"text":"Following its heyday as a global maritime power during the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal lost much of its wealth and status with the destruction of Lisbon in a 1755 earthquake, occupation during the Napoleonic Wars, and the independence of Brazil, its wealthiest colony, in 1822. A 1910 revolution deposed the monarchy; for most of the next six decades, repressive governments ran the country. In 1974, a left-wing military coup installed broad democratic reforms. The following year, Portugal granted independence to all of its African colonies. Portugal is a founding member of NATO and entered the EC (now the EU) in 1986."
}
},
"Geography":{
"Location":{
"text":"Southwestern Europe, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, west of Spain"
"text":"the west-flowing Tagus River divides the country: the north is mountainous toward the interior, while the south is characterized by rolling plains"
"text":"limited volcanic activity in the Azores Islands; Fayal or Faial (elev. 1,043 m) last erupted in 1958; most volcanoes have not erupted in centuries; historically active volcanoes include Agua de Pau, Furnas, Pico, Picos Volcanic System, San Jorge, Sete Cidades, and Terceira"
}
},
"Environment - current issues":{
"text":"soil erosion; air pollution caused by industrial and vehicle emissions; water pollution, especially in coastal areas"
},
"Environment - international agreements":{
"party to":{
"text":"Air Pollution, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling"
},
"signed, but not ratified":{
"text":"Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Environmental Modification"
}
},
"Geography - note":{
"text":"Azores and Madeira Islands occupy strategic locations along western sea approaches to Strait of Gibraltar"
"text":"homogeneous Mediterranean stock; citizens of black African descent who immigrated to mainland during decolonization number less than 100,000; since 1990 East Europeans have entered Portugal"
},
"Languages":{
"text":"Portuguese (official), Mirandese (official, but locally used)"
},
"Religions":{
"text":"Roman Catholic 81%, other Christian 3.3%, other (includes Jewish, Muslim, other) 0.6%, none 6.8%, unspecified 8.3%",
"text":"name derives from the Roman designation \"Portus Cale\" meaning \"Port of Cale\"; Cale was an ancient Celtic town and port in present-day northern Portugal"
"text":"1143 (Kingdom of Portugal recognized); 5 October 1910 (republic proclaimed)"
},
"National holiday":{
"text":"Portugal Day (Dia de Portugal), 10 June (1580); note - also called Camoes Day, the day that revered national poet Luis de Camoes (1524-80) died"
"text":"president directly elected by absolute majority popular vote in 2 rounds if needed for a 5-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held on 24 January 2016 (next to be held in January 2021); following legislative elections which must be held by October 2015, the leader of the majority party or majority coalition usually appointed prime minister by the president"
"text":"Marcelo REBELO DE SOUSA elected president; percent of vote - Marcelo REBELO DE SOUSA (PSD) 52%, Antonio Sampaio da NOVA (independent) 22.9%, Marisa MATISA (BE) 10.1%, Maria de BELEM (independent) 4.2%, other 10.8%"
"text":"there is also a Council of State that acts as a consultative body to the president"
}
},
"Legislative branch":{
"description":{
"text":"unicameral Assembly of the Republic or Assembleia da Republica (230 seats; 226 members directly elected in multi-seat constituencies by proportional representation vote and 4 members - 2 each in 2 constituencies representing Portuguese living abroad - directly elected by proportional representation vote; members serve 4-year terms)"
"text":"percent of vote by party - Portugal Ahead Coalition (PAF) 36.9%, PS 32.3%, B.E. 10.2%, CDU 8.2%, PPD/PSD (Azores and Madeira) 1.5%, PAN 1.4%, other 9.5%; seats by party - PAF 102, PS 86, B.E. 19, CDU 17, PPD/PSD (Azores and Madeira) 5, PAN 1"
"text":"Supreme Court or Supremo Tribunal de Justica (consists of 12 justices); Constitutional Court or Tribunal Constitucional (consists of 13 judges)"
},
"judge selection and term of office":{
"text":"Supreme Court justices nominated by the president and appointed by the Assembly of the Republic; judges appointed for life; Constitutional Court judges - 10 elected by the Assembly and 3 elected by the other Constitutional Court judges; judges elected for 6-year non-renewable terms"
