The latest data from Argentina's National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (Indec) show that the poverty index has reversed a meager 1.4 % during the first half of 2021.
Poverty in Argentina rose to 35.4% of the population in the first half of the year, the highest officially recorded level since 2001, the INDEC national statistics bureau reported today. This means that some 15.8 million Argentines are now considered poor, INDEC's data indicates. At the end of 2018, 32% of Argentines were said to be living in poverty.
Poverty in Argentina reached “35 per cent” so far this year, according to Argentine Catholic University (UCA), it was reported last week.
Nearly one-third of Argentina’s population lives in poverty, the government said on Wednesday in the first official poverty data published in three years, underscoring the difficulty of reaching President Mauricio Macri’s stated “zero poverty” goal. The ranks of the poor surveyed in Argentina totaled 8.8 million people, or 32.2% of the population in 31 urban areas surveyed.
Almost four million children in Argentina are poor and 8.5% live in extreme poverty, according to a report from UNICEF which measures multidimensional poverty which considers 28 indicators such as nutrition, access to healthcare, exposure to violence, among other more traditional references.
The Argentine Catholic Church again exposed poverty asking that those who have should not to be overcome by greed and called for a new and different Argentina. There are “too many people” in Argentina living in poverty, Salta’s archbishop and second vice-president of the Argentine Synod Mario Cargnello said on Holy Friday, asking people “not to be overcome by greed.”
Argentina's former Secretary of Culture José Nun said that current poverty in the country is similar to that which preceded the 2001/02 crisis, and underlined that he would never vote for the presidential incumbent candidate Daniel Scioli, who was handpicked by outgoing head of state Cristina Fernandez.
An Argentine magistrate ordered the Executive to present official reports on the extent of poverty and indigence in the country, figures which allegedly the much questioned stats office, Indec ceased to release almost two years ago. However cabinet chief Anibal Fernandez ironically downplayed the order arguing the judge was 'meddling' in something she does not know.
The Argentine football star Carlos Tevez, who played in England, Italy and is now back in Argentina caused a major uproar when during a television interview he said that in the northern province of Formosa he had come across poor people who were literally 'dead hungry'.
The Social Observatory from the Argentine Catholic University, UCA, has reported that poverty in Argentina during 2014, included 28,7% of the population, which is equivalent to 11.5 million people, and higher than in the previous report.