Half of the people who took part in a survey on expectations and intentions for 2024 admitted to being pessimistic or very pessimistic and the majority assume that they will find it difficult to maintain their standard of living.
The data is contained in the most recent study by the Observatory of Portuguese Society at the Catholic University of Lisbon, which was carried out between November 22 and 29, 2023 and involved a thousand respondents aged between 20 and 75.
With regard to the degree of optimism about 2024, only 15.9% said they were optimistic or very optimistic about this year, while 18.2% said they were very pessimistic and 32.5% were pessimistic, giving a total of 50.7% of the sample.
When asked how easy it would be to maintain their standard of living, the majority (53%) of respondents assumed that it would be difficult, compared to 13% who believe that they will be able to maintain the standard of living they have had so far.
On the other hand, it is also the majority who admit to being worried or very worried about the increase in spending in all product categories, with the exception of non-food goods such as clothing, footwear or technology, and it should be noted that “the two categories in which around half (50.9%) feel very worried about the increase in costs are household food and spending on rent/home loan (46.6%)”.
“The vast majority of respondents feel worried or very worried about the increase in spending in 2024, with the categories of spending on household food (84.4%), energy costs (80%), fuel (75.6%) and house rents/loans (64.5%) standing out,” says the study.
On the question “to what extent do you think you will have to curb/reduce your consumption next year?”, 39.5% said they would have to do so moderately, while 30.8% said they would have to reduce it a lot.
Specifically regarding the areas in which the household is planning to save, 73.5% chose meals away from home, followed by 65.3% who chose to buy clothes, 56.8% who are considering taking fewer trips, 52.9% who will buy fewer personal goods and 10.6% who will cut back on education expenses.
“In the other category (5.5%), culture and leisure activities, fuel and services were mentioned most frequently,” he adds.
There are also 20.4% of respondents who think they will have difficulty meeting their financial commitments in 2024. The most frequently mentioned categories were home loans (41.7%), personal or consumer credit (33.8%), rent (29.9%), paying for school or extracurricular activities (25.5%), paying off loans to family members or acquaintances (26%) and others (8%).
However, “it can be seen that the perceptions of pessimism and the need to reduce consumption have been attenuated when comparing the responses for 2023 (measures in December 2022) and 2024 (measures in November 2023),” he adds.
