ROMA – L’Alliance against poverty had predicted it, and Istat confirmed it: in 2023, the numbers of absolute poverty in Italy have increased further. It seems like a slight increase, but by reading the figures carefully, the gravity of the socio-economic situation of our country cannot be missed. The data are those released in recent days by Istat: “Preliminary estimates of absolute poverty and expenses for consumption – 2023”. Final estimates will be made available on October 10, 2024 (Consumption Expenditures) and October 17, 2024 (Poverty). It should be remembered that “Alliance against Poverty” is a group of social actors who have united to contribute to the construction of effective public policies against poverty in our country.
A “slight” increase? No, an emergency. A real emergency that becomes chronic. Which contrasts greatly with the heartfelt alarm about the damage of the super bonus, as one of the main causes of the impoverishment of public finances, launched the other day by Economy Minister Giorgetti. An appeal accompanied by the disdain of those who know a lot about the state’s accounts and with the usual look of a womanizer, in favor of the camera.
Absolute poverty concerns 2 million 234 thousand families. According to the data released, families in absolute poverty go from 8.3% to 8.5% of the total resident families: approximately 2 million 234 thousand families. Individuals in absolute poverty are 9.8% (in 2022 they were 9.7%), equal to over 5.7 million people. There are those who speak of a “stable situation”, but this is the reality of an emergency that is becoming structural and chronic.
The evidence comes from the history of the data. This is clearly highlighted by the historical series of data reported by Istat: in 2014, there were 6.2% of families in absolute poverty. In 2017, a first significant increase was recorded, up to 7.2%. In 2019, the percentage dropped to 6.7%, “in conjunction with the introduction of the Basic income, from which, starting from the second quarter, approximately one million families in difficulty have benefited”, Istat replies. The situation worsened again in 2020, the year of the pandemic: absolute poverty affected 7.8% of families (around 2 million). In 2022, the incidence increases again and reaches 8.3%, largely due to the strong acceleration of inflation, which has particularly affected less wealthy families.
The abolition of Citizenship Income. In 2023, with the elimination of the Basic income, there is a new, albeit slight, increase: a sign that the measures to combat poverty require a decisive reversal. The country needs a decisive reversal of direction, which starts from the restoration of selective universalism as the founding principle of the fight against poverty. The categorization of poverty, on which law 85/2023 is based, leaves too many poor people without support. Even if the results of these measures can only be measured next year, when the data relating to 2024 will be released, in the meantime these first Istat estimates for 2023 highlight not a “stable” situation, but rather a socio-economic emergency which is becoming chronic.
The negative records on minors and employees. According to Istat estimates, absolute poverty in 2023 will record two negative records. First, that of minors: in 2023, the incidence of absolute individual poverty for minors is equal to 14%: the highest value in the historical series since 2014. In 2023, minors belonging to families in absolute poverty are equal to 1.3 million.
The other negative record. It concerns families with an employed reference person: among these families, the incidence of absolute poverty in 2023 stood at 8.2, compared to 7.7% in 2022: this is the highest peak in the last 10 years. For families with an Employee reference person, the worsening is even more significant: from 8.3% in 2022 to 9.1% in 2023. A sign that not even those who work can consider themselves protected from the risk of absolute poverty. The so-called “working poor” is another widespread and alarming phenomenon, which the Alliance against Poverty has been drawing attention to for some time.
It is anything but a Southern issue. Absolute poverty continues to hit hard even families who have to pay rent, as well as foreign families. And it is anything but a “southern” issue, given that – again according to Istat estimates – last year in the North there were 136,000 more poor people compared to 2022, in the Center they increased by 55,000, while in the South records a decrease of 113 thousand people in poverty, even if in the South the extent of the phenomenon remains increasingly high and worrying.
The requests of Alliance against poverty. Faced with these numbers, we cannot help but raise our alarm further: as the Alliance against poverty, moreover, we predict that the new contrast measures will lead to a further worsening of the condition of Italian families and a further, significant increase in absolute poverty in Italy, due to the dismantling of the principle of selective universalism, in favor of a categorization of poverty. On the other hand, INPS data speak of 589,000 families benefiting from the Inclusion Allowance for a number of people involved equal to 1,240,584. The government must implement these measures, as it had already planned to do, in order to expand the number of beneficiaries.
The appeal. “With a letter sent in recent weeks to Minister Calderone – says Antonio Russo, spokesperson for theAlliance Against Poverty – we have officially communicated our willingness to share our analyzes and proposals, contained in the Document illustrating our positions presented last September. But so far we have received no response.”
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– 2024-04-01 20:34:43
