Portugal's Household Saving Rate Slips to 12.1 Percent as Spending Outpaces Income and Household Debt Tops 187 Billion Euros

Households in Portugal are putting aside a slightly smaller share of their income, just as World Savings Day falls on Saturday 31 October. The household saving rate fell to 12.1 percent of disposable income in the year to the end of June 2026, down from 12.4 percent in the year to March, Statistics Portugal (INE) reported on 23 September, as carried by Lusa on RTP. The cause was simple: spending grew faster than income. Household consumption rose 1.7 percent in the second quarter, while gross disposable income rose 1.4 percent.

A decade of saving more, now levelling off

The longer trend is still far above where it was. On the Banco de Portugal's annual series, households and the non-profit bodies that serve them saved just 6.5 percent of their income in 2017 and 7.3 percent in 2022, before the rate jumped to around 12 percent from 2024.

A report from Pordata, the statistics database of the Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos, published for World Savings Day, puts the 2025 total at 26.4 billion euros, 302 million euros more than in 2024, RTP reports. Those two figures match the Banco de Portugal's quarterly household saving data. Pordata adds that, once inflation is taken into account, savings fell by about 1 percent.

Portugal still saves less than its neighbours. On Eurostat's seasonally adjusted quarterly measure, the Portuguese rate was 11.6 percent in the second quarter of 2026, against 13.9 percent across the EU.

Where the money sits, and what is owed

Most savings still go into the bank. Households held 200.5 billion euros in euro deposits at banks in Portugal at the end of September, according to Banco de Portugal data. That was up from 194.5 billion a year earlier, though slightly down on July's 204.1 billion. The 2024 Household Finance and Consumption Survey (ISFF), run jointly by INE and the Banco de Portugal, found that 75.4 percent of households' financial assets were held in deposits, a category that includes savings and Treasury certificates.

Debt is growing faster than deposits. Household debt reached 187.1 billion euros in August, up from 168.6 billion a year earlier. Of that, 122.5 billion was home loans, which were growing at an annual rate of 10.7 percent.

Age makes a big difference. In the same survey, 41.7 percent of all households had some debt in 2024. Among households whose reference person was aged 35 to 44, the figure was 64.9 percent. Their median debt was 64,700 euros, or 180.5 percent of a year's net income: this is the "almost two years" of earnings in ECO's report. Among households aged 75 or over, only 8 percent were in debt.

What it means for you

• Your deposits are protected. If a bank fails, deposits are guaranteed up to 100,000 euros per depositor per bank, whether or not the depositor lives in Portugal, the Banco de Portugal's Portal do Cliente Bancário explains (Portuguese only).
• Compare after tax and inflation. Banks quote the TANB, the gross nominal annual rate. Interest is taxed at 28 percent on the mainland and 19.6 percent in the Azores and Madeira, so you keep 72 percent of the headline rate on the mainland. Your savings only gain value when the rate after tax beats inflation, the portal notes.
• State savings certificates. The gross rate for new Série F certificados de aforro (savings certificates) is 2.500 percent in November, IGCP, the state debt agency, announced. Demand has run so high this year that the state raised its 2026 issuance cap. Deposit rates in Portugal are also still below the euro area average.