He Argentine Social Debt Observatory of the Argentine Catholic University (UCA) released a report according to which it states that the poverty It rose from 44.7% in the third quarter of 2023 to 55.5% in the first quarter of this year. While, Destitution went from 9.6% to 17.5% in the same period.
According to the same study, poverty is already reaches 24.9 million residents in urban areas in the country, while some 7.8 million of them are immersed in extreme poverty or destitution.
“Total food insecurity for urban areas surveyed by the ODSA-UCA survey, reaches 24.7% of people, 20.8% of households and 32.2% of children and adolescents. On the other hand, 10.9% of people, 8.8% of households and 13.9% of children and adolescents (NNyA) are in an even more serious situation, with severe food insecurity. “, highlights the report under the title “Structural social debts in Argentine society.”
Poverty: how it is distributed according to area
“When considering the AMBA, the total food insecurity values are located at 26.4% of people, 21.8% of households and 35% of children and adolescents. When considering severe food insecurity, they are located at 9.9%, 12.7% and 16.5%, respectively,” is added in the document prepared by the UCA observatory.
Likewise, it is noted that “the high levels of food deprivation suffered by the population try to be compensated with actions carried out at different levels of the State.”
Poverty: according to the report, public policies must improve the labor market
Poverty is already a “structural problem” in Argentina and for it to be reduced, the country’s productive structure must improve, as a necessary condition for the labor market to gain momentum. This was stated by Eduardo Donza, researcher at the Social Debt Observatory of the Argentine Catholic University (UCA).
According to the academic, “If the labor market does not improve, it is very difficult to get out of this situation. But for that to happen there must be State policies that aim at production.” Donza considered that, in Argentina, poverty “It is already structural and this is the third generation that is born in that situation” and added: “In the last 20 years, we have never had less than one in four Argentines in poverty.” “We come from decades of failure in the implementation of social policies. In that period, the State never found a way to reduce poverty levels,” he emphasized.
Why poverty increased
“These data reflect the impact of the devaluation, which caused accelerated inflation, and the shock policies implemented by the Government, because it thinks they are the most efficient measures,” said Donza, in statements to the program This morning Rivadavia radio.
In his opinion: “We came from a scheme that already had serious problems. But if there are no State policies that increase the pie to be able to distribute it based on consensus, the panorama will not change.” “We have a population that is becoming increasingly poorer,” warned the specialist.
