MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina: Surveys indicate 40.8% of the population lives below the poverty line

Villa 31, settlement in Buenos Aires.

A third of Argentine homes and 40.8% of people were below the poverty line at the end of the third quarter according to the Social Debt Observatory from the Argentine Catholic University, UCA, which regularly releases the data.

On this occasion Agustin Silva, the head of the Observatory proposed the creation of a Redistribution Social Plan sustained by a trust equivalent to 2.9% of GDP which in five years should help give jobs to four million people.

“It is estimated that 6.5% of homes and 8.9% of people are indigent. As to the poverty rate among homes and population in the 2010/2019 period, in the third quarter of this year, 32,1% of homes and 40.8% of people were below the poverty line” according to the report. This also means that poverty in the third quarter advanced six percentage points from 34.6% in the third quarter of 2018.

The 40.8% below the poverty line includes 16 million out of a universe of 40 million Argentines in the urban areas of the country.

Savia pointed out that based on projections from UCA economists, with the country growing at a sustained 3% annually, by 2040 poverty levels could descend to 15%/20%.

Thus Savia mentioned he presented president elect Alberto Fernandez the Social Redistribution Plan funded on a trust that would give jobs to four million people, “if the volume of 2.9% of GDP resources is achieved in the space of five years”.

However, Savia also underlines ”there will be no development or fiscal health based on monetary emission (printing money) or erroneous policies“ to help bring down the structural poverty of 40.8%. But the mere stabilization should also help to improve the current situation.

The report specified that in the 2010/2019 period social indicators show the persistence of high levels of poverty and structural inequalities both in economic-occupational as well as socio-regional terms.

Regarding the evolution of indigence and poverty rates, the report points out that in 2010, poverty as measured by the Catholic University stood at 31.8%, which was above the 30.4% of the official stats office, Indec, based on the Standing Survey of Homes.

During that almost ten year period poverty levels were at their lowest level in 2011, with an estimate of 26.1% for UCA and 25.9% for Indec. Towards 2016, the poverty level reached 32.8% according to UCA and 30.3% for Indec. And even when in 2017, it was down to 28.2% for UCA and 25.6% for Indec, in 2018 it jumped to 33.6% and 32% respectively. But 2019 broke all records, 40.8% and 39.2%.

Finally the UCA report shows the existence of a 20% to 25%, ”sustained structural poverty“ involving some three million homes and 10 million people. Likewise 59.5% of ”children and teenagers” live in poor homes, which works out at 7 million minors, and of them 1.5 million in indigent homes.