In order to make Portugal better known, the European statistical office has released some data, based on 1 December 2020, on the country that holds the six-month presidency of the EU Council from 1 January to 30 June.

Besides the second highest rate of engineering graduates, Portugal is the main producer of bicycles in the EU, the largest exporter of olives and has the fourth largest fishing fleet (7,700 vessels).

Portugal's relative weight in the EU area is 2.2 percent (92,200 km2), its population is 2.3 percent (ten million inhabitants) and its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is 1.5 percent.

The 'translation' of Portugal in figures also highlights that the national 'per capita' GDP is 20,740 Euros, 79 percent of the EU average ('31,160).

Still in the economic field, Portugal has an average annual inflation rate of 0.3 percent (EU 1.4 percent) and an investment rate of 18.2 percent (EU 22.1 percent).

The tax burden, measured as tax revenue as a percentage of GDP, is also lower in Portugal (36.8 percent) than in the EU average (41.1 percent).

Portugal has a population density of 113 people per km2, above 109 in the EU, with a higher proportion of the population over 65 (21.8 percent, compared to 20.3 percent in the EU) and a lower proportion of under 15 (13.7 percent, compared to 15.2 percent in the EU).

The youth unemployment rate is 18.3 percent (EU 15.0 percent) and the risk of poverty or social exclusion is 21.6 percent (EU 20.9 percent), while the employment rate for men is 79.9 percent (EU 79.0 percent) and for women 72.7 percent (EU 67.3 percent).

As regards education, despite good performance in engineering degrees, the rate of higher education is 36.2 percent of the population aged 30 to 34 (EU 40.3 percent).

Early school leaving covers 10.6 percent of the population aged 18-24 (EU 10.2 percent).

Spending on science and technology is 1.4 percent of GDP (EU 2.19 percent) and the rate of population employed in high and medium-high tech industrial activities is 3.3 percent (EU 6.2 percent).

Greenhouse gas emissions have increased by 18.9 percent in Portugal since 1990, in contrast to the average of the 27, which is 20.74 percent lower, but Portugal has a higher-than-average contribution of renewable energy to final consumption (30.3 percent compared to 18.9 in the EU).

However, energy dependence - the share of imports in energy consumption - is 75.6 percent in Portugal, (58.2 percent EU average).

"Time to act: for a fair, green and digital recovery" is the motto of the Portuguese Presidency of the EU, whose main objectives are a Resilient, Green, Digital, Social and Global Europe.