Nearly four out of ten Andalusians, or what amounts to the same thing, 37.5% of the Andalusian population lives in risk of poverty and/or social exclusion, which translates in numerical terms to 3.2 million people174,000 more people than in 2022. This is one of the most devastating conclusions of the report on the state of poverty in Andalusia presented this Tuesday by the Andalusian Network to Combat Poverty and Social Exclusion ( EAPN), which collects official statistical data. from 2023.
According to this entity, the data shows a worrying worsening of four of the five main indicators of poverty and exclusion of the Arope rate, in relation to the risk of poverty, extreme poverty and material and social deprivation. “One more year it stood out, Andalusia remains at the top of the regions with the worst poverty data nationally,” the report said.
The deterioration of the main poverty indicators and, above all, those linked to serious material and social deprivations show the effects of successive changes. crisis and the increase in the cost of living derived from inflation and the high cost of housing.
The Severe Material and Social Deprivation (PMSS) component of the AROPE rate – an indicator of severe vulnerability that measures the ability to have 13 elements of consumption and social relations considered necessary in European society to maintain an adequate quality of life – , grows in Andalusia 1.3 percentage points regarding 2022.
Thus, a 12.6% of the population in Andalusia is in a situation of severe material social deprivation, which, in absolute terms, represents approximately 1,081,748 inhabitants, which places Andalusia as the first region in the national group.
Energy poverty and shopping basket
All the elements on which severe social material deprivation is based record rates well above national averages, where this entity highlights the increase in the number of people who They cannot afford to keep the house at a temperature adequate, which has doubled over the last three years and goes from 11.3% in 2020 to 24.2% in 2023.
There has also been a notable increase in the number of people who cannot afford a meal of meat, chicken or fish at least every two days: in 2021 they were 6.8% and in 2023 10.2%.
57.1% of the Andalusian population also lives difficulty making ends meet, i.e. 2.5 percentage points more than the previous year (56.4%).
Juan Luis Delcan, president of EAPN Andalusia, highlighted the main conclusions drawn from all these figures, emphasizing that the 2023 data reflects a worrying worsening indicators of poverty and/or social exclusion; Andalusia occupies first place in terms of poverty rates and social exclusion, “data that takes us away from meeting the commitments of the 2030 Agenda”, he said during the presentation of this report.
Accommodation
Esther Villalobos, member of the board of directors of this Andalusian entity, highlighted that another very important structural problem in the generation of poverty is the situation in matters of accommodationa section that the entity includes for the first time in its annual report.
“The housing problem has become one of the main factors generating poverty and affects a significant part of the population. In 2023 in Andalusia, on average, 17.8% of income will be allocated to housing, a figure similar to that recorded at the national level (17.6%). However, if we analyze these data for the population experiencing poverty, we see that the percentage of Housing expenses among the poor population represent almost a third of income (32.2%), almost double that recorded in the entire Andalusian population (17.8%),” he explained.
The woman, poorer than the man
Likewise, he exposed the different figures that affect the feminization of povertybeing a structural problem, observing how the highest Arope rate continues to be linked to women who, with other indicators, such as a higher level of unemployment in this sector of the population, or the wage gap, among others, continue to reflect structural inequality towards women. “Female Arope reaches 39%increasing similarly between the two sexes, at 1.7 points, and the difference of 3.0 percentage points higher for women than for men remains constant.
The poverty rate in Andalusia amounts to 30.5%, being the autonomous community with the highest poverty rate in 2023, 10.3 points above the national average (20.2%). In absolute terms, In Andalusia there are 2.6 million poor people. These data reflect how, compared to the previous year, the poverty rate increases by 1.4 points, that is, around 140,000 more people have incomes below the poverty line.
And another worrying fact: The poverty rate for children and adolescents is 42.5%, with an increase of 4.4 points compared to the previous year’s values, and the highest of all age groups. “This shows that in Andalusia, as is generally the case in all regions, the younger you are, the greater the risk of finding yourself in poverty. Likewise, people who live in houses with economically dependent minors They record much higher rates than the others. »
In addition, the poverty rate is increasing sharply in the rural areas (+8.8 points)or 39.6%, while it remains stable in urban areas.
In 2023, the extreme poverty rate, measured with a threshold of 40% of the national median income, that is to say the percentage of people living in households with maximum income of 611 euros per month per unit of consumption, in Andalusia it is 12.9%. This value is 1.5 points lower to that recorded last year. Despite this improvement, Andalusia is the region with the highest figure in the country.
THE average annual income per person in Andalusia is 11,719 euros, more than 2,300 euros less than the national average income and the third lowest of all regions.
The data in turn shows the importance of pensions in the generation of poverty in Andalusia; Of the 1,653,198 pensions received in Andalusia, 43.4%, i.e. more than two people in five receive a pension the amount of which does not exceed the poverty line (less than €7,851). In absolute terms, there are around 718,074 people, which is 32,252 more people than the previous year. For 15.7% of the total, the amount of their pension is below the extreme poverty threshold (income below €523 in 2023).
EAPN also points out that if there was no State transfers In Andalusia, in 2023, the poverty situation would increase for more than half of the population (52.0%).
He also warns that the simple GDP growth is not enough to reduce poverty and guarantee an improvement in the living conditions of the populations. “Intense redistributive policies are necessary and urgent increase and strengthen social protection policies, “improving its intensity and scope, with the participation of the central government and the Junta de Andalucía.”
EAPN Andalucía urges administrations to launch a Andalusian pact to fight povertywhich benefits from the consensus of the different groups represented in Parliament and from all levels of competence.
