The indicators worsen absolute poverty which they achieved in 2023”levels never reached in the last 10 years” and, at the same time, the poor workers with “income, particularly that from employment, has seen its ability to protect individuals and families from the weakening economic hardship“. This is the picture presented byIstat in the 2024 annual report. Among the poorest are i minors: 1.3 million are in conditions of absolute poverty. The Institute also puts the spotlight on Basic income underlining how the provision of the measure “allowed 404 thousand families to escape poverty in 2020, 484 thousand in 2021 and 451 thousand in 2022”. All this while the Pro-capite GDP national, in real terms, only in 2023 did it recover the 2007 level. But compared to 2022, the recovery was only full in Northwhile the Centerthe Islands and the South record a disadvantage, respectively, of 8.7; 7.3; 3,4. Therefore, not only does the South not improve but it is the Center that records the highest worsening of parametersapproaching the data of the Southern regions.
Absolute poverty is growing – Absolute poverty affected 9.8% of individuals and 8.5% of families in Italy, for a total of 2 million 235 thousand families and of 5 million 752 thousand individuals in poverty. Record negative in the last 10 years. “The increase in absolute poverty mainly concerned the population groups in working age and theirs children“, underlines Istat. Poverty indicators over the last 10 years show a “territorial convergence between the divisions, but towards one worsening situation”, adds the Institute. Over the decade considered, the incidence of absolute poverty at family level rose from 6.2 to 8.5 percent, and individual poverty from 6.9 to 9.8 percent. Compared to 2014, the number of families in poverty increased by 683 thousand (there were 1 million and 552 thousand) and the number of individuals in poverty increased by approximately 1.6 million (they were 4 million and 149 thousand). The incidence of absolute family poverty is lower in the Center (6.8 percent) and in the North (8.0 percent in both the North-West and the North-East), and higher in the South (10.2 percent hundred) and in the Islands (10.3 percent). The same happens for the individual incidence: 8.0 percent in the Centre, 8.7 in the North-East, 9.2 in the North-West and 12.1 percent in both the South and the Islands. Between 2014 and 2023, the family incidence increases significantly in the North (in the North-West, from 4.6 to 8 percent; in the North-East, from 3.6 to 8 percent), it rises significantly more moderate in the Center (from 5.5 to 6.8 percent) and in the South (from 9.1 to 10.2 percent) and remains almost stable in the Islands (from 10.6 to 10.3 percent). The individual incidence rises in the North-West from 5.9 to 9.2 percent; in the North-East from 4.5 to 8.7; in the Center from 5.7 to 8.0; in the South from 8.9 to 12.1 and in the Islands from 11.8 to 12.1.
The highest incidence on minors – In 2023, 1.3 million minors are in conditions of absolute povertywith an incidence of 14 percent. “Higher values than the national average are also found for 1s8-34 year olds hey 35-44 year olds (11.9% and 11.8% respectively). The individual incidence decreases to 5.4% of 65-74 year oldsthe lowest value, then rising to 7.0% in the oldest segment of the population, that of individuals with 75 years and older“, underlines the president of IstatFrancesco Maria Chelli presenting the Institute’s annual report. And in Italy the number of young people is increasingly decreasing: further three million fewer young people in 20 years. In 2023, the country recorded just 10.33 million people between 18 and 34 years old, a decrease of 22.9% compared to 2022 when there were 13.39 million. Compared to the peak in 1994, when the baby boomers fell into the range, the drop is almost five million (-32.3%). Over the last 30 years there has been a mirror increase in people aged 65 and older from just over 9 million in 1994 to over 14 million in 2023 (+54.4%).
