The Bank of Portugal’s findings were released on Monday to mark International Savings Day, which was created in 1924 at the 1st International Economy Congress, in Milan.
Just over half of Portuguese people (59 percent) manage to put some money aside, based on the 1,000 people surveyed by the central bank for its financial literacy study last year, and this figure increased when compared to 2010, when it stood at 52 percent.
In those five years, despite an increase in the number of people who save, the main reason for not saving remained the same. In both 2015 and 2010, 88 percent of the people surveyed said low income levels prevented them from building a nest egg.
Saving for retirement is not common amongst Portuguese people, according to the bank’s findings, and those who do have fallen in the last five years.
In 2010 just 5.9 percent of the people surveyed said they were saving for retirement, but last year that figure fell to 4.3 percent.