According to the II Great Sustainability Survey in Portugal, developed by researchers from the Institute of Social Sciences (ICS) of the University of Lisbon (UL), 53.5 percent of the people surveyed said that the crisis has not passed and only less than a third (29.8 percent) say that the crisis is over.


“People feel that the crisis is not over yet and this has left them suspicious and with a feeling of insecurity that remains active and is decisive for many behaviours”, said ICS researcher Luísa Schmidt, one of the coordinators of the study.


She pointed out that families using free public spaces such as parks and gardens rather than visiting shopping centres is an example of changed behaviour which first began during the crisis and has not altered.


As for the impact of the economic crisis on consumer habits, in general, it changed habits for the overwhelming majority of the population, but it was those most vulnerable to the effects of the crisis that changed the most.


As proof of the feeling of distrust towards the crisis, unemployment appears to be the main concern of the Portuguese national, even though levels have fallen in the last four years from 14.3 percent to 7.4 percent.


The second major set of concerns was called “a shake-up of confidence in the state” by the researchers. In this group, the respondents pointed out most often “corruption” (26 percent), but the functional failure of the state that most worries them is the “health system” (24.5 percent), its functioning and access. Next, the respondents pointed out the drop in “credibility of the political class” (16.1 percent).


The third major set of concerns revolves around various manifestations of “disharmony and social discord” (35.4 percent), including poverty/exclusion (16.8 percent), the fragility of the country’s economy (12.8 percent) and social inequalities (9.9 percent).


When it comes to disposable income health care rose to first place (50.5 percent), especially for those over 64 years old and with less education and income, while savings (47.8 percent) moved to second place in investment priorities, “which indicates that, for the Portuguese citizens, the experience of the economic crisis is still very present and, above all, had structural impacts regarding the need for fundamental economic security,” the study showed.