Oeiras, Cascais, Loures, Almada, Amadora, Seixal, Odivelas, Vila Franca de Xira and Setúbal), in the AMP (Porto, Vila Nova de Gaia, Matosinhos, Maia, Gondomar e Santa Maria da Feira), as well as the district capitals (Braga, Coimbra, Leiria), Funchal (Madeira), Guimarães e Vila Nova de Famalição (Ave sub-region).

In the IpC for 2021, using the national value as a reference (equal to 100), the continent presented ‘a higher purchasing power than that observed in the two autonomous regions’, with 100.6 against 87.4 (Azores) or 87.2 (Madeira).

The AML, with 121.4, was the only region above the national value, the document states.

The IML highlights that "the municipality of Lisbon had the highest IpC (186.3)", followed by Oeiras (165.5,5) and Porto (147,6), in addition to Cascais (121,8) and Alcochete (118.9), in AML, Matosinhos (118,1) and São João da Madeira (116,7), in AMP.

Regarding the district capitals, Coimbra (119.8), Aveiro (119.7), Faro (116.0) and Évora (112.0), stood out with a purchasing power higher than the national average, as well as in regional terms Sines (120.3), in Alentejo Litoral and Loulé (115.4), in the Algarve and Azambuja (111,1), in Lezíria do Tejo.

"In the autonomous regions, Funchal (109.6) and Ponta Delgada (102.6) also presented values higher than the national average", adds the statement.

The study also noted, that in the national territory, 119 municipalities (39% of the total), had "IpC values lower than 75’ and that 10 municipalities with the lowest purchasing power ‘per capita", belonged to the North region, distributed across the sub-regions of Terras de Trás-dos-Montes, Tâmega e Sousa and Alto Tâmega’.

In the analysis of the IpC by the municipality, having as reference simultaneously the national and regional contexts, which ‘makes possible to evaluate the degree of intra-regional cohesion and identify the municipalities that stand out’ in these contexts, ’24 municipalities had an IpC above the national and regional average per capita purchasing power’.

In this situation, in the North region, five municipalities in AMP (Porto, Matosinhos, São João da Madeira, Maia and Vila Nova da Gaia), Braga, as well as in the Center region, three district capitals (Coimbra, Aveiro and Leiria) and Arruda dos Vinhos.

In the AML, there were three municipalities (Lisbon, Oeiras and Cascais), five in the Alentejo (Sines, Évora, Azambuja, Castro Verde and Beja), four in the Algarve (Faro, Loulé, Albufeira and Portimão) and two municipalities in the autonomous regions (Funchal and Ponta Delgada).

On the other hand, 28 municipalities had purchasing power below the national average, but above the regional average: nine in the Central region, eight in the Alentejo, six in the North region, as well as four municipalities in the Autonomous Region of the Azores and one in the Autonomous Region of Madeira.

The EPCC registered 249 municipalities (around 81% of the country’s municipalities) with a purchasing power ‘per capita’ below the national average and the respective regional average, while at the NUTS II level this proportion ‘varied between 44%, in the Metropolitan Area of Lisbon and 87% in the Central region.

The study was able to identify that there were seven municipalities, all in the AML, with a purchasing power above the national average but below the respective regional average (121,4): Amadora, Loures, Montijo, Mafra, Almada, Setúbal and Alcochete.

The FDR reflects on "the purchasing power of irregular manifestation, generally 'seasonal’, with relation to the variability in population due to touristic activities, it was observed in 2021 that out of the 19 municipalities with a higher value than one standard deviation, 13 municipalities were located in the Algarve: Vila do Bispo, Loulé, Aljezur, Albufeira, Lagos, Lagoa, Castro Marim, Tavira, Vila Real de Santo António, Portimão, Silves, Monchique and São Brás de Alportel."