},
"subordinate courts":{
"text":"Supreme Administrative Court (Supremo Tribunal Administrativo); Audit Court (Tribunal de Contas); appellate, district, and municipal courts"
"text":"Democratic and Social Center/Popular Party or CDS/PP [Paulo PORTAS] ++ Ecologist Party (The Greens) or PEV [Heloisa APOLONIA] ++ Portuguese Communist Party or PCP [Jeronimo DE SOUSA] ++ Portugal Ahead Coalition or PAF (includes PSD and CDS/PP) ++ Social Democratic Party or PPD/PSD [Pedro PASSOS COELHO] ++ Socialist Party or PS [Antonio COSTA] ++ The Left Bloc or BE [Catarina Soares MARTINS] ++ Unitarian Democratic Coalition or CDU [Jeronimo DE SOUSA] (includes Portuguese Communist Party or PCP and Ecologist Party (\"The Greens\") or PEV)"
"text":"Armed Forces Officers' Association or AOFA [Colonel Pereira CRACEL] ++ the Desperate Generation (youth movement protesting against low wages, precarious labor conditions, and unemployment) ++ General Workers Union or General Confederation of Portuguese Workers or UGT [Carlos SILVA] ++ Portuguese National Workers' Conference or CGTP [Armenio CARLOS] ++ TugaLeaks (a website that has become a mouthpiece for publicizing diverse protest action)",
"text":"Ambassador Robert A. SHERMAN (since 30 May 2014)"
},
"embassy":{
"text":"Avenida das Forcas Armadas, 1600-081 Lisbon"
},
"mailing address":{
"text":"Apartado 43033, 1601-301 Lisboa; PSC 83, APO AE 09726"
},
"telephone":{
"text":"[351] (21) 727-3300"
},
"FAX":{
"text":"[351] (21) 726-9109"
},
"consulate(s)":{
"text":"Ponta Delgada (Azores)"
}
},
"Flag description":{
"text":"two vertical bands of green (hoist side, two-fifths) and red (three-fifths) with the national coat of arms (armillary sphere and Portuguese shield) centered on the dividing line; explanations for the color meanings are ambiguous, but a popular interpretation has green symbolizing hope and red the blood of those defending the nation"
},
"National symbol(s)":{
"text":"armillary sphere (a spherical astrolabe modeling objects in the sky and representing the Republic); national colors: red, green"
},
"National anthem":{
"name":{
"text":"\"A Portugesa\" (The Song of the Portuguese)"
},
"lyrics/music":{
"text":"Henrique LOPES DE MENDOCA/Alfredo KEIL"
},
"note":{
"text":"adopted 1910; \"A Portuguesa\" was originally written to protest the Portuguese monarchy's acquiescence to the 1890 British ultimatum forcing Portugal to give up areas of Africa; the lyrics refer to the \"insult\" that resulted from the event"
"text":"Portugal has become a diversified and increasingly service-based economy since joining the European Community - the EU's predecessor - in 1986. Over the following two decades, successive governments privatized many state-controlled firms and liberalized key areas of the economy, including the financial and telecommunications sectors. The country joined the Economic and Monetary Union in 1999 and began circulating the euro on 1 January 2002 along with 11 other EU members. ++ ++ The economy grew by more than the EU average for much of the 1990s, but the rate of growth slowed in 2001-08. The economy contracted in 2009, and fell again from 2011 to 2014, as the government implemented spending cuts and tax increases to comply with conditions of an EU-IMF financial rescue package, signed in May 2011. A modest recovery began in 2013 and gathered steam in 2014 due to strong export performance and a rebound in private consumption. Although austerity measures were instituted to reduce the large budget deficit, they contributed to record unemployment and a wave of emigration not seen since the 1960s. ++ ++ A continued reduction in private- and public-sector debt could weigh on consumption and investment in 2016, holding back a stronger recovery. The prior center-right government passed legislation aimed at reducing labor market rigidity, and, this, along with sustained fiscal discipline, could make Portugal more attractive to foreign direct investment. Under the center-right government, the budget deficit fell from 11.2% of GDP in 2010 to 3.5% in 2015, reaching the EU-IMF target of 4%, but still above its EU fiscal obligations, under the excessive deficit procedure. EU-IMF financing expired in May 2014. The new center-left Socialist government, however, has signaled that it will unwind spending cuts associated with austerity while remaining within EU fiscal targets."
