The statistical office of the European Union, Eurostat, announced today that it will recalculate previously published indicators, such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, once it receives new data from Portugal following an upward revision of the country’s population figures.
“Derived indicators that use population values in the denominator, such as GDP per capita, will eventually be recalculated when the new data are received and validated. Eurostat will use and publish the data received from Portugal, including historical data, as soon as the necessary quality checks have been completed,” Eurostat stated in a written response sent to Lusa today.
One week after Statistics Portugal (INE) announced a revision of its per capita indicators due to an update in annual resident population estimates, Eurostat noted that it will “align its work with the schedule established and announced by Portugal.”
“As soon as Eurostat receives and validates the data, the indicators will be recalculated and published,” the agency reinforced.
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Regarding national accounts and labor market indicators, Eurostat recommended in its response to Lusa “the retrospective reconstruction of data to the greatest extent possible, in order to ensure the continuity of historical series.”
Last week, INE announced that it will review all per capita indicators, including GDP, employment, and metrics related to justice, education, or healthcare.
“The revision of annual resident population estimates for the years 2021 to 2024 impacts various statistical operations at INE, namely the calibration (extrapolation) of sample survey results, most notably the Employment Survey,” which in turn affects “National Accounts results, which will have to be re-evaluated,” INE indicated.
According to the Portuguese statistical office, within national accounts, the evaluation of economic activity includes a portion estimated “taking into account the employed population from the Employment Survey.” Consequently, this value is expected to shift, as the proportion of unemployed individuals is lower given that the total population has been revised upward over recent years.
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Furthermore, “the population revision implies updating the various indicators per inhabitant or per capita that use the resident population in the denominator, made available by INE on the official Statistics Portal.” The majority of these revisions will be disclosed in the coming months, the bureau added.
The final revision of GDP and GDP per capita—which will impact the figures Portugal submits to European institutions used as a baseline for funding allocations or project applications—can only be completely finalized following the revision of national accounts for the 2021 to 2026 period, scheduled for March 2027.
