“After so many years and many millions of euros of Structural Funds invested in territorial cohesion and convergence; After so many collective alerts and reflections on the need for greater balance and equity in regional development, the truth is that, in such relevant aspects that characterise the Information Society, regional asymmetries are persisting and even, in some cases, getting worse”, says Luís Miguel Ferreira, co-author of the IDR study, to ECO/Local Online.

There has also been a drop in Alentejo to sixth place, being overtaken by the Autonomous Region of Madeira, which rises to fifth place. The Lisbon Metropolitan Area (AML) continues to lead at a great distance from the other regions of the country, followed by the Center, according to the same study. The last position is occupied by the Autonomous Region of the Azores, as happened in the five previous editions of the IDR.

“The AML, compared to the average of the Portuguese NUTS II regions, continues to record a performance of enormous supremacy, highlighting the significant regional asymmetries in the construction of the Information Society in Portugal, even though the distance has been decreasing with little expression”, says the researcher from Gávea – Information Society Observatory at the University of Minho.

The only region that recorded a drop in the final score compared to the previous edition was the Alentejo region (-9.6%). The remaining regions recorded increases: the largest was led by the Algarve (+44.3%), followed by RA Madeira (+40.3%), RA Açores (+39.4%), North (+17.4% ), Centro (+13.4%) and AM Lisboa (+8.7%), the only region with an increase below the national average of 13.1%.