Brief Introduction Capital: Lisbon Area: total: 9,190,000 National Flower: Lavender The important Festival: National day: 5 October Population: 10,300,000 Language: Portuguese (official), Mirandese (official - but locally used) Currency: euro

Portugal

Geography

Southwestern Europe, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, west of Spain.

Administrative divisions

18 districts (distritos, singular - distrito) and 2 autonomous regions* (regioes autonomas, singular - regiao autonoma); Aveiro, Acores (Azores)*, Beja, Braga, Braganca, Castelo Branco, Coimbra, Evora, Faro, Guarda, Leiria, Lisboa, Madeira*, Portalegre, Porto, Santarem, Setubal, Viana do Castelo, Vila Real, Viseu.

Economy – overview

Portugal has become a diversified and increasingly service-based economy since joining the European Community in 1986. Over the past decade, successive governments have privatized many state-controlled firms and liberalized key areas of the economy, including the financial and telecommunications sectors. The country qualified for the European Monetary Union (EMU) in 1998 and began circulating the euro on 1 January 2002 along with 11 other EU member economies. Economic growth had been above the EU average for much of the past decade, but fell back in 2001-04. GDP per capita stands at two-thirds that of the Big Four EU economies. A poor educational system, in particular, has been an obstacle to greater productivity and growth. Portugal has been increasingly overshadowed by lower-cost producers in Central Europe and Asia as a target for foreign direct investment. The government faces tough choices in its attempts to boost Portugal's economic competitiveness while keeping the budget deficit within the eurozone's 3%-of-GDP ceiling.

Culture and media

Newspaper:

Diário de Notícias , Diário Económico , Euro Notícias , Jornal de Negócios , Jornal de Notícias , News Weekly, The, Record , Voz Portucalense .

Broadcast:

Rádio Comercial , Rádio Renasçenca, Radiodifusão Portugesa , TSF Noticias .

TV Stations:

TVI

The place of interest

Torre de Belem

Alfama

Museu Nacional de Soares dos Reis