“Participation rate” and “activity rate” are two different names for the same indicator: the ratio between labour force (also known as active population) and total population (that can be restricted to an age group).

The labour force is the population formed by all active persons. And active person is someone aged 16 to 89 who, during the reference period, furnish the supply of labour force to produce economic goods and services (was employed or unemployed). 

In the 2011 series, Statistics Portugal published two participation (or activity) rates: 

• Participation rate – no age group was restricting the total population.

• Participation rate (15 and over) – the total population was restricted to the working age population (15 and over).

In the 2021 series, Statistics Portugal decided to publish only the latter, adapting it to the new working age population (16 to 89) and changing its name to Activity rate to be in line with the name used by Eurostat.