In 2022, the proportion of the resident population in Portugal aged 18 to 69 who participated in at least one formal education, non-formal education or informal learning activity in the last 12 months was 77.1%. This rate fell by 12.9 percentage points (p.p.) compared to 2016.

Lifelong Learning, which in the results presented encompasses only participation in formal or non-formal education activities in the last 12 months, covered 45.6% of the population aged 18 to 69 living in Portugal in 2022, with the youngest and most educated populations having the highest participation rates in education and training. Compared to 2016, that rate fell by 1.4 p.p.

The participation rate in formal education was 12.6%, with the inactive student population having a participation rate well above that value (92.3%). Compared to 2016, the participation rate in formal education increased by 2.3 p.p. The participation rate in non-formal education activities was 39.4%, with higher participation among the active employed population (49.5%). For 88.1% of people who took part in non-formal education activities, at least one activity was related to their professional activity.

Participation in informal learning activities was 70.4% in 2022, with 49.3% of the population aged 18 to 69 identifying at least one informal learning activity as work-related.

Reading newspapers or magazines was the cultural activity with the highest participation rate in 2022 (80.5%), while just over a third of the population aged 18 to 69 had visited cultural sites (36.8%) in the 12 months prior to the interview. In general, participation in cultural activities decreased in 2022 compared to 2016, except for reading books, which increased from 38.8% to 41.3%.

The proportion of the population aged 18 to 69 who uses language(s) other than their mother tongue(s) was 67.5%, with English being the most spoken foreign language (64.2%).