Feteiras_en
During the week, the silence of the deserted streets is only very occasionally interrupted by the shouting and laughing of children on their break, by the passing of a tractor or someone on their way to the chemist or health centre. The cafés are empty, there are few cars on the roads. Most of the people living in Feteiras work in Ponta Delgada, the capital of the island of São Miguel, and only return at the end of the day.
But when Saturdays arrive and the weekend starts, the parish transforms: the doors and windows to the houses are thrown open, cars are hoovered and cleaned, kids ride their bikes in the streets and the murmur of conversation becomes the underlying soundtrack.
You don’t see the poverty people talk of, it hides in the shame of those who don’t have money to put food on the table and who still refuse to ask for help.
Underlying this problem is the lack of jobs, and when trying to find someone to blame, many point the finger at “external help” from the mainland and from Europe. “Here in the Azores, you can get benefits for everything and we suffer for it. When you need someone for a job, you can’t find anyone. Before, we used to produce everything, now we’re dependent. You earn more being unemployed, doing nothing,” says self-declared anti-establishmentarian Sérgio (56).
On an island territory, where the majority of the population are of working age, the future points west across the Atlantic, particularly to the United States and Canada where many emigrants from Feteiras live. They left behind houses that have spent years shuttered up. Locals are certain that these hold the key to “resolving the enormous housing problem”—if they were rented at affordable prices, instead of being transformed into private accommodation for visitors.
92%
Feteiras was the parish with the third highest level of abstention in the 2019 European elections.
Source: Secretariat General Ministry of the Interior
“The only party for me is the Azores Liberation Front [Azores separatist movement]. Today we’re not in any state to be independent, but we used to be… I lived in Canada for many years, when I came back, I went to the tax office and asked them to cross my name off the list. I don’t want to be Portuguese anymore, everything’s in my wife’s name. I just have my ID card because I have to. The only reason I didn’t vote for André Ventura is because I don’t vote, but at least he’s bold. If he did half the things he promises… Why does our parliament need so many members if nothing changes for the people?”
Sérgio, 56 years old
905€
Average monthly income for residents in the parish, after taxes. This is below the national average (1,002 euros).
Source: Census 2021
“Before I married, I only used to vote because my dad was a staunch Socialist party supporter and he made me go. Since then, I’ve only voted once for the parish council. The candidate was my neighbour, but that’s not why… I look around and we have no football pitches, the pool is in ruins, the poorest have houses that are falling down. I don’t want to hear anything about politics. I don’t even watch the news, it’s too painful! I prefer to put a film on.”
Filomena, 60 years old, café owner
4%
Percentage of inhabitants who receive income support is far lower than the parish with the highest proportion of people on benefits per capita—Monforte da Beira, in Castelo Branco (20%).
Source: Census 2021
“People are fed up, they want change. Ventura just says what the majority of people think about the minimum wage… We see young people who don’t work, but who have a good life, a good phone, a nice house. I’m 62 years old, I think I should have been able to retire by now. I’m a worker through and through: I started at 16, I worked in a paper factory for 12 years, then I was in the lab at the brewery in Ponta Delgada for six years, I worked in the parish of Mosteiros, always employed. And, 24 years ago, I came back to my parish, now I’m on the books at the Feteiras Health Centre.”
Helena, 62 years old, cleaner
66%
More than half the inhabitants work in a different parish within the municipality (452).
Source: Census 2021
“From the children and parents we deal with, we see that a lot of families are dependent on income support. Young people aren’t psychologically prepared for working… I had one student in year four who said, ‘My mum doesn’t work and I don’t want to either’. I vote because it’s my duty, but I don’t expect it to change anything. We’ve lost faith as corruption has increased. We need more monitoring, to check on families more, and to change the Portuguese people’s bad habits.”
Maria José, 62 years old, teacher
23%
The Azores has the highest rate of early school leavers in the European Union. This is the equivalent of one in four young people aged 18 to 25 years, triple the national average (7%).
Source: Labour Force Survey by the National Statistics Institute and Eurostat (2021)
“Chega only wins where there are working people. André Ventura, at least, is direct; you have to give him the benefit of the doubt. In 50 years of democracy, we have switched between the Socialist Party and the Social Democratic Party and what’s changed? I support the Social Democrats, but it’s always the same, people get fed up…”
Pedro, 30 years old, farmer
68%
More than half the population didn’t vote in the 2024 parliamentary elections.
Source: Secretariat General Ministry of the Interior
987
Number of voters who didn’t vote in the 2024 parliamentary elections. Abstention decreased 10% and Chega, for the first time, received the most votes (30.6%).
Source: Secretariat General Ministry of the Interior
“I’m from Torres Novas, in the district of Santarém [mainland Portugal]. I moved to the Azores 28 years ago. I’m used to living here, but I don’t like it. My father-in-law, who’s from the parish, gave us the land…We were still looking for a house in Ponta Delgada but my husband didn’t want to live in a flat, so we built here. My daughter has been in Lisbon for ten years now, she has always rented a room. She is only now going to buy a flat, with help from us and her in-laws because she doesn’t have enough for the deposit.”
Maria José, 62 years old, teacher
82%
The majority of residents have their own house.
Source: Census 2021
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