Poverty: ISTAT, No Fall In Italy (11. 1 per cent of Families)

from AGI

The number of poor people in Italy is not on the decline: there are 2 million, 623 thousand families living un the poverty level, 11.1 per cent of a total of 23 million.

Overall, there are 7 million 537 thousand people living in poverty, equal to 12.9 per cent of the entire population. The figure, which relates to the year 2006, comes from state statistical agency ISTAT, which in its regular report reveals how the incidence of poverty has shown no variation since 2005.

Inside the group of families living in poverty, not all are in the same condition. 4.8 per cent (equal to roughly 1,142,000) are "undoubtedly poor", having a monthly level of spending which is 20 per cent below the standard, or 970.34 per two-person family.

Here is yet another confirmation of the presence of two Italies: three quarters of these "undoubtedly poor" families live, in fact, in the South.

Breaking down the figure of 11.1 per cent of poor families, 3 per cent have spending levels not much lower than the poverty limit (within a boundary of 10 and 20 per cent): this accounts for roughly a third of the total of poor families.

The remaining 3.3 per cent have levels of spending not more than 10% below the poverty line. These are, then, families living very close to the threshold that defines whether or not they are poor.