Poverty already affects more than half of the population in Argentina

The Poverty in Argentina reached 52.9% of the population in the first semester, a strong increase of 11.2 percentage points in relation to the same period in 2023, the Indec statistics institute reported this Thursday.

More than half of Argentines were below the poverty line during the first half of 2024. This was reported by the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses of Argentina (Indec), which released this Thursday the poverty and indigence figures for that period.

The poverty It was 52.9%, which represents an increase of more than 11 percentage points compared to the figure for the second half of 2023. Destitution increased just over six percentage points compared to that period, to 18.1%.

These are the first data on poverty and indigence that correspond to the government of Javier Milei, who assumed the presidency in December 2023.

Nearly 20 years ago, poverty was not above 50% in Argentina and indigence did not exceed 18%. Those figures were not even exceeded during the covid-19 pandemic.

It is true that poverty has been growing steadily since the beginning of 2022. However, this government, which did take measures that led to the inflation slowdown and by reducing the fiscal deficit, for example, it did not do the same to stop the growth of poverty.

In fact, the jump of more than eleven points between the poverty figure for the second half of 2023 and the first half of 2024 is especially large.

The government argues that this is a temporary situation, that it is ordering the economy after what it considers the disaster of previous administrations, and that when the process, which has led to a drop in activity and employment, is concluded, the eeconomy will grow and poverty will be reduced.

For now, polls show that a certain level of support for the government is maintained, although it is losing strength.

The big question is how much Argentine society will continue to tolerate this level of adjustment and the effects it causes.

Indec calculates poverty by comparing income with the cost of a total basic basket that includes food, goods and services and is estimated at about 240 dollars.