At the close of 2024, Poverty officially affected 38.1% of the Argentine populationas reported Monday the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INDEC). Meanwhile, a 8.2% of the inhabitants It is found in Indigence situation. Extrapolated to society, this implies that Poverty reached about 17.9 million people, while some 3.9 million are in destitution.
At the end of 2023, poverty had climbed to 41.7%which implied that it affected some 19.5 million people, while the destitution reached the 11.9%. Official figures indicate that About 1.6 million people left poverty between the second semester of 2023 and 2024.
Upon the arrival of the Government of Milei, the poverty reached the 52.9% in the first half of 2024while 19.8% of them were under the poverty linethis represented The highest figure in the last 20 years.
“The data is in line with the expected”he said LEOPOLDO TORNAROLLICEDLAS-UNLP researcher and specialist in the area in dialogue with Scope. In that line, he analyzed: “We know that in the third quarter it was something like 38.3% So the fourth quarter has to be 37.9%. That is, almost the same in both, but in the room there is no bonus, which implies a fall of 3 to 4 additional points in that period to compensate for that fault. The explanation is that the income was recovered, particularly against the inflation of the basic, basic and total “inflation”.
The head of the UCA Social Debt Observatory, Agustín Salviahe added that “Much of the improvement is achieved by comparing the fourth quarter of 2023 against the same period of 2024, marked by the recession with devaluation, liberalization of prices and adjustment policies, starting just December”. In that line, he stressed that “if we compare the third quarter between both years we are almost tied (38.3% T3 2024 vs. 38.6% T3 2023). Although it is true, with a different macro scenario, Macroeconomic inflation and stability are a very important added value“
“These statistical measures of income poverty are higher than those that the Government has been predicting, taking data from the Di Tella Finance Institute (35%)”the specialist pointed out.
Poverty reaches more than half of children and hits great resistance with greater hardness
As for the age groups, the 51.2% of the people of 0 to 14 yearsthat is to say more than half of the children, they live in homes under the poverty line.
Regarding the regions, the greatest incidents of poverty were observed in the Northeast (NEA) with 47%; and Northwest (NOA) with 42.8%. The minors, meanwhile, were recorded in the regions Patagonia, 33.5%; and Pampeana, 35.6%.
Among the cities, the most affected was Great resistance with the 60.8% of people under the line of poverty, of which 22.4% are in indigence. It follows Concord with the 57.1% and the 13.9%, while escorting them Santiago del Estero-La Banda with the 48.6% and the 11.1%, respectively.
Poverty by 2025: what is the expectation
While the expectation towards this year is positive because a strong growth of the economy is expected, there is a factor that is currently playing against: exchange instability.
“From now on it will depend on how the macroeconomic issue follow LEOPOLDO TORNAROLLI. However, he stressed that “if you enter again in a period of exchange instability and you raise inflation a bit, you are likely to be stagnant in values similar to those of the closure of 2024”.
Salvia emphasized that from ODS-UA “We do not see a real recovery regarding the capacity of current consumption of households; quite the opposite”.
“The lag between the composition of the CPI basket and The real relative weight of basic services and transport after gradual reduction of subsidies shows a scenario where households are reduced their capacity for current consumptionbut that is not faithfully reflected in poverty statistics. That is why we say that the situation is stable, the social variables did not explode, but there are also no significant improvements against how bad we were, “said the specialist.
“The only and effective solution to structural poverty and the impoverishment of the middle classes, is to motorize investment and employment in small and medium -sized company”Salvia emphasized.
Regarding 2025, from the SDG-UA they stated that “If employment is not reactivated in the domestic market, statistical rates of destitution and poverty will tend to stabilize between 8-9% and between 37-38%, at least during this first semester”.
Source: Ambito
