(Finance) – They are little more than 1.9 million families in absolute poverty in 2021 (with an incidence equal to 7.5%), for a total of approximately 5.6 million individuals (9.4%), stable values compared to 2020 when the incidence reached its historical highs and was equal, at 7.7% and 9.4% respectively. The percentage of households that are in absolute poverty in On the other hand, Mezzogiorno rises to 10%. This was announced by Istat.
Due to relative poverty, the incidence rises at 11.1% (from 10.1% in 2020) and there are approximately 2.9 million households below the threshold (2.6 million in 2020). The cause of this substantial stability of absolute poverty is attributable to various factors; in particular, a more contained increase in consumption expenditure by less well-off households (+ 1.7% for the 20% of households with the lowest spending power, i.e. almost all households in absolute poverty) which was not sufficient to offset the recovery in inflation (+ 1.9% in 2021), without which the share of families in absolute poverty would have fallen to 7.0% and that of individuals to 8.8%. The intensity of absolute poverty – which measures in percentage terms how much the monthly expenditure of poor families is on average below the poverty line (ie “how poor the poor are”) – also remains substantially stable compared to the year previous (18.7%), with the only exceptions of the Center where it reaches 17.3% from 16.1% in 2020 and the North-West (19.3% from 18.6%). In 2021, the incidence of families in absolute poverty is confirmed as higher in the South (10%, from 9.4% in 2020) while it drops significantly in the North (6.7% from 7.6%), in particular in the Northwest (6.7% from 7.9%). Between poor families, 42.2% reside in the South (38.6% in 2020), and 42.6% in the North (47.0% in 2020). The proportion recorded in 2019 is therefore re-established, when the poor families of our country were distributed almost equally between the North and the South.
I’m 1 million 382 thousand children (14.2%, compared to 9.4% of individuals nationwide) affected by absolute poverty in our country in 2021 i The incidence varies from 11.4% in the Center to 16.1% in the South. In comparison with 2020, the conditions of minors are stable at national level, with the exception of the worsening observed for children aged 4 to 6 (15.4% from 12.8%), in particular in the Center, where, in the same class of age, the incidence passes to 13.2% from 8.3% (in general for the minors of the Center the incidence worsens, passing to 11.4% from 9.5%). Although substantially stable, the other values remain distant from those recorded in 2019. Households in absolute poverty in which there are almost 762 thousand minors, with an incidence of 12.1% (stable compared to 2020). If family types are studied in this subset, it can be seen how families of other types with minors, i.e. those families where more than one family frequently live together, have the highest incidence values (26.6%, against 16.3% families of other types as a whole). Furthermore, the incidence of absolute poverty increases as the number of minor children present in the family increases (6% for couples with one minor child, 11.1% for those with two minor children and 20.4% for couples with three or more minor children) and is high among families single parent with minors (11.5%). All types of this subset have stable values compared to 2020.
The report also notes that the incidence of absolute poverty for families with minors it is higher in metropolitan areas, both in the central municipalities of the metropolitan area and in the peripheral municipalities of the metropolitan area and in the municipalities over 50 thousand inhabitants where it stands at 13.2%; finally, in the smaller municipalities with up to 50,000 inhabitants, it is equal to 11.1%. The analysis of the right to use the home shows how the incidence of absolute poverty of families where minors are present is equal to 28.2% if the family is rented, against 6.4% of those who own a home ownership and 13.1% of families in usufruct or free use.
The more widespread is confirmed absolute poverty among rented families. The more than 889 thousand poor families rented in 2021 are the 45.3% of all poor families, with an incidence of absolute poverty of 18.5%, against 4.3% of those who live in their own homes. Rented households resident in the South show incidence values of pabsolute age equal to 22.4%, compared to 17.6% in the North, with values substantially stable on 2020, and 15.4% in the Center (+3.1 percentage points).
The foreigners in absolute poverty are over one million and 600 thousand, with an incidence equal to 32.4%, more than four times higher than that of Italians (7.2%). Compared to 2020 there is an increase in absolute poverty for foreigners both in the Center and in the South (respectively 27.5% and 40.3%), while in the North the incidence of individual absolute poverty is reduced, driven by the decline in the incidence observed for Italians. In 68.7% of cases, families in absolute poverty are families of Italians only (almost 1 million and 350 thousand) and for the remaining 31.3% families with foreigners (over 614 thousand), although the latter represent only 9% of the total.