Mário Cruz / Lusa
Although there is a perception that there are more and more people depending on subsidies, the number of beneficiaries of the social income social income is the lowest since 2006.
The Social Insertion Income (RSI) currently reaches Only 172 thousand peoplethe lowest value since 2010. The subsidy, often nicknamed “minimum income”, is also one of the cheapest installments in social security, with an average monthly value of only 155.96 euros per beneficiary.
According to data from the budget execution cited by the RSI beneficiaries fell in more than 6000 people between January 2024 and 2025, continuing a reduction trend started in 2010, when more than 525 thousand Portuguese received this support. This decrease, however, does not accompany a proportional reduction in poverty. On the contrary, Portugal continues to face structural challenges such as the high cost of living and is the fifth country of the European Union with the lowest average salary.
Currently, the RSI represents Only 1% of current social security expense with social benefits. Only support such as informal caregiver and childhood complement has less budgetary weight. Still, the amount attributed is far short of the poverty threshold defined in the monthly € 632 euros.
For sociologist Luís Capucha, a professor at ISCTe, the reduction in the number of RSI beneficiaries should be failed in its application and the stigma associated with the benefit. “This idea that the poor are poor because they do not want to work, make no effort to get out of the situation, which is completely contradicted by the structure and categorization of RSI beneficiaries,” he says.
They can access the RSI people with gross monthly income less than 242.23 euros (if they live alone), being the support accumulated with other social benefits. Social Security also launched a new online simulator that allows you to check, within minutes, access to this and other supports.
