Portugal

Following its heyday as a global maritime power during the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal lost much of its wealth and status with the destruction of Lisbon in a 1755 earthquake, occupation during the Napoleonic Wars, and the independence of its wealthiest colony of Brazil in 1822. A 1910 revolution deposed the monarchy; for most of the next six decades, repressive governments ran the country. In 1974, a left-wing military coup installed broad democratic reforms. The following year, Portugal granted independence to all of its African colonies. Portugal is a founding member of NATO and entered the EC (now the EU) in 1986.
==Economical characteristics==
* Currency: Euro (ISO code: EUR)
* Central bank discount rate: 3% (31 December 2008)
* Commercial banks lending rate: 8.35% (31 December 2008)
* is part of the Eurozone 
===Statistics===
Statistic / Year 	1999 	2000 	2001 	2002 	2003 	2004 	2005 	2006 	2007 	2008
GDP (million USD)World Bank. "Portugal: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29. 	121 662	112 650	115 712	127 455	156 413	178 952	185 454	195 015	223 337	243 497
Govt. debt (% of GDP)World Bank. "Portugal: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29. 	60.581 	60.248 	60.978 	65.245 	67.166 	70.836 	74.452 	73.234 	71.134 	76.018
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)World Bank. "Portugal: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29. 	34.624 	34.925 	34.473 	35.532 	36.960 	39.538 	37.887 	38.458 	39.109 	39.213
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)World Bank. "Portugal: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29.	38.802 	38.735 	39.627 	40.082 	41.195 	42.125 	43.284 	42.181 	41.605 	42.919
Debt to revenue (years) 	1.750 	1.725 	1.769 	1.836 	1.817 	1.792 	1.965 	1.904 	1.819 	1.939
==References==
Note: statistical data was rounded. Different sources may use different methodologies for their estimates. Debt to revenue is calculated by dividing the two variables from their original ('unrounded') values. It represents how long it would a government take to repay its entire debt if it used its whole revenue for this purpose.
==External links==
* Portugal on Wikipedia
* Central bank of Portugal
* Studies from the Library of Congress (1986-1998)
* BBC country profile
* Debt Worries Shift to Portugal, Spurred by Rising Bond Rates by Landon Thomas Jr., April 2010
* Portugal legalizes drugs. Crime/Usage falls. (video), BBC, July 2009
* Drugs in Portugal: Did Decriminalization Work? by Maia Szalavitz, April 2009
* Drug Decriminalization in Portugal (video), CATO Policy Forum, April 2009
* Drug Decriminalization in Portugal (pdf) Glenn Greenwald, 2009
* Drug policy of Portugal on Wikipedia
Category:Countries