Portugal Elderly Care Services Market Size, Share, Trends and Forecast by Service Type, Application, Service Provider, and Region, 2026-2034

Portugal Elderly Care Services Market Summary:

The Portugal elderly care services market size reached USD 3,286.14 Million in 2025. The market is projected to reach USD 6,173.61 Million by 2034, growing at a CAGR of 7.26% during 2026-2034. The market is driven by accelerating population aging dynamics creating unprecedented demand for specialized care services, significant government investment in palliative and long-term care infrastructure through the Plan for Recovery and Resilience, and the expansion of digital health and telemedicine platforms enabling remote patient monitoring and consultation. Additionally, workforce development initiatives and partnerships with international health organizations are supporting the Portugal elderly care services market share.

Portugal Elderly Care Services Market Outlook (2026-2034):

The Portugal elderly care services market is positioned for robust growth driven by accelerating demographic shifts. Government commitment to expanding the National Network for Integrated Continuous Care infrastructure will significantly enhance service capacity. The digital transformation of healthcare delivery through telemedicine platforms and electronic health records enables more efficient care coordination, while international partnerships with the World Health Organization support innovation in integrated care models for aging populations.

Impact of AI:

Artificial intelligence is beginning to reshape Portugal's elderly care landscape through enhanced digital health infrastructure and telemedicine platforms. Portugal achieved a 40% increase in composite eHealth scores in 2024, with nearly complete prescription dematerialization at 98.5%, creating a foundation for AI-driven medication management and health monitoring systems. While advanced AI applications such as care robotics and predictive analytics remain in early adoption phases, the government's allocation of substantial Recovery and Resilience Plan funding toward digital health infrastructure positions the sector for accelerated AI integration in remote patient monitoring, fall prevention, and cognitive support technologies over the forecast period.

Market Dynamics:

Key Market Trends & Growth Drivers:

Government Investment Driving Palliative and Long-Term Care Infrastructure Expansion

Portugal's government is making substantial investments to address the growing demand for elderly care services through strategic infrastructure development funded by the Plan for Recovery and Resilience. The aging population, with approximately 24% of residents currently over 65 and projections reaching 34% by 2050, has created urgent need for expanded care capacity. To meet this demand, authorities are prioritizing the development of the National Network for Integrated Continuous Care, which integrates health and social services across multiple care settings including institutional facilities, hospital-based teams, and home care services. In April 2025, the government signed 90 financing contracts worth €88 million to create 3,300 new places in the national palliative care network. This substantial investment involves collaboration between private and social sectors, with the majority of new beds being created in the Norte region with 1,179 beds and Centro region with 1,617 beds, followed by smaller allocations in the Algarve and Lisbon regions. The initiative also enables creation of more long-term care beds, mental health beds, and home-based care responses to provide comprehensive support across the care continuum. These government-led infrastructure projects represent a strategic approach to managing demographic pressures while promoting more equitable access to quality elderly care services throughout Portugal's diverse regional landscape.

Digital Health Transformation Enabling Telemedicine and Remote Care Delivery

Portugal is experiencing rapid digital health transformation that is fundamentally reshaping elderly care service delivery models and improving accessibility for aging populations. The country has emerged as a European leader in digital health maturity, achieving a remarkable 40% increase in composite eHealth scores in 2024 and reaching near-total prescription dematerialization at 98.5%. The government has designated approximately one-quarter of planned health investment in the Recovery and Resilience Plan specifically for digital health initiatives, demonstrating strong commitment to technological modernization. Telemedicine services have been integrated into the National Health System since 2006 and receive reimbursement equivalent to in-person consultations, removing financial barriers to adoption. The National Strategic Telehealth Plan emphasizes patient empowerment through telemonitoring technologies that enable real-time health data collection and proactive intervention. These digital transformation initiatives are enabling more efficient resource utilization, reducing geographic barriers to specialized care, and supporting the Portugal elderly care services market growth by expanding service reach to underserved populations.

