MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

More than half of Argentines have fallen into poverty

“Argentina has been torn to pieces and rebuilding it takes time,” Adorni also mentioned

According to a report from the National Institute of Statistics and Census (Indec), released Thursday, poverty in Argentina rose to 52.9% in the first half of 2024, affecting nearly around 25 million people, while indigence stood at 18.1% (8.5 million). These figures represented a significant setback from the 41.7% (19.5 million people) poverty rate from the second half of 2023. The Indigence Index measures people whose income is not even enough to buy the minimum amount of food for subsistence.

The Indec document also found that 66.1% of children up to the age of 14 were living in poverty. This group is followed by young people between 15 and 29 (60.7%), and people between 30 and 64 years old, with 48.6%.

By location, poverty surged particularly in the country's Northeast (62.9%) and Northwest (57%), which underscored regional disparities.
Between the end of 2023 and June this year, inflation reached 79.8%, and although the Wage Index increased 84.3% in the first semester, many jobs have been lost. In addition, not every worker has had a pay increase substantial enough to cope with a soaring consumer price index (CPI).
Registered private sector workers had an increase above inflation, registering a rise of 93.6%, while public employees only received a 73.3%. The Indec also found that non-registered workers only had a 69.8% update.

“If hyperinflation had not been avoided, poverty would have gone from around 40% to around 95%,” Presidential Spokesman Manuel Adorni explained. “They left us a lot of bombs that were going to affect the activity and also real wages and inflation,” he added while insisting that salaries were on a recovery path.

“People voted for the President [Javier Milei] saying that his main objective was to lower inflation by ordering the macroeconomy. And we always said that 2024 was going to be worse than 2023,” he went on. “Argentina has been torn to pieces and rebuilding it takes time,” Adorni also mentioned.