Changes in Portugal's public data, ranked by what actually moved: legal thresholds crossed, series records, accelerations and deviations from the norm. Every item carries its comparison inside the sentence and links to the data behind it. No language model: arithmetic over official sources only.
Spending rose 11.8% year on year while revenue grew 2.2%, meaning spending is growing 5.4 times faster. That 9.6-point gap is what widens the balance. Public accounting, DGO.
In April 2026, 86,414 of the 278,390 patients on SNS surgery lists had waited beyond the legally guaranteed maximum, against 84,335 in March 2026. Source: SNS Transparência.
It is the worst SNS unit in April 2026: only 38.0% of surgery-list patients were within the legally guaranteed maximum, 31.0 points above the national share. Source: SNS Transparência.
In the 2024 accounts, 11 of 307 municipalities exceeded the art. 52 of Law 73/2013 ceiling (1.5 times three-year average current revenue). Vila Real de Santo António leads, with €125.2 million of debt. 14 municipalities sit in the municipal rescue fund (FAM). Source: DGAL.
This brief gathered 4 candidates from DGO, SNS Transparência, DGAL and published the 4 highest-scoring. The score weighs the type of change (threshold crossed > record > acceleration > movement > deviation > standing state), magnitude and freshness; a fact older than its source's publication cadence is ineligible, which is why a 2020 figure can never appear in a 2026 brief.