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Choose a score and give the benchmark a specific reason to reconsider it.

When you submit, the form attaches the current score and confidence for the country and capability you chose.

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Capability agenda

Portugal

Generated 2026-10-03

The frame includes 125 countries. Each dimension is scored from 0 to 100, with no overall ranking, and each score shows its confidence beside it. Read the known limits of the data before you quote a score.

Open the profile: indicators, values, years and sources

Where Portugal stands

DimensionScoreConfidenceTrend
Anticipation79.40.46+10.9 over 10 years using 2 indicators
Agency69.70.56no trend
Coordination87.90.39no trend
Trust59.40.49no trend
Learning62.60.54no trend
Experimentation42.20.33-13.6 over 10 years using 3 indicators
Adaptability75.30.62no trend
Building42.00.57-0.9 over 10 years using 3 indicators
Shared Purpose46.60.42+1.5 over 10 years using 2 indicators

Score

  • weakNear the floor of the frame. Check the confidence before reading anything into it.0 to 25
  • below middleIn the lower half of the frame.25 to 50
  • above middleIn the upper half of the frame.50 to 75
  • strongNear the top of the frame on this dimension.75 and above

Confidence

  • very thin0.00 to 0.25

    The score rests on one or two indicators. Do not quote it on its own.

  • thin0.25 to 0.45

    A minority of indicators, or evidence old enough to have moved. Read with care.

  • usable0.45 to 0.65

    Enough evidence to compare countries, with known holes.

  • good0.65 and above

    Most indicators observed, recent, from official or intergovernmental sources.

Capability over time

Select a dimension to see how Portugal’s comparable evidence has moved over time. The vertical scale is the current comparison frame, from 0 to 100.

Dimension

Period

Capability position in the current frame0 to 100
025507510020062011201620212026

Experimentation 2006 → 2026: 21.5 to 42.6 (+21.1) over 20 years using 3 indicators

Agenda items on this timeline

19601970198019902000201020202026
  • 2012Portugal Ventures, a public venture-capital bridge
  • 2021Zonas Livres Tecnológicas, regulator-supervised experimentation zones
  • 2022Rede Nacional de Test Beds for company experimentation

Historical values use today’s frame from 0 to 100 and a matched basket of indicators. They show movement in the available evidence, not an overall development score. Dated agenda items appear on a separate timeline and do not change the score. A missing line means the evidence does not support a comparable trend for that dimension.

What to raise

These are the lowest scores with usable evidence. Thin evidence appears below.

Building

42.00.57

How capable is the country of turning plans and knowledge into functioning systems?

Uses 4 observed indicators. -0.9 over 10 years using 3 indicators.

Highest usable scores: South Korea 85.1, Ireland 80.3, China 77.4.

