One of the core objectives of the revolution of 25th April, 1974, was the democratisation of education and improving the Portuguese populations general levels of qualification has been a key goal of education policy in recent decades.
Indeed, Portugal has been implementing policies aimed at reducing early school leaving and boosting the population’s educational attainment, as well as its workforce’s qualifications.
However, focussing on adults between the ages of 25 and 64, there needs to be continued efforts to overcome the legacy of poor qualification levels that still puts Portugal in an unfavourable position when compared to other European countries.
Resident population aged between 16 and 89 years old: total and highest level of schooling completed (2000- 2023)
| Year | TOTAL | No schooling | 1st Cycle | 2nd Cycle | 3rd Cycle | Upper and Post- secondary | Higher Education |
| 2000 | 8,608.6 | 1,549.6 | 2,865.1 | 1,430.0 | 1,241.2 | 966.1 | 556.7 |
| 2005 | 8,828.0 | 1,202.7 | 2,742.4 | 1,386.7 | 1,473.3 | 1,188.6 | 834.2 |
| 2010 | 8,965.4 | 949.8 | 2,583.0 | 1,258.3 | 1,738.5 | 1,380.6 | 1,055.2 |
| 2015 | 8,866.2 | 738.9 | 2,080.2 | 963.8 | 1,800.5 | 1,763.6 | 1,519.2 |
| 2020 | 8,711.9 | 444.1 | 1,741.5 | 847.0 | 1,677.6 | 2,120.7 | 1,881.0 |
| 2022 | 8,693.8 | 330.4 | 1,649.6 | 770.1 | 1,576.2 | 2,240.3 | 2,127.1 |
| 2023 | 8,734.9 | 323.8 | 1,672.6 | 760.7 | 1,658.9 | 2,288.5 | 2,030.4 |
Source: INE, PORDATA. Last update: 2024-02-07
Despite a significant decrease in education expenditure as a percentage of GDP in recent decades, there was a slight increase (3.9%) in 2020, the year when extraordinary measures had to be adopted due to the pandemic.
State expenditure on education as % of GDP
| Year | % of GDP |
 2015 |
3.8 |
| 2016 |
3.8 |
| 2017 |
3.7 |
| 2018 |
3.6 |
| 2019 |
3.5 |
| 2020 | 3.9 |
Source: Ministry of Finance - Directorate-General for Budget
During persistent budgetary constraints and responsible policy, governmental measures involving a reduction and reallocation of funding, as well as a better match of human resources to educational needs, has allowed Portugal to continue making strides in improving the qualification levels of its population. This is particularly evident in the schooling results of the population aged 15 and over.