Aging in Place Initiatives and Home Care Services Expansion

Portugal is prioritizing aging in place strategies that enable elderly individuals to remain in their familiar home environments while receiving necessary care and support services, responding to both demographic pressures and patient preferences. The Domiciliary Support Service represents a foundational home care model provided by non-profit institutions, offering individualized care including hygiene assistance, meal delivery, laundry, transportation, and nursing support to elderly residents unable to meet basic needs independently. Recent research indicates that 40% of Portuguese individuals over 65 spend eight or more hours daily alone, with 321,000 elderly people experiencing extended isolation periods, highlighting the critical importance of home-based social and care interventions. Government policy is actively encouraging home care service expansion to allow elderly individuals to age comfortably in place, with municipalities, regional health administrations, and non-profit institutions developing collaborative infrastructures to deliver comprehensive support. Portugal endorsed the Lisbon Outcome Statement in 2024 and committed to establishing a National Programme for Age-Friendly Cities and Communities, which is set to launch at the beginning of 2025. A working group coordinated by the Directorate-General of Health will develop the program to map existing initiatives, support new memberships in the Global Network for Age-friendly Cities and Communities, and foster capacity development for local age-friendly initiatives. Additionally, caregivers now receive enhanced support, with eligible primary informal caregivers accessing monthly subsidies calculated as the difference between their income and a reference value of €509.26 as of 2024, along with training programs provided through Home Support Services. These initiatives reflect a strategic shift toward community-based care models that preserve social connections, reduce institutionalization costs, and align with elderly individuals' preferences to maintain independence and dignity within their own homes while receiving appropriate medical and social support services.

Key Market Challenges:

Severe Healthcare Workforce Shortages Threatening Service Capacity

Portugal's elderly care sector faces a critical and worsening shortage of healthcare professionals that severely constrains service capacity and threatens quality of care delivery. Between 2019 and 2024, more than 6,000 clinicians departed Portugal's National Health Service, exacerbating existing human resource deficits particularly in critical specialties including obstetrics and pediatrics. The nursing workforce experiences especially acute pressures, with 1,689 nurses requesting to leave the market in 2023 alone, representing approximately 60% of the 2,916 nurses who entered the profession that same year. This persistent outflow is primarily driven by inadequate compensation, poor working conditions, limited career progression opportunities, and attractive employment prospects in other European markets offering significantly higher salaries. Switzerland emerges as the leading destination for emigrating Portuguese nurses, followed by Spain, Belgium, France, and the United Kingdom. The shortage extends beyond nurses to include general practitioners, with recent hiring seasons revealing only 114 physicians hired for 924 vacant primary care positions in December 2023, demonstrating a dramatic undersupply relative to system needs. This workforce crisis directly impacts elderly care delivery, as aging populations with complex chronic conditions require intensive nursing care and regular physician oversight. The shortage reduces healthcare system capacity for procedures and care, extends waiting times for consultations and treatments, and increases workload pressures on remaining staff, potentially compromising care quality. Without substantial improvements to working conditions, competitive compensation structures, and career development pathways, Portugal will continue losing healthcare professionals to both the private sector and international markets, fundamentally limiting the elderly care sector's ability to meet growing demographic demands.

Regional Disparities Creating Inequitable Access to Elderly Care Services

Significant geographic disparities in elderly care infrastructure and healthcare resources create substantial inequity in service access across Portugal's regions, with rural and inland areas experiencing particularly acute disadvantages. The distribution of healthcare facilities and professionals is markedly uneven, with coastal urban centers such as Lisbon and Porto concentrating the majority of specialized care providers, modern facilities, and advanced medical technologies, while rural regions struggle with limited infrastructure and workforce availability. Research demonstrates that geographic location of healthcare facilities fundamentally affects ease of access for different population groups and directly influences utilization patterns, with elderly residents in remote areas facing transportation barriers, longer travel distances, and reduced service availability. Regional asymmetries persist within the National Network for Integrated Continuous Care despite national coverage goals, with significant imbalances between institutional care and home care services across different geographic areas. Rural communities often lack sufficient numbers of nursing homes, adult day care centers, and specialized elderly care facilities, forcing families to either provide informal care without adequate support or relocate elderly relatives to distant urban facilities, disrupting social connections and family relationships. The shortage of healthcare professionals is particularly severe in rural and inland regions, where lower salaries, limited career opportunities, and geographic isolation make it difficult to attract and retain qualified physicians, nurses, and specialized geriatric care providers. These geographic inequalities mean that elderly residents in underserved areas experience reduced access to preventive care, delayed diagnosis and treatment of chronic conditions, limited availability of palliative and long-term care services, and lower overall quality of elderly care compared to their urban counterparts, perpetuating health outcome disparities and undermining the goal of equitable access to quality care regardless of geographic location.

