The purchasing power of the Portuguese was 29 % below the OECD average in 2011

The purchasing power of the Portuguese gives the gross domestic product (GDP) or value of all final goods and services produced in a given year.

Between 2008 and 2011 the Portuguese were poorer compared with the purchasing power of the average of OECD countries.

Gross capita expressed in Purchasing Power Parity (per capita GDP), per domestic product of Portugal in 2011 stood at 71% of the average of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development .

This indicates that in that year, the purchasing power of the Portuguese was 29% lower than the average of the 47 countries covered in this indicator released on Wednesday by the OECD, which uses a new methodology to calculate.

A new methodology for this indicator, which is published every three years incorporates new weights for the three thousand goods and services that make up the basket of prices that is integrated in GDP.

In 2008, this same indicator placed Portugal with a GDP per capita of 73 %, which means that the Portuguese viewed in this lapse of three years, the purchasing power recoil compared to an OECD average.

Still, the Portuguese suffered a less severe drop than that experienced in other peripheral countries of the euro. The purchasing power of the Greeks, which was 14% lower than the average in 2008, is now 26 % lower than in 2011. In Spain the reduction was also sharp, from 4% to 11% below average.

Luxembourg, partly because it is a financial center and the territory where many foreigners residing in neighboring countries work, has by far the highest GDP per capita , 146 % above the OECD average. It follows Norway (72%) and Switzerland (43%). Mexico and Turkey are the two countries with the lowest level of life of the OECD, with a power of less than half the average purchase.

The countries that most improved their relative position between 2008 and 2011 stand out Israel (from 26% to 16% below average), Mexico (56% to 52% below average) and Poland (48% to 40% below average) .

Among the larger countries highlights the change in the UK, which in 2008 had a purchasing power of 7% above average in 2011 and is 3% below average. Germany (from 14% to 8% above average) and France (1% up to 1% below average) also worsened.

It remains to wait for the next triennium.