Statistical cities (PT)

Use case adapted from the UN-GGIM Europe report on “Data Integration – Definition of priority user needs for combinations of data” published in October, 2015.

The Portuguese legal framework defines the conditions that allow for localities and villages to be considered as a city, but without providing a specific and detailed geographical delimitation of boundaries. The geographical delimitation of cities is essential in order to have statistical information and indicators made available for this territorial level.

The delimitation of Portuguese statistical cities is the result of a close of cooperation between Statistics Portugal and local authorities. The spatial delimitation allowed for data to become available for cities, at present mainly derived from Census data. In this context, and based on the 2011 Census final results, Statistics Portugal released more than 50 indicators for the 159 statistical Portuguese cities in its’ Statistical Database, regarding population, families, buildings and dwellings, allowing for a comparison of the Portuguese cities’ specificities within the national context. Cities are driving forces of economic growth, competitiveness and employment, but are also places with serious environmental and social problems and, therefore, it is important to develop a consistent portrait on this geographical level in order to build up integrated territorial based policies.

Resident population in statistical cities, 2011 [Cities: a Statistical Portrait]