In a statement during the presentation of the “People with Disabilities in Portugal: Human Rights Indicators 2025” report in Lisbon, Paula Campos Pinto emphasized that the poverty rate among people with disabilities in the country remains “much higher than that of the general population”.
The report’s presentation occurs at the IX ODDH Meeting, where this year, Portugal is framed within the European context. It is in this comparison that the professor and researcher highlights the fluctuations in the poverty rate before and after social transfers and the difference compared to the European average.
Paula Campos Pinto noted an “interesting fact” as the poverty rate for people with disabilities in Portugal, before social transfers, is “slightly below the European Union average”.
The report indicates that in 2024, more than two-thirds (66.4%) of people over 16 with disabilities faced a poverty risk before social transfers in Portugal, double the rate of those without disabilities.
However, after social transfers, the poverty rate surpasses that of the European Union, standing at 22.2% compared to the European average of 20.6%.
For the leader, these figures illustrate the “significant disparity between Portugal and the European average” concerning social protection spending for disability, both as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product and in terms of purchasing power parity.
“In terms of GDP, we are at 1.49%, while the European average is 1.88%. When looking at an indicator that attempts to standardize the cost of living across various societies, called purchasing power parity, the expenditure per person is 448.69 euros in Portugal and 725.28 euros on average in the European Union,” Campos Pinto pointed out.
For Campos Pinto, these data, alongside the poverty rate after social transfers, reveal that “Portugal still needs to make a more significant investment in social support for people with disabilities to align with the European standard”.
The Observatory coordinator noted that the introduction of the Social Inclusion Benefit (PSI) had “some effect in terms of reducing the poverty rate” and argued that “this support needs to be more substantial”.
She criticized that individuals with a disability degree between 60% and 80% lose the right to benefits “when they enter the labor market if their income is slightly higher”.
“This will no longer have the compensatory effect for the increased expenses that anyone with a disability inevitably faces, which is why we see these higher poverty indices among the population with disabilities,” she argued.
She also opposed introducing a means test for personal assistance, arguing it contradicts the call for increased public investment and “doesn’t make any sense in the context of disability”.
“We are talking about people who will always have increased expenses due to their disability. Having personal assistance is not a luxury option; it’s a necessity for people to be able to study, work, and have a social life,” she stressed.
She added that this is not an exceptional situation but a basic need, without which many people with disabilities would not be able to “get out of bed”.
The “People with Disabilities in Portugal: Human Rights Indicators 2025” report reveals that the comparative analysis “made it possible to understand the long road still ahead in Portugal” for the country to reach the European standard.
“In education, employment, and living conditions, Portuguese people with disabilities still present some more unfavorable indicators,” the document reads.
It cites examples such as a poverty rate above the European average, increasing since 2022, a higher long-term unemployment rate (12 months or more) contrary to the reduction observed in Europe, a higher school dropout rate, and a proportion of young people not in employment, education, or training (NEETs) surpassing the EU 27 average.
