Business activity in the eurozone in February grew at its fastest pace since June 2011.
The increase was greater than had been forecast and observers are predicting continued growth for the first quarter of 2014.
The last quarter of 2013 saw the economy grow by 0.3% for the region as a whole, with Portugal growing faster than that average.
Its growth of 0.5% was greater than that of Germany (0.4%) and France (0.3%) and not too far behind the UK (0.7%).
Rising exports contributed to the increases.
The European Central Bank (ECB) will meet on Thursday, and there has been speculation that it may take action against the threat of deflation in the eurozone.
Eurozone inflation was 0.8% in February, well below the ECB's target of 2%.