Related deliveries in other countries: Pix instant payment system (Brazil); GOV.BR federal identity and service platform (Brazil); X-Road national data exchange layer (Estonia); Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana bank accounts (India); Electricity supply rebuilt on renewable sources (Uruguay); Plan Ceibal, one connected laptop per child (Uruguay); Sistema Unico de Saude, universal public health system (Brazil); Programa Nacional de Imunizacoes, and its erosion (Brazil); Luz para Todos, rural electrification (Brazil); Bolsa Familia and the single registry behind it (Brazil); Fully electronic national elections (Brazil); Deepwater and pre-salt oil production (Brazil); Seguro Popular, and its abolition (Mexico); Sure Start children's centres, and their erosion (United Kingdom); Grid power, and load shedding (South Africa); Measles elimination, and its erosion (United States); BNDES, the national development bank (Brazil); Casa da Moeda do Brasil, the national mint (Brazil); Housing and Development Board, public housing at scale (Singapore); AFE passenger rail and network contraction (Uruguay); Flamanville 3 EPR, and the erosion of nuclear new-build delivery (France); Phoenix pay system, and its prolonged failure (Canada); Groningen gas system, and its closure after induced earthquakes (Netherlands); DigiD, a shared digital identity rail for public services (Netherlands); Delta Works, a 43-year national flood-defence programme (Netherlands); Betuweroute, a freight railway that missed its operating promise (Netherlands); MijnOverheid, a shared citizen mailbox and data portal (Netherlands); Fyra V250, a high-speed service withdrawn after a failed launch (Netherlands); OVpay, nationwide contactless transit payments (Netherlands); Omgevingswet and the Digital Environment System (Netherlands); Transantiago, an integrated transport reform with rising subsidy dependence (Chile); 4G road concessions, a national infrastructure portfolio (Colombia); Reficar, a refinery modernization with a fiscal-liability finding (Colombia); GIGA School, one learning device per student (Japan); Monju, a fast-breeder programme ended before commercial operation (Japan); Invierte.pe, a national multi-year investment-management system (Peru); Reconstrucción con Cambios, a delayed recovery portfolio (Peru); ICE and a mostly renewable national electricity system (Costa Rica); CCSS universal health-insurance reach (Costa Rica); Metro de Quito, a cross-administration urban rail delivery (Ecuador); Panama Canal expansion and self-financing operations (Panama); Metro de Panamá network operations (Panama); Mi Teleférico urban cable-car network (Bolivia); Industrial lithium carbonate plant below design capacity (Bolivia); Itaipú binational hydropower operations (Paraguay); Metrobús, an unfinished bus rapid transit project (Paraguay); ARSAT-3 satellite programme suspended before launch (Argentina); DPWH national infrastructure delivery and transparency portal (Philippines); Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, a mothballed megaproject (Philippines); Trans-Sumatra toll-road programme, still short of its planned network (Indonesia); National expressway build-out in 2024 (Vietnam); Cat Linh–Ha Dong metro, a delayed and over-budget delivery (Vietnam); MRT Putrajaya Line (Malaysia); Kuala Lumpur–Singapore high-speed rail, terminated before construction (Malaysia); Hopewell elevated road-and-rail concession, and its termination (Thailand); AVE high-speed rail network (Spain); Castor underground gas storage, and its closure (Spain); Ostrołęka C coal block, and its abandonment (Poland); Nya Karolinska Solna public–private hospital project (Sweden); Barsebäck nuclear plant closure and decommissioning (Sweden); New Children's Hospital cost escalation (Ireland); Rural electrification and near-universal grid coverage (Nicaragua); Gran Misión Vivienda Venezuela's five-million-home milestone (Venezuela); Delhi Commonwealth Games, and the cost-estimate escalation (India); MeerKAT radio telescope, a delivered national research facility (South Africa); CFE Telecomunicaciones e Internet para Todos (Mexico); New International Airport of Mexico, and its cancellation (Mexico); Marmaray, the Bosphorus rail crossing (Turkey); FATİH education technology infrastructure (Turkey); YEKA RES-1 renewable tender, and its cancellation (Turkey); Gotthard Base Tunnel (Switzerland); Standard Gauge Railway, Mombasa to Naivasha (Kenya); Canadian long-gun registry, its information system overrun and its dismantling (Canada); Tel Aviv light rail Red Line (Israel); National high-speed rail network (China); Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant (United Arab Emirates); Aeropuerto Internacional de Palmerola (Honduras); El Chaparral (3 de Febrero) hydroelectric plant (El Salvador); Programa Ampliado de Inmunizaciones, and its erosion (Venezuela); PetroCaribe-financed public investment programme, and its audited failure (Haiti); Interstate Highway System (United States); Programa Nacional de la Vivienda, and its collapse (Cuba); Punta Catalina thermoelectric plant, and its cost overrun (Dominican Republic); Grand Paris Express (France); Modjo-Hawassa expressway, World Bank-financed Lot 3 (Ethiopia); Línea Rivera rail rehabilitation, and its decay (Uruguay); Gyeongbu high-speed railway (KTX), and its cost and schedule overrun (South Korea); Gasoducto Sur Peruano, a terminated pipeline concession (Peru); Talara refinery modernisation, delivered late and over cost (Peru); Program 35.000 MW power generation programme, and its schedule slip (Indonesia); El Mutún steel complex, inaugurated in 2025 and found never to have operated (Bolivia); Quang Trach to Pho Noi 500kV circuit-3 transmission line (Vietnam); Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric plant (Ecuador); Puente Héroes del Chaco, Asunción to Chaco'i bridge (Paraguay); Floating LNG import terminals of 2022 (Germany); Atucha II nuclear plant, and its 33-year build (Argentina); Vistula Spit shipping canal (Przekop Mierzei Wiślanej) (Poland); Israel