44% of Portuguese value financial education
October 31st is World Savings and Financial Education Day. In this sense, the Observer Cetelem Financial Literacy 2019 asked the Portuguese about the importance they attach to financial knowledge. Compared to last year, there is a reduction in the percentage of respondents who consider training in the financial areas important.
In 2019, the percentage of respondents who consider training in the financial areas to be significant decreases, from 53% in 2018 to 44%. However, the percentage of respondents (around one quarter) indicating that they feel the need for financial training remains, particularly in the areas of budget management (12%) and savings (11%).
For those who consider the important financial formations, the Portuguese elect Banco de Portugal as the entity that should be the main responsible for the formation (42%), followed by the financial institutions (33%), Municipalities (25%) and Schools ( 24%). The respondents who give the most importance to this theme are between 25 and 34 years old (57%).
The survey results also show that 35% of Portuguese say they do not know about the economic and financial situation of the country and those who do so do it 1-2 times a month.
How do respondents rate their level of financial literacy?
These changes in the importance that respondents attach to financial literacy may be justified by the fact that 48% of Portuguese consider that they have a level of financial literacy of “Very Good” or “Good” – a percentage that increased from 42% in 2018. Similarly, the number of Portuguese who consider that their knowledge of financial literacy is neither “good nor bad” (41% vs. 35%) decreases. The percentage of those who consider their level of knowledge to be poor remained broadly unchanged (8% vs 10%).
The full study is available here.
The Cetelem Financial Literacy Observer 2019 quantitative survey was conducted by market research firm Nielsen. This was based on a representative sample of 500 individuals living in mainland Portugal, of both sexes, aged between 18 and 74 years old. The total sample is representative of the population and is stratified by district, gender, age and socioeconomic status and has an associated maximum error of +/- 4.4 percentage points for a 95% confidence interval.
Interviews were conducted by telephone (CATI), with information collected through a structured questionnaire of closed questions. The fieldwork was conducted between July 29 and August 2, 2019.
