“In 2021, 26.6% of the population aged 16 or over mentioned the negative effect of the covid-19 pandemic on mental health”, says the National Statistics Institute (INE) in the publication “Income and living conditions 2021 - Estado of health".

According to the data, this situation was highlighted by more women (30.2%) than men (22.4%) and in very similar proportions in the population younger than 65 years (26.8%) and in the elderly population ( 25.9%).

“By level of education, although without very significant differences, the population with complete higher education recorded a proportion of 27.8%, higher than the national average, and the population without any complete level of education, a proportion of 25.4%”, refers to the INE.

By job condition, it is verified that it is in the unemployed population that this indicator reached the highest value (33.7%), 7.1 percentage points (p.p) above the average.

The survey results also show that the proportion of people aged 16 or over at risk of poverty who said they had been affected by the negative effect of the pandemic crisis on mental health was 3 pp higher than the proportion obtained for the general population of the same age.

The Survey on Living Conditions and Income of Families has been carried out in Portugal since 2004. Until 2020 it was carried out within the framework of specific community legislation that established a harmonized community system for the production of statistics on poverty, deprivation and social exclusion.

As of 2021, the survey is carried out in accordance with specific European regulations of the European Parliament and the Council.