Although infant mortality has remained stable at a national level, notable increases are being recorded in certain municipalities, mainly in the Lisbon and Algarve regions.
Some Portuguese municipalities, especially in the Algarve and the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, recorded infant mortality rates in 2024 comparable to those of the poorest countries in the world.
According to an analysis carried out by based on official data from the National Statistics Institute (INE) and the Mortality Surveillance portal, Portugal has maintained levels similar to those recorded before the pandemic in the last two years, in national terms. The infant mortality rate, referring to the number of deaths of children up to one year old for every thousand live births, was 3,0 em 2024 and 2.9 in 2023. In absolute numbers, 257 babies up to one year old died in 2024 and 255 in 2023.
However, the data reveals strong inequalities between municipalities. Excluding municipalities with less than 500 births, Albufeira and Almada recorded the highest rates: 9.5 and 9.3 deaths per thousand live births, respectively. In Albufeira, five deaths were recorded in 524 births, while in Almada 16 babies died among 1728 live births. These values are close to those recorded in some Pacific or Caribbean countries.
Other municipalities also have rates significantly above the national average. Loulé recorded a rate of 6.3, Amadora 5.6 and Cascais and Seixal 5.2.
In absolute numbers, compared to 2023, some municipalities registered significant increases, such as Almada, where deaths rose from 4 to 16. Vila Nova de Gaia also rose from 3 to 10, Sintra from 12 to 18, Cascais from 4 to 9 and Odivelas from 3 to 8.
At regional level, most cases focuses on the most populated areas. Greater Lisbon recorded 73 deaths, the Setúbal Peninsula 41 and the Porto Metropolitan Area 35. When analyzing the rate per thousand live births, the Douro region has the highest value (5.3), followed by the Setúbal Peninsula (5.0), Azores (4.8), Alentejo Litoral (3.8) and Algarve (3.7).
In January 2025, the Government announced the creation of a commission to study the increase in infant mortality in the country. To date, however, no conclusions or concrete measures resulting from this work have yet been released.
