2023-04-18 10:30:00
He INDEC released estimates of poverty e indigence corresponding to the second semester of 2022. Poverty, which had registered decreases in 2021 and the first semester of 2022, registered an increase returning to a value close to that of the beginning of 2021, at the end of the pandemic.
The lowest level of poverty corresponds to the city of Buenos Aires (11.3%) and the largest to the city of Concordia (55,2%).
In regards to the indigenceafter registering 8.8% in the first half of 2022, fell to 8.1% in the second part of that year.
Indeed, the incidence of poverty climbed to 39.2% of the population, that is, more than 18 million people.
It is a variable that only began to be measured in 1988 and at first only for Greater Buenos Aires. In May of that year, the percentage of poor reached 29.8%. In October 1989 it climbed to 47.3% after the hyperinflation of that year.
The incidence of poverty climbed to 39.2% of the population, that is, more than 18 million people.
In May 1994 it had fallen to 16.1% but in October 1996 it was already at 27.9%. A new peak was recorded in October 2002 with 54.3% after the 2001 crisis. From 2003 it falls steadily until it reaches 25.5% at the end of 2006.
Poverty on the rise and homelessness on the decline
At the beginning of 2007, the process of manipulation of the INDEC statistics began, which would culminate in the decision to discontinue its estimate, considering that its publication was stigmatizing.
At the beginning of 2016, poverty -estimated for the entire country- was 32.2% and at the end of 2019 it stood at 35.5%. This figure climbed to 42.0% in the second half of 2020 due to the effect of the pandemic. After falling to 36.5% in the first half of 2022, it registered an abrupt increase in the second half of last year hand in hand with the doubling of the annual inflation rate.
The current level of poverty places Argentina at a level comparable to that of Bolivia (37.2%) and Venezuela (33.1%) and far from Chile (10.8%) and Uruguay (11.6%).
Poverty map in Argentina: which are the most affected regions of the country
Talking about homelessness, after registering 8.8% in the first half of 2022, it dropped to 8.1% in the second part of that year. This variable is strongly linked to the purchasing power of social plans and subsidies, which explain a good part of the fluctuations in the income of the sectors located in the lowest strata of the social pyramid.
It should be remembered that homelessness refers to households that do not have sufficient income to cover a basket of food capable of satisfying a minimum threshold of energy and protein needs.
Instead, poverty measures the number of households that do not have the capacity to satisfy –through the purchase of goods and services– a set of food and non-food needs considered essential.
Poverty and homelessness by 2023
Finally, the prospects for the current semester are for an increase in both figures as a result of a inflation that evolves at a rate of 6% monthly.
He The lowest level of poverty corresponds to the city of Buenos Aires (11.3%) and the highest to the city of Concordia (55.2%).
Overcoming poverty requires above all the generation of employment -in adequate quantity and quality-, since most of the household resources destined to satisfy the basic needs of its members come from labor income.
The high proportion of informal employment –more than 30%- reminds us that a large fraction of the labor force does not have adequate social protection systems in terms of health, unemployment insurance and access to retirement systems and pensions that ensure fair levels of well-being for the elderly population.
This is in addition to the fact that employment in an unregistered job entails a significant wage disadvantage.
*Director of the Center for the Study of the New Economy of the University of Belgrano
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