New national report reveals significant improvements in poverty, social exclusion, and income inequality, although the Azores continue to record Portugal’s highest regional risk of poverty or social exclusion.
Behind every statistic on poverty lies a human story: a family struggling to meet its monthly expenses, an older adult living with uncertainty, or a worker whose wages are insufficient to provide economic security. In the Azores, where geography and isolation have long shaped social and economic realities, a new report offers encouraging signs of progress while reminding us that prosperity remains unevenly distributed.
According to the Poverty and Social Exclusion in Portugal 2026 report, published by EAPN Portugal’s National Observatory for the Fight Against Poverty, the Azores recorded a substantial decline in the share of residents at risk of poverty or social exclusion, falling from 28.4% in 2024 to 21.6% in 2025.
The 6.8-percentage-point reduction represents an important improvement after several years of worsening conditions beginning in 2021. Nevertheless, the archipelago still has Portugal’s highest regional rate, exceeding the national average of 18.6% and Madeira’s 20.5%.
The most significant improvement occurred in monetary poverty, which declined from 24.2% to 17.3%. The difference between the Azorean rate and the national average of 15.4% narrowed dramatically, from 7.6 to 1.9 percentage points.
For the first time in the monitoring series, the Azores met the target established by Portugal’s National Strategy to Combat Poverty 2021–2030, which seeks to keep regional monetary poverty rates within three percentage points of the national average.
Other indicators also improved. Severe material and social deprivation fell to 6.7%, compared with 8.2% in 2024 and 12% in 2023, although the rate remains above the national average of 4.3%.
The proportion of residents living in households with very low work intensity decreased from 6.8% to 5.5%, compared with 4.9% nationally.
The report also identifies an increased contribution from social benefits, excluding pensions, to reducing monetary poverty. Their measured impact rose from 23.9% to 29.67%, exceeding the national average of 25.96%. These figures represent the proportional reduction in poverty risk associated with social transfers, not a reduction of nearly 30 percentage points in the poverty rate itself.
Income inequality also declined. The Azores’ Gini coefficient fell from 33.8 to 31.5, the largest regional reduction in Portugal, while the income ratio between the wealthiest and poorest fifths of the population decreased from 5.9 to 5.0.
Both indicators, however, remain slightly above national levels.
EAPN Portugal suggests that improvements in regional employment conditions and the effectiveness of social assistance may have contributed to these developments. However, the study does not establish a direct causal relationship.
Across Portugal, approximately 1.995 million people remained at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2025, the lowest figure since 2015. Monetary poverty affected approximately 1.66 million residents, based on a national poverty threshold of €723.25 per month per equivalent adult.
One particularly troubling finding is that 47.6% of adults experiencing monetary poverty were employed, demonstrating that having a job does not necessarily guarantee sufficient income to escape poverty.
Single-parent households, unemployed individuals, and workers in precarious employment remain especially vulnerable.
The report draws on the 2025 Survey on Income and Living Conditions. Its income and employment indicators cover 2024, while material and social deprivation indicators cover 2025. Researchers also caution that methodological changes require care when comparing results across years.
For the Azores, these findings represent both measurable progress and an unfinished social challenge. The poverty reduction is significant, but the persistence of vulnerability raises broader questions about wages, employment security, family support, and the distribution of economic opportunities across the islands.
Ultimately, a society’s progress cannot rest entirely on percentages. It must also be found in the everyday dignity of its people, in the opportunities available to children, and in the ability of families to imagine a future without the constant fear of economic insecurity.
The numbers suggest that the Azores have taken an important step forward. The challenge now is to ensure that progress reaches those who remain most vulnerable.
Based on a story in Diário dos Açores, Paulo Viveiros, director. The photos are also from DA.