The Survey on Income and Living Conditions (ICOR) currently consists of a set of data that are collected annually and a system that combines modules that collect pre-defined complementary information on a regular basis and ad hoc modules on new information needs. The results presented in this press release include data from the annual component, as well as from the 2023 information on "Housing difficulties" and the ad hoc module on "Energy efficiency of buildings and housing". 

The results obtained confirm the deterioration of housing conditions, with the proportion of persons living in dwellings in which the number of habitable rooms was insufficient for the number and demographic profile of household members increasing to 12.9%, 3.5 p.p. more than in the previous year (9.4%), and the proportion of residents in severe housing deprivation rate increasing to 6.0%, 2.1 p.p. more than in 2020 (3.9%).

On the other hand, there was a slight improvement in the ratio between housing expenditure and household disposable income, with a median housing expenditure burden of 9.7% in 2023, lower than the result of 10.2% recorded in the previous year (0.5 p.p. less), and a housing expenditure overburden rate of 4.9%, slightly below the value in the previous year (5.0%).

Regarding the thermal comfort of housing, the data collected indicate that 20.8% of the population lived in households in 2023 where there was no financial capacity to keep the dwelling comfortably warm, 3.3 p.p. more than in 2022. Portugal was in 2022 one of the 5 EU-27 countries in which this disability was highest, at 17.5%, almost double the European average of 9.3%.

The situation in terms of thermal comfort is even more serious if we take into account that, to the proportion of those who were in a precarious thermal situation for financial reasons, it is necessary to add the 21.6% who report living in a situation where the accommodation is not warm enough in winter for other reasons, and that 38.3% live in dwellings that are not adequately cool in the summer.

When asked about previous situations in which they had to stay temporarily overnight in another accommodation (private or collective), on the street or in a public space, because they had nowhere to stay, 4.0% of the persons aged 16 and over reported having experienced at least one situation of housing difficulty, of which 3.2% temporarily at the home of friends or relatives. The main reasons mentioned by respondents were "relationship or family problems" (39.6%) and "financial problems" (19.1%).