The Azores, together with Alentejo, is the region of the country with the highest number of social economy entities per thousand inhabitants.
According to a study by INE, now released, in 2020, all municipalities in the country registered the presence of social economy (SE) entities, with a more significant concentration in the municipalities of Lisbon, Porto (and in some neighboring municipalities, such as Sintra, Oeiras, Cascais and Vila Nova de Gaia), Coimbra and Braga.
Notwithstanding the observed trend towards coastalization, there also seems to be a polarization of the SE sector in municipalities in the interior of the country, such as Évora, Beja, Bragança, Vila Real, Viseu, Castelo Branco and Guarda, among others.
In the Autonomous Region of the Azores, the municipalities of Ponta Delgada and Angra do Heroísmo stand out and in the Autonomous Region of Madeira the municipality of Funchal.
Considering the number of SE entities per thousand inhabitants (NUTS II), it was found that Alentejo and the Autonomous Region of the Azores registered the highest average (10 entities per thousand inhabitants), while the Autonomous Region of Madeira had the lowest record (on average, 4 entities per thousand inhabitants).
According to the study, in 2020, the Gross Value Added (GVA) of the Social Economy (SE) increased slightly (0.4%), compared to 2019, contrary to what was observed in the national economy, whose GVA decreased by 5.8%, in the first year in which the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic were felt.
The share of SE GVA in the national economy increased from 3.0% in 2019 to 3.2%.
Between 2019 and 2020, employment and paid employment increased slightly in SE (by 0.3% and 0.4% respectively), in contrast to the national economy (by 2.2% and 1.4% respectively).
In those years, SE organizations accounted for 5.1% and 5.2% of total employment and 5.8% and 5.9% of paid employment in the national economy.
In 2019 and 2020, 73 574 and 73 851 SE entities were identified, respectively, with an increase of 2.3% in the total number of units in 2019 compared to 2016 (reference year of the previous edition of the ESSC).
By groups of SE entities, Associations with altruistic purposes stood out once again, which, together with the Community and self-managed subsectors, accounted for more than 95% of the total units and more than 62% of the total SE GVA.
Health and social services were the most relevant activities in terms of GVA and employment: Health accounted for 25.5% of GVA and 33.2% of SE paid employment, while social services generated 24.9% of GVA and 29.9% of SE paid employment in 2020.
In the same year, culture, communication and recreation organizations, which accounted for almost 45% of the total number of SEH units, represented only 3.7% of total GVA and 4.9% of total SE paid employment, concludes the INE study.