Railways electrification and the Jerusalem express line, and their delays (Israel); Samuel De Champlain Bridge corridor (Canada); Hokuriku Shinkansen Kanazawa to Tsuruga extension, and its overrun (Japan); Botniabanan coastal railway (Sweden); High Speed Two, and the cancellation of Phase 2 (United Kingdom); Crossrail, the Elizabeth line (United Kingdom); Dedicated Freight Corridors, Eastern and Western (India); Olmeca refinery at Dos Bocas (Mexico); Inland Rail, and its consolidation at Parkes (Australia); Kehärata airport rail loop, and its cost overrun (Finland); Chixoy hydroelectric project, and its cost and time overrun (Guatemala); Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano dual carriageway, and the termination of its 2017 contract (Nigeria); Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project, and its shutdown (Pakistan); Tarbela Fourth Extension Hydropower Project (Pakistan); MOSE, the Venice lagoon flood barrier (Italy); Padma Multipurpose Bridge (Bangladesh); Noor-Ouarzazate solar complex (Morocco); Pap-Angren railway and Kamchik tunnel (Uzbekistan); Pro-Routes high-priority road reopening and maintenance (Democratic Republic of the Congo); Karuma Hydropower Project (Uganda); Julius Nyerere Hydropower Project (Tanzania); A1 motorway, Bucharest to Nadlac (Romania); South-West Roads: Western Europe-Western China corridor (CAREC 1b and 6b) (Kazakhstan); Reseau Ferroviaire Rapide de Tunis, lines D and E, and its overruns (Tunisia); Southern Expressway (Southern Transport Development Project) (Sri Lanka); Melamchi Water Supply Project, and its erosion after the 2021 flood (Nepal); Harare-Masvingo-Beitbridge highway rehabilitation, behind schedule (Zimbabwe); Solar powered milling plants contract, and its erosion (Zambia); Urban Water Supply Project (PEMU), part of the Kabala programme for Bamako (Mali); Ouagadougou Water Supply Project (Ziga) (Burkina Faso); Jiji and Mulembwe hydropower project (Burundi); Transport Infrastructure Investment Project (national roads, ports and the Northern Railway) (Madagascar); Energy Sector Support Project (substations and distribution lines) (Malawi); Morupule B coal power station, and its underperformance (Botswana); Metolong Dam and Water Supply Programme (Lesotho); B6 Belle Rive to Quartier Militaire road upgrade (Mauritius); Rahad Irrigation Project, and its cost and time overrun (Sudan); Accra bus rapid transit under the Ghana Urban Transport Project, and its cancellation (Ghana); Yabayo-Gagnoa road under the Fourth Highway Project, and its cost and time overrun (Côte d'Ivoire); Fourth Highway Project: paving of the Mamou-Kankan and Dubreka-Kolaboui roads (Guinea); Realignment of the Congo-Ocean Railway through the Mayombe, and its overruns (Republic of the Congo); Banjul Rehabilitation Project (roads, drainage and sewage), and its delay (Gambia); Bissau Port Project, delivered two and a half years late (Guinea-Bissau); Šoštanj thermal power plant unit 6 (TEŠ 6), and its cost overrun (Slovenia); Rail Baltica in Latvia, and its cost and schedule overrun (Latvia); Koralmbahn Graz to Klagenfurt, opened seven years after its contracted completion date (Austria); Fehmarn Belt fixed link, and its cost and schedule overrun (Denmark); Motorway construction by the Road and Motorway Directorate, and its unit cost (Czechia); Pelješac Bridge, the first stage of the road connection to South Dalmatia (Croatia); Decommissioning of the Bohunice V1 nuclear power plant, and its four-year slip (Slovakia); Decommissioning of the Ignalina nuclear power plant, and its delays (Lithuania); Corridor X motorway sections (E-75 and E-80) (Serbia); Road Sector Development Project on the M-03 and M-12, and its cut scope (Ukraine); M6 Minsk to Grodno transit corridor upgrade (Belarus); Federation Road Sector Modernization Project, and its shrunken rehabilitation scope (Bosnia and Herzegovina); Local Roads Improvement Project, and its halved scope (Moldova); Regional and Local Roads Connectivity Project (Albania); Kicevo to Ohrid motorway, and its cost and time overrun (North Macedonia); Budapest metro line 4, first section, and its cost and time overrun (Hungary); Road Infrastructure Rehabilitation Project, and its cut after the 2009 budget squeeze (Bulgaria); Ain Sokhna supercritical power plant (Egypt); Hartha power station units 2 and 3 rehabilitation, and its halt (Iraq); Greater Beirut Water Supply Project (Awali to Beirut conveyor), and its unfinished delivery (Lebanon); Amman Development Corridor (Amman Ring Road phase 1), and its overrun (Jordan); East-West Highway Corridor Improvement Project (Rikoti Pass sections) (Georgia); North-South Road Corridor Investment Program, Tranche 1 (Armenia); Second National Water Supply and Sanitation Project (rayon centres), and its downsizing (Azerbaijan); National Road Rehabilitation (Osh-Batken-Isfana) Project (Kyrgyzstan); Tehran Sewerage Project (first phase: interceptors, trunk main and southern treatment plant) (Iran); Central Ring Road around Moscow (TsKAD), audited by the Accounts Chamber (Russia); Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Project (Papua New Guinea); Road No. 13 South upgrading under the Third Highway Improvement Project (Laos); Second Energy Sector Project, distribution rehabilitation and the 10 MWp western solar plant (Mongolia); City Rail Link, Auckland, and its cost and time overrun (New Zealand); Rogun hydropower plant (Tajikistan); Kvalitetsfonden hospital building programme (supersygehuse), and its overruns (Denmark); Modernizace dálnice D1 (D1 motorway modernisation, Mirošovice to Kývalka) (Czechia); Lae Port Development Project (Lae Tidal Basin, phase 1) (Papua New Guinea); Second-wave motorway concessions (Central E-65, Olympia Odos, Moreas), and their reset (Greece); Third Highway Project: M4 Baku-Shamakhi and M3 Yenikend-Shorsulu motorways (Azerbaijan); Belene nuclear power plant, and its cancellation (Bulgaria); Belarusian nuclear power plant (BelAES), delivered behind schedule (Belarus); Bishkek-Osh road rehabilitation, third phase (Kyrgyzstan).

