Between September 2019 and January 2020, Portugal registered fewer smokers, with a continuous prevalence in men, and an increasing consumption of alcoholic beverages, according to the National Statistics Institute (INE) this Friday, June 26, when disclosing the main results of the National Health Survey 2019.
According to data collected by INE, 17% of the population over 15 years of age showed to be a smoker, 3.0 percentage points (pp) less than in 2014. The data also report that 1.3 million people smoked daily and 248 thousand chose to smoke occasionally. In 2019, regular tobacco use was higher in men, with a ratio of two men for each woman.
In the consumption of alcoholic beverages, about 6.2 million people claimed to have consumed them in the 12 months prior to the registration period, with 1.8 million doing so daily, 14 pp less than in 2014. More than 40 % of the population under analysis, equivalent to 2.6 million, reported having consumed more than six alcoholic beverages on a single occasion or event, at least once in the previous 12 months, an increase of 33.2% compared to 2014.
In the period under analysis, more than half of the population over 18 years of age (53.6%) was overweight or obese. In 2019, obesity reached 1.5 million people over the age of 18 (16.9%), with women being more affected than men, with 17.4% and 16.4%, respectively. According to the results, “obesity mainly affected the population from 55 to 74 years old, with values above 20%”, reveals the statistical office.
The population living in the Autonomous Region of the Azores recorded the highest proportions of people with
a body mass index classified as obesity, especially the female population (25.3%). In turn, the Algarve was at the opposite end, with 13.6% of the population registering obesity,
Thus, the proportion of overweight or obese adults increased by 0.8 pp in relation to 2014, mainly in the case of men (over 1.5 pp) and in the younger age groups (from 18 to 34 years old) and older (85 or more years), INE assumes in the report.
Despite the increase in public transport and an increase in obesity, the Portuguese population preferred to increase the number of trips on foot. About three million citizens over the age of 15 preferred to travel on foot daily, with most trips taking less than 30 minutes. Compared to 2014, the number of people who traveled on foot rose by 500 thousand, with a higher proportion of men.
Although there was an increase in the number of people who walk, the majority of the population (65.6%) admitted that they did not practice any sports activity on a regular basis, while “13.6% of people
reported practicing physical exercise on one or two days a week ”compared to 15.4% in 2014.
About 5.9% of residents aged 15 and over reported cycling by 2019, and 0.8% of respondents did so every day. Unlike walking, the number of people cycling
it did not increase compared to 2014. The proportion of men who reported cycling (9.3%) is significantly higher than that for women (3.0%).
In 2019, close to 716 thousand people over the age of 15 years old presented depressive symptoms according to the PHQ-8 (Patient Health Questionnaire Depression Scale) methodology, which is equivalent to 8% of the population under analysis. “Of the group of people with depressive symptoms, about 60% showed mild depressive symptoms and 40.2% manifested severe depressive symptoms”, highlights the INE.
Compared with the results of the previous survey, a “slight decrease in the population with
these symptoms (10.0% in 2014), mainly due to the prevalence of mild symptoms (which rose from 6.3% in 2014 to 3.2% of the population in 2019), since people with severe symptoms increase 1, 1, pp ”, says the report released today by the statistical office.
“The prevalence of depressive symptoms is more expressive for women and in the older age groups. Approximately 70% of people with depressive symptoms were women and it is in the older population that the proportion of depressive symptoms reaches higher values ”, indicates the INE, noting that” in the case of men, only higher percentages are seen after 75 years”.
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