Italy, absolute poverty on the rise in 2023. ISTAT report

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1) Italy, 5,7 million people in absolute poverty, 8,4 million in relative poverty

ISTAT estimate that the absolute poverty reached, in 2023, 5,7 million individuals and just over 2,2 million families residing in Italy. Families in absolute poverty are 10,2% in the South, 7,9% in the North and 6,7% in the Center. 'The impact of inflation has counteracted the possible reduction in the incidence of families and individuals in absolute poverty' ISTAT reports.

Inequalities expressed by conditions of relative poverty instead concern 8,4 million individuals (14,5%, +0,5% compared to 2022) and 2,8 million families. 'Consumer spending by this group of families, which also includes those in absolute poverty, has not kept pace with inflation and, although growing strongly in current terms, has suffered a 1,5% decline in real terms of equivalent spending.'

In fact, between absolute poverty and relative poverty at least 8 million people in Italy live in conditions of material or social deprivation and 'food poverty', as already documented by Action Aid.

2) ISTAT, almost 1,3 million minors in absolute poverty

'The incidence of absolute poverty among minors stands at 13,8% (almost 1,3 million children and young people, from 13,4% in 2022) - the highest value in the historical series since 2014 - while it is at 11,8% among young people aged 18-34 (equal to approximately 1 million 145 thousand individuals, stable compared to 2022); for 35-64 year-olds it is confirmed at 9,4%, also the maximum value reached by the historical series'.

The analysis by age group reveals that absolute poverty affects:

-13,4% of children up to 3 years;

-14,8% in the 4-6 age group;

-14,5% of minors between 7 and 13 years old;

-12,7% of adolescents between 14 and 17 years old.

Families in absolute poverty where there are minors are almost 748 thousand, equal to 12,4% of the total.

3) Large and single-parent families

Difficulties they also increase for large and single-parent families, where absolute poverty reaches:

-20,1% among families with five or more members, which in turn represent one family in five;

-21,6% of families with three or more minor children;

-18% of couples with three or more children;

-15,9% of families where multiple family units or aggregated members cohabit;

-12,5% of single-parent families.

4) Families with workers and foreigners

Working poverty is increasingly widespread. Absolute poverty affects 16,5% (+1,8% compared to 2022) of families where the reference person is a worker or performs similar functions.

The foreigners they are then the main protagonists of absolute poverty, which affects 30,4% of families with at least one non-Italian citizen.

5) Poverty and rented housing

There are approximately one million poor families with rented homes, 46,5% of all poor families. The incidence of absolute poverty is more than four times higher in families living in rented homes than in those living in owned homes (21,6% and 4,7%, respectively).

6) Provisional conclusions

The latest ISTAT data on income and living conditions (EU-SILC) indicate that already in the period 2021-2022 24,4% of the Italian population was at risk of poverty and social exclusion (8th in the EU). (2)

The ISTAT report The study under examination shows the worsening of this situation, for which neither Italian nor European politics have so far introduced suitable mitigation measures.

International Monetary Fund has meanwhile revised downwards (-0,3%) the already meagre growth forecasts for the eurozone economy – which now stand at 1,2% – due to the persistent production crisis in Germany and Italy. Industrial policies, like social ones, however, remain unheard of.

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Sabrina Bergamini and Dario Dongo