Missing indicators: Large project delivery, Firm scale-up rate.

Rejected datasets: Logistics infrastructure quality.

What to measure first

The evidence is too thin to manage these dimensions confidently.

What to keep watching

These dimensions score at least 50 with usable evidence.

DimensionScoreConfidence
Anticipation79.40.46
Adaptability75.30.62
Agency69.70.56
Learning62.60.54
Trust59.40.49

Missing data

18 requested indicators have no comparable dataset, and each one lowers confidence. A gap can become an indicator when a comparable series covers at least two countries.

DimensionMissing indicatorWhat it asks
AnticipationGovernment foresight capacityExistence, mandate and continuity of a national strategic foresight function.
AnticipationLong-horizon research commitmentsNew competitively awarded public research grants that run for five years or longer, as a share of all new competitive public research grants awarded in the year.
AgencyAdults doing digital tasksShare of adults who carried out a named digital task in the last three months, such as sending a message with an attached file, moving a file between devices or using a spreadsheet formula, counted one task at a time and never as a skill level.
CoordinationUniversity-industry collaborationIntensity of research collaboration between universities and firms.
CoordinationPublic-private collaborationFrequency and scale of joint public-private delivery of national objectives.
TrustTrust in public institutionsConfidence in national government, courts and civil service.
TrustCourt case clearance rateCivil and commercial cases resolved in a year as a share of cases filed in the same year.
LearningAdult learning participationShare of adults in formal or non-formal education and training in the last 12 months.
ExperimentationVenture dealsFirst venture capital rounds closed by companies based in the country in the year, per million people, counted by deal and never by amount.
ExperimentationFirms through regulatory sandboxesFirms admitted to, and firms completing, a regulatory sandbox or controlled trial regime in the year, per million people, summed across every regulator in the country.
ExperimentationUniversity spinoutsCompanies formed to commercialise university research, per million people.
AdaptabilityDisaster preparedness and recoveryDemonstrated capacity to prepare for and recover from major shocks.
AdaptabilityInstitutional responsivenessSpeed at which rules and public programmes are changed in response to new conditions.
BuildingLarge project deliveryCost and schedule performance of major public infrastructure projects.
BuildingFirm scale-up rateShare of young firms reaching significant employment or turnover thresholds.
Shared PurposeSense of national belongingReported identification with and attachment to the national community, as distinct from pride in the nation.
Shared PurposeVolunteeringShare of adults who volunteered time to an organisation in the last month.
Shared PurposePolitical polarisationDegree to which political differences run along a single hostile divide.

What the indicators miss about Portugal

Documented deliveries linked to missing indicators. They do not affect scores or confidence.

  • Chave Móvel Digital and Portugal's digital identity layer (Adaptability)

    Portugal's digital-government platform reported 4.4 million active Chave Móvel Digital credentials and 141 million authentications by 23 October 2025, with 490 entities using Autenticação.gov.

  • Portugal's CoLAB applied-research network (Coordination)

    Portugal's Agência Nacional de Inovação reported 41 recognized Collaborative Laboratories (CoLABs), and its 2024 innovation report recorded 639 highly qualified staff contracted by CoLABs, 32 percent of them PhDs.

  • Programa Qualifica and Portugal's adult-learning network (Learning)

    Portugal's ANQEP reported 1,025,569 cumulative Qualifica registrations by December 2023; 90 percent received a training or recognition, validation and certification referral, and 510,113 registrants obtained some certification.

