MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina's poverty indexes on the rise

According to Indec, 54.2% of people aged 0 to 14 live in poverty

Argentina's National Institute of Statistics and Census (Indec) Thursday released a study showing that 39.2% of the South American country's economically active population was living in poverty in the second half of 2022, an increase from the 37.3% recorded during the same period of 2021

The most striking fact in the report was that over 54% of people aged 0 to 14 lived in poverty.

In addition to that, indigence (people whose income is not enough to buy the minimum amount of food to subsist), stood at 8.1% between July and September last year, compared to 8.8% in the same period of 2021.

These figures meant that for the universe of the 31 urban agglomerates of the Permanent Household Survey EPH, there were 2,928,152 households below the Poverty Line (PL), -11,465,599 people-; and 614,043 households below the Indigence Line (IL) -2,356,435 people-.

The increase in poverty was observed in all regions, while indigence fell in places such as the Greater Buenos Aires Area but went up in four other parts of the country.

When measured by age groups, 54.2% of those aged up to 14 years old were poor; 45% of those between 15 and 29 years, 35% of those aged 30 to 64, and only 14.5% of those aged 65 and over.

The highest incidences of poverty among individuals were observed in the Northeast (NEA), 43.6%, and Northwest (NOA), 43.1%. The lowest incidences were recorded in the Patagonia (34.7%) and Pampa (36.3%) regions.