High Out-of-Pocket Costs Creating Affordability Barriers for Elderly Care

Portugal faces substantial affordability challenges in elderly care services, with high out-of-pocket costs creating significant financial barriers for many aging individuals and their families, despite the existence of a universal National Health Service. Portugal has the highest share of out-of-pocket funding for long-term care among Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries, placing disproportionate financial burden on elderly patients and their families rather than distributing costs through public funding mechanisms. Publicly-funded long-term care remains limited primarily to the poorest segments of the population, leaving middle-income elderly individuals without adequate support to afford necessary services. Private nursing homes and residential care facilities charge fees that many Portuguese families cannot afford, with luxury facilities commanding high monthly costs, while even basic private institutional care remains financially prohibitive for significant portions of the population. Public nursing homes offer lower costs but suffer from extremely long waiting lists that can extend for years, forcing families to seek expensive private alternatives or provide informal care without professional support. Economic concerns rank as the primary challenge affecting elderly people in Portugal according to sociological surveys, cited by 35.8% of respondents, while 39.6% identify increased pensions as the most important measure needed to address elderly care challenges. Many elderly individuals lack sufficient retirement income to cover basic necessities including food, medications, and care services, with the situation particularly acute for women who comprise a larger proportion of the oldest age groups and typically have lower pension benefits. These affordability barriers force many families to rely on informal care arrangements that may not provide adequate medical oversight, limit elderly individuals' access to specialized geriatric services and rehabilitation programs, and create significant financial stress for middle-class families attempting to provide quality care for aging relatives without depleting savings or retirement resources.

Portugal Elderly Care Services Market Report Segmentation:

IMARC Group provides an analysis of the key trends in each segment of the Portugal elderly care services market, along with forecasts at the country and regional levels for 2026-2034. The market has been categorized based on service type, application, and service provider.

Analysis by Service Type:

• Adult Day Care
• Institutional Care
• Home Care

The report has provided a detailed breakup and analysis of the market based on the service type. This includes adult day care, institutional care, and home care.

Analysis by Application:

• Respiratory Diseases
• Diabetes
• Osteoporosis
• Heart Diseases
• Neurological Diseases
• Kidney Diseases
• Arthritis
• Cancer

A detailed breakup and analysis of the market based on the application have also been provided in the report. This includes respiratory diseases, diabetes, osteoporosis, heart diseases, neurological diseases, kidney diseases, arthritis, and cancer.

Analysis by Service Provider:

• Private
• Public

The report has also provided a comprehensive analysis of the market based on the service provider. This includes private and public.

Analysis by Region:

• Norte
• Centro
• A. M. Lisboa
• Alentejo
• Others

The report has also provided a comprehensive analysis of all the major regional markets, which include Norte, Centro, A. M. Lisboa, Alentejo, and others.

Competitive Landscape:

The Portugal elderly care services market exhibits a fragmented structure characterized by diverse providers spanning public institutions, private non-profit organizations, and increasingly, for-profit private enterprises targeting premium market segments. The National Network for Integrated Continuous Care operates through partnerships between public National Health Service facilities and Private Institutions of Social Solidarity, which are non-profit organizations that have historically dominated elderly care provision alongside religious charitable organizations known as Misericórdias. Competition increasingly centers on quality differentiation, service comprehensiveness, geographic accessibility, and technological integration capabilities. Private operators are expanding presence in urban markets such as Lisbon, Porto, and the Algarve, offering luxury residential facilities and specialized memory care services that command premium pricing. Public and non-profit providers focus on affordability and social mission, though face capacity constraints and waiting list challenges. The market is experiencing growing interest from international retirement community operators and real estate investors recognizing Portugal's aging demographic dynamics and attractiveness as a retirement destination for both domestic and expatriate populations.

Portugal Elderly Care Services Market Report Coverage:

Key Questions Answered in This Report:

• How has the Portugal elderly care services market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years?
• What is the breakup of the Portugal elderly care services market on the basis of service type?
• What is the breakup of the Portugal elderly care services market on the basis of application?
• What is the breakup of the Portugal elderly care services market on the basis of service provider?
• What is the breakup of the Portugal elderly care services market on the basis of region?
• What are the various stages in the value chain of the Portugal elderly care services market?
• What are the key driving factors and challenges in the Portugal elderly care services market?
• What is the structure of the Portugal elderly care services market and who are the key players?
• What is the degree of competition in the Portugal elderly care services market?

Key Benefits for Stakeholders:

• IMARC's industry report offers a comprehensive quantitative analysis of various market segments, historical and current market trends, market forecasts, and dynamics of the Portugal elderly care services market from 2020-2034.
• The research report provides the latest information on the market drivers, challenges, and opportunities in the Portugal elderly care services market.
• Porter's five forces analysis assist stakeholders in assessing the impact of new entrants, competitive rivalry, supplier power, buyer power, and the threat of substitution. It helps stakeholders to analyze the level of competition within the Portugal elderly care services industry and its attractiveness.
• Competitive landscape allows stakeholders to understand their competitive environment and provides an insight into the current positions of key players in the market.