Its capital is the city of Porto. The region has 4,034,271 inhabitants (2007), and its area is 21,278 km² (density of 173 inhabitants per square kilometre). It is one of five regions of Mainland Portugal (NUTS II subdivisions). The Norte is a culturally varied region, thus historical rivalry between different neighbouring cities and towns are very common, although with a strong common Portuguese identity, but unlike other Portuguese regions where every city and town are culturally very similar.

Norte is highly industrialized within its densely populated western half, where well developed subregions such as Ave, Cávado, Entre Douro e Vouga, Grande Porto, and Tâmega have a notable business activity and state-of-the-art infrastructure. Textiles, footware, food processing, mechanical, electrical, electronics and chemical industries, as well as finance and construction, are some of the main economic activities. However, the region Norte is the poorest of the 7 NUTS II regions of Portugal, with a GDP per capita of 12,648 euros or 58.8% of the European Union average. It is also the Portuguese NUTS II region with the highest unemployment rate (9.5% as of 2007).