"text":"textiles, clothing, footwear, wood and cork, paper and pulp, chemicals, lubricants, automobiles and auto parts, base metals, minerals, porcelain and ceramics, glassware, technology, telecommunications; dairy products, wine, other foodstuffs; ship construction and refurbishment; tourism, plastics, financial services, optics"
"text":"data cover general government debt, and includes debt instruments issued (or owned) by government entities other than the treasury; the data include treasury debt held by foreign entities; the data include debt issued by subnational entities, as well as intra-governmental debt; intra-governmental debt consists of treasury borrowings from surpluses in the social funds, such as for retirement, medical care, and unemployment; debt instruments for the social funds are not sold at public auctions"
"text":"see entry for the European Union for money supply for the entire euro area; the European Central Bank (ECB) controls monetary policy for the 18 members of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU); individual members of the EMU do not control the quantity of money circulating within their own borders"
}
},
"Stock of broad money":{
"text":"$296.1 billion (31 December 2014 est.) ++ $316.2 billion (31 December 2013 est.)"
"text":"agricultural products, foodstuffs, wine, oil products, chemical products, plastics and rubber, hides, leather, wood and cork, wood pulp and paper, textile materials, clothing, footwear, machinery and tools, base metals"
"text":"agricultural products, chemical products, vehicles and other transport material, optical and precision instruments, computer accessories and parts, semiconductors and related devices, oil products, base metals, food products, textile materials"
"text":"country code - 351; a combination of submarine cables provide connectivity to Europe, North and East Africa, South Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and the US; satellite earth stations - 3 Intelsat (2 Atlantic Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean), NA Eutelsat; tropospheric scatter to Azores (2015)"
"text":"Radio e Televisao de Portugal (RTP), the publicly owned TV broadcaster, operates 2 domestic channels and external service channels to Africa; overall, roughly 40 domestic TV stations; viewers have widespread access to international broadcasters with more than half of all households connected to multi-channel cable or satellite TV systems; publicly owned radio operates 3 national networks and provides regional and external services; several privately owned national radio stations and some 300 regional and local commercial radio stations (2008)"
"text":"Portuguese Army (Exercito Portuguesa), Portuguese Navy (Marinha Portuguesa; includes Marine Corps), Portuguese Air Force (Forca Aerea Portuguesa, FAP) (2013)"
},
"Military service age and obligation":{
"text":"18-30 years of age for voluntary military service; no compulsory military service, but conscription possible if insufficient volunteers available; women serve in the armed forces, on naval ships since 1993, but are prohibited from serving in some combatant specialties; reserve obligation to age 35 (2012)"
},
"Military expenditures":{
"text":"1.29% of GDP (2014) ++ 1.2% of GDP (2013) ++ 1.78% of GDP (2012)"
}
},
"Transnational Issues":{
"Disputes - international":{
"text":"Portugal does not recognize Spanish sovereignty over the territory of Olivenza based on a difference of interpretation of the 1815 Congress of Vienna and the 1801 Treaty of Badajoz"
"text":"seizing record amounts of Latin American cocaine destined for Europe; a European gateway for Southwest Asian heroin; transshipment point for hashish from North Africa to Europe; consumer of Southwest Asian heroin"