The number of working poor is increasing – As Istat underlines income from workor has seen its ability to protect individuals and families from the deconomic comfort: between 2014 and 2023 the incidence of individual absolute poverty among employed people increased increase of 2.7 percentage pointsgoing from 4.9% in 2014 to 7.6% in 2023. For workers the increase was faster, going from just under 9% in 2014 to 14.6% in 2023. In 2023, 8.2% of employees were in absolute poverty compared to 5.1% of self-employed workers. Employment, in fact, has increased in recent years but the purchasing power of gross wages of employees has decreased by 4.5% in the last 10 years: “Despite the improvements observed on the labor market in recent years, we read , Italy maintains a very high share of employed people in conditions of economic vulnerability. Between 2013 and 2023 the purchasing power of gross wages in Italy decreased by 4.5% while in the other major EU27 economies it grew at rates between 1.1% in France and 5.7 % of Germany”.
The role of citizenship income – All this taking into account that the provision of Basic income “allowed lift 404 thousand families out of poverty in 2020, 484 thousand in 2021 and 451 thousand in 2022. As for individuals, the exit from poverty affected 876 thousand people in 2020 and over one million in 2021 and 2022″, indicates Istat in its annual report. Without citizenship income, explains the Institute, “the incidence of absolute family poverty in 2022 would have been 3.8 and 3.9 percentage points higher in the South and in the Islands respectively. Between families for rent, the incidence of poverty would have been 5 percentage points higher. Among families with a reference person looking for work, the incidence would have reached 36.2% in 2022, 13.8 percentage points more”. The provision of citizenship income brought the Poverty gap (i.e. the amount of euros needed to bridge the gap between the expenses of poor families and their poverty lines) to a reduction from 9.1 to 5.2 billion in 2020, from 9.5 to 5.2 billion in 2021, and from 9.8 to 6.2 billion in 2022.
The impoverishment of the lower and moderately lower classes – Between 2014 and 2023, the equivalent household expenditure it grew in nominal terms by 14% but if we exclude the price growth decreased by 5.8%. Istat underlines that theimpoverishment was generalized but, that “the decline was stronger for low and lower middle class families, belonging to the first and second fifth of distribution” with a reduction in the volume of purchases of 8.8% and 8.1% respectively. The families of middle and upper-middle classbelonging to the third and fourth fifth, have decreased their real expenses more significantly than the national average (-6.3% for the third and -7.3% for the fourth) while the wealthier families, belonging to the bottom fifth, contained their losses with -3.2%. The distances in real terms between more and less well-off families, explains Istat, have widened in particular in the last three years: with the inflationary recovery, families with lower spending capacity have in fact had to suffer a stronger increase in prices compared to to the wealthier ones. This was particularly the case during 2022, when inflation was very high and driven by energy And food, essential goods that weigh more heavily on the spending of families with greater budget constraints. Compared to 2020, the poorest families had a specific inflation of 22.2% at the end of 2023, compared to 15.1% for the wealthiest families (+17.4% overall average).
The purchasing power of wages has collapsed – In the three-year period 2021-2023, underlines Istat, the contractual hourly wages grew at a decidedly lower pace than that observed for prices, with a particularly marked difference in 2022 (7.6 percentage points): between January 2021 and December 2023, consumer prices increased overall by 17.3%, while contractual wages grew by 4.7%. After a period of almost three years, the trend dynamics of contractual wages returned, in October 2023, to exceeding that of prices, thanks to the continuous deceleration of inflation. On average over the year, however, wage growth was still lower than price growth. Contractual hourly wages in 2023 increased by 2.9%, strengthening compared to 2022 (1.1%) while consumer prices, although decelerating, still recorded growth of 5.9% in 2023, which determined a further decline in real terms of wages.
GDP is increasing but the gap with the EU27 average is growing – The national GDP per capitain real terms, only in 2023 did it recover the 2007 level. Instead, compared to 2022, the recovery was full only in the distributions of Northwhile the Centerthe Islands and the South they record a disadvantage, respectively, of 8.7; 7.3; 3.4 percentage points, with an accentuation of disparities. The differential in GDP per capita of the less developed Italian regions compared to EU27 average, reflects lower employment rates and labor productivity. Between 2004 and 2023, the employment rate 15-64 years old in Italy grew from 57.4 percent to 61.5 percent, with an increase of almost 900,000 employed in the same age group. However, the the gap with the EU27 average has grown from approximately 4.4 to 9.8 percentage points.