  • Portugal Ventures, a public venture-capital bridge (Experimentation)

    Portugal Ventures, the public venture-capital company in the Banco Português de Fomento group, reports €233.2 million invested in 256 new companies since 2012 and €283 million under management.

  • Novas Oportunidades, and the qualification-policy interruption (Learning)

    ANQEP's national review records 1,568,490 adult enrolments in Novas Oportunidades between 2006 and July 2011; after the initiative's peak and a period of disinvestment, Portugal launched Qualifica in 2017 and rebuilt a network of more than 300 Centros Qualifica.

  • Orçamento Participativo Portugal (Shared Purpose)

    Portugal's first national participatory-budget cycle drew almost 80,000 votes and committed €3.18 million to winning projects, which were written into the 2018 state budget.

  • Empresa na Hora and the one-stop company registry (Adaptability)

    Portugal's IRN reports 369,447 societies created through Empresa na Hora over its first 20 years; the service is available at more than 200 posts and averages 41 minutes from formation to registration.

  • Plano de Recuperação e Resiliência delivery governance (Building)

    Portugal's PRR barometer recorded €21.9 billion across 121 investments and 43 reforms, with €14.43 billion paid to beneficiaries by 27 August 2026.

  • Sistema de Gestão Integrada de Fogos Rurais (Adaptability)

    Portugal's integrated rural-fire system reported 85 of 97 national-action projects in progress and 48 percent cumulative execution in 2024; €638 million was spent that year, with 55 percent on prevention, even as 137,651 hectares burned.

  • Simplex and LabX, a standing simplification-and-experimentation loop (Adaptability)

    AMA's 2022 activity report records 48 Simplex administrative-simplification measures, 24 PRR and modernisation milestones executed, and 62 innovation, participation and simplification activities across the agency's portfolio.

  • Programa Nacional de Vacinação and seasonal immunisation (Adaptability)

    Portugal's DGS reported 86 percent immunisation of eligible infants in the first RSV campaign, 98–99 percent first-year coverage for the universal childhood schedule, and nearly four million seasonal vaccines administered in 2024–2025.

  • STAYAWAY COVID, a contact-tracing app suspended after the emergency (Adaptability)

    Portugal launched the voluntary STAYAWAY COVID exposure-notification app on 1 September 2020; the European Commission's case study records more than 3.2 million downloads and says the app was later suspended.

  • e.escola, a national laptop-and-broadband push (Agency)

    The European Commission's eSchool case study records more than 1.3 million people requesting laptops and broadband through Portugal's e.escola programme and more than one million laptops delivered in its first two years; the Portuguese government suspended the programme in 2011.

  • PLANAPP and REPLAN, a centre-of-government foresight network (Anticipation)

    Portugal's PLANAPP operates as a Centre of Government body for evidence-based foresight, planning, monitoring, evaluation and impact analysis; its REPLAN network lists five multisectoral team remits and held its inaugural meeting on 23 November 2022.

  • Agendas Mobilizadoras and green innovation alliances (Coordination)

    Portugal's PRR transparency portal reports 52 Agendas Mobilizadoras and Verdes representing €5,278,338,665.70 of approved investment and €3,051,632,468.10 of approved support as of 17 August 2026.

  • Civil-court clearance and the CEPEJ monitoring series (Trust)

    The CEPEJ Portugal country fiche records a 96.1% clearance rate for civil and commercial litigious cases at first instance in 2023, alongside 101.1% at second instance and 105.5% at the Supreme Court; first-instance disposition time was 267 days.

  • Lisbon–Madrid high-speed rail concession, formally abandoned (Building)

    Portugal's 2011 Council of Ministers formally abandoned the previous Lisbon–Madrid high-speed rail project, replacing its passenger priority with a freight connection through Sines, Lisbon, Setúbal, Poceirão and Madrid.

  • Rede Nacional de Test Beds for company experimentation (Experimentation)

    ANI's National Innovation Report records 47 recognised Portuguese test beds and €150 million allocated to the national network for developing and testing new products and services at technology-readiness levels 5 to 9.

  • Zonas Livres Tecnológicas, regulator-supervised experimentation zones (Experimentation)

    ANI's National Innovation Report records four Portuguese Zonas Livres Tecnológicas (technological free zones) by the end of 2024, where innovators can test technology-based processes in real or near-real environments under continuous regulator supervision.

Contribute

Fill a gap, file evidence or challenge an indicator at github.com/envisioning/national-capability-benchmark. The docs explain the method and decisions.