In 2023, the number of minors in poverty in Italy will increase: they are 1.3 million

In 2023, economic hardship among minors increased. This is revealed by Istat’s preliminary estimates, certifying that last year the incidence of absolute individual poverty for minors was 14%, the highest value since 2014; minors who belong to families in absolute poverty there are 1.3 million. In our country in 2023 there were families in absolute poverty over 2 million 234 thousandequal to 8.5% of the total resident families (they were 8.3% in 2022) and corresponding to approximately 5.7 million individuals (9.8%; stable share compared to 9.7% in 2022 ).

Poverty on the rise in 2023

The incidence of absolute family poverty by distribution shows the highest value in the South in 2023 (10.3%, involving 866 thousand families), followed by the North (8%, one million families) and the Center (6.8%, 365 thousand families). Larger families present the highest values: those with five or more members stand at 20.3% (returning to 2021 values), while the lowest value is that relating to families with two members (6.1%). The presence of minor children continues to be a factor that exposes families more to hardship; the incidence of absolute poverty is confirmed to be more marked for families with at least one minor child (12%), while for those with elderly people it stands at 6.4%.

Citizenship Income Effect

The historical series of absolute poverty analyzed since 2014 with the data reconstructed according to the new estimation methodology – explains Istat in the report – presents a growth in the family and individual incidence over the nine years considered (2014-2023). The incidence of family poverty, which in 2014 was at 6.2%, in the following two years it remained stable, growing in 2017 at 7.2%. This figure stabilizes in 2018and then decreases in 2019 to 6.7%, concurrently with the introduction of the Citizenship Income from which, starting from the second quarter, approximately one million families in difficulty have benefited.

The arrival of the pandemic

In 2020, the year of the pandemic, the incidence began to grow againreaching 7.8% and affecting over 2 million families, and then stabilizing in 2021. This trend was mainly affected by the decline in spending due to the restrictive measures introduced during the health emergency and their impact on the spending behavior of families. In the 2022the incidence began to increase again and reached 8.3%, to a large extent – explains Istat – due to the sharp acceleration of inflationwhich has particularly affected less well-off families.