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.
01 · PUBLIC CONTRACTS · BASE/IMPICCONTRACT FLAG
Municipality of Montijo awards €4,452,730 direct contract for school construction
The Montijo municipality signed and published a direct award on 23 July 2026, under Article 24.º (1 a) of the Public Contracts Code, to build the Pegões School Centre for €4,452,730 without a public tender.
€4,452,730 awarded by direct award, with no public tender. · Source: BASE/IMPIC
The State spent €6.1 billion more than it collected in January–May 2026.
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.
Surgery waits beyond the legal deadline rose from 30.4% to 31.0% in a month.
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.
% BEYOND THE LEGAL WAIT
Sep30.1
Oct29.6
Nov30
Dec31.7
Jan31.9
Feb30.9
Mar30.4
Apr31
31.0% beyond the surgery deadline (+0.6 pp in a month) · April 2026. · Source: SNS Transparência
04 · HEALTH · SNS TRANSPARENCYOFF THE NATIONAL NORM
At Unidade Local de Saúde de Loures-Odivelas, 62.0% of surgery patients wait beyond the legal deadline; the national share is 31.0%.
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.
% BEYOND THE LEGAL WAIT
ULS Loures-Odivelas62
National share31
Unidade Local de Saúde de Loures-Odivelas: 38.0% within the surgery deadline · national 69.0% · April 2026. · Source: SNS Transparência
11 town halls remain over the legal debt ceiling; the worst sits at 2.82 times the limit.
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.
% OF THE LEGAL CEILING · WORST 5
Vila Real de Santo António282
Fornos de Algodres233
Vila Franca do Campo205
Cartaxo186
Nordeste130
11 municipalities over the legal debt ceiling · 2024 accounts. · Source: DGAL
This brief gathered 5 candidates from BASE/IMPIC, DGO, SNS Transparência, DGAL and published the 5 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.