Poverty stats for Italy

The stats bureau Istat has released some numbers on the amount of people in poverty in Italy. Two weeks ago an the Charity Caritas said that 1 in 4 Italians were living in poverty.

As we find in this story from the ANSA.it millions live on less than 600 euros a month.

ANSA.it November 4th

Around 7.5 million Italians, or 13% of the population, are living below the poverty line on less than 600 euros a month, national statistics bureau Istat said Tuesday.

Around 170,000 people are considered extremely poor, living on a monthly income far below the poverty line, according to the report.

The figures for 2007 were largely unchanged compared to those for 2006, although families living in Tuscany improved their overall living conditions over the year.

Veneto remained the richest region, with just 3.3% of residents living below the poverty line, while Sicily was the poorest with 27.6% struggling to make ends meet.

Southern Italian families were four times more likely to be poor than those living in the rest of the country, according to the report.

Istat said a total of 11.1% of families were living below the poverty line while 4.2% were hovering just above. A further 3.7% were considered 'at risk', while 81% could be classified as not poor.

The bureau set Italy's poverty line at a monthly spending capacity of 600 euros for a single person, 1,607 for a family of four people and 2,637 for a family of six or more.