CHRONIC POVERTY, BASILICATA SECOND AFTER TUSCANY

Poverty in Basilicata, from the annual report which valorises the data of 3,124 listening centers and services of the diocesan Caritas, located in 206 dioceses in all Italian regions, a less than reassuring picture emerges. There are 44 Lucanian listening centers and 2,083 “people met”. In Italy, however, intermittent and chronic poverty is strengthening. The chronically poor are people followed for 5 years and more (whose incidence stands at 25.5% compared to 24.4% in 2022). In this case we are dealing with forms of poverty that are stratified, which risk characterizing entire lives and even being passed down between generations. In this sense, some regions reach even higher levels of chronicity: among these are Tuscany (where 42% of those assisted have been followed for five years or more), Basilicata (32.4%), Abruzzo-Molise (29, 0%), Liguria (27.5%) and Lazio (27.1%). At a national level, women (51.5%) and men (48.5%) ask for help. Also in Basilicata, 58.4% women and 41.6% men. 65.3% of the “people met” in Basilicata have Italian citizenship while 34.3% have foreign citizenship. The average age stands at 47.2 years (it was 46 in 2022). People with domicile represent 80.8%. Among the events that take place there is inevitably becoming parents. As usual, the incidence of people with children is high: two out of three people (66.2%) declare they are parents. In some regions the incidence of parents is even higher, for example in Lazio (91%), Calabria (82.2%), Umbria (81.4%), Puglia (80.6%), Basilicata (79 %) and Sardinia (75.3%). Poverty and loneliness: elderly people asking for help. In 2023, diocesan and parish Caritas met and supported 35,875 elderly people, equal to 13.4% of the total users. Over the last few years there has been a clear increase in the burden of the elderly which went from 7.7% in 2015 to over thirteen percent in 2023. In some regions more than others the incidence of the elderly reaches peaks even higher, particularly in the South: Campania (18.1%), Basilicata (16.6%), Puglia (15.4%), Sardinia (15.3%). The lowest incidence is recorded in the North-East regions (10.8%). In some regions more than others the incidence of elderly people reaches even higher peaks, particularly in some regions of the South: in Campania (18.1%), Basilicata (16.6%), Puglia (15.4%) , Sardinia (15.3%). The lowest incidence is recorded in the North-East regions (10.8%).