Nearly one in five people in Portugal aged 25 to 34 consulted a psychologist or psychiatrist at least once in 2025. The figure comes from Portugal’s National Statistics Institute (INE), whose findings were published on October 9, ahead of World Mental Health Day. It applies specifically to this age group, not to adults as a whole.
The survey was conducted in the fourth quarter of 2025 and covered a sample of 22,000 households across the country. It included residents aged 15 and over. According to the results, 10.6% of the population needed psychological or psychiatric support and received it, while 2.9% were unable to access such care at least once.
Depression affected nearly one in ten people (9.8%) aged 85 and over. Women were significantly more likely than men to take medication regularly: 20% versus 9.1% for insomnia, 16.4% versus 7.5% for anxiety, and 12.9% versus 5.5% for depression. Women also scored lower on the mental well-being index: 68 compared with 75 for men.
Education also makes a difference. Among people with higher education, 74.6% said they found it easy to access information on how to deal with psychological problems. Among those whose education ended with basic schooling (ensino básico, nine years of school), the figure was 53.5%.
We have previously published a detailed guide to psychiatric care in Portugal, written by psychotherapist Maria Favorska. The article explains how to seek help through private clinics and the public healthcare system (SNS), renew a prescription issued in another country, and get help in an emergency.
