In 2025
30.3% of the population aged 15 and over suffered from lower back pain and other chronic back problems, 26.0% from high blood pressure and 22.9% had high cholesterol
The Regional Directorate of Statistics of Madeira (DREM) is releasing today, on its website, the first results of the National Health Survey (INS) carried out in the last quarter of 2025.
The INS is a statistical operation under the responsibility of Statistics Portugal (INE), whose data collection in the Autonomous Region of Madeira (ARM) was carried out by this Regional Directorate. The main objective is to characterise the resident Portuguese population aged 15 or over in three major health dimensions: health status and possible limitations in day-to-day activities, health care adopted and determinants of health status related to lifestyles.
The results presented incorporate the new Estimates of the Resident Population (administrative-based) under the calibration model. Considering the methodological differences introduced in these estimates in 2021, as well as the influence of demographics on health statistics, the comparative reading of the INS 2025 results with those of previous editions (2014 and 2019) should take this context into account. Therefore, comparisons with 2019 should be made with care, requiring a prior analysis of the influence of the new Estimates of the Resident Population on the changes observed.
Among the results obtained for the resident population aged 15 or over, the following stand out:
- More than half of the population (53.8%) rated their oral health status as "Very good or good" and 12.1% as "Bad or very bad";
- Chronic pain associated with lower back pain or other chronic back problems was, in 2025, the chronic disease most frequently reported by persons (30.3%), followed by high blood pressure (26.0%) and high cholesterol (22.9%);
- About three in five persons consulted a dentist in the last year (60.9%);
- The population aged 18 or over showed pre-obesity (39.7%) or obesity (20.9%);
- 68.5% of the population consumed vegetables or salads at least 4 times a week;
- The consumption of alcoholic beverages, in the 12 months prior to the interview, was reported by 65.2% of persons;
- There is a predominance of non-smoking persons (82.0%), although 13.7% reported smoking daily and 2.3% occasionally.
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