Poverty in Italy

Almost 1.7 million households lived in absolute poverty with an incidence of 6.4% in 2019 (7.0% in 2018), for a total number of about 4.6 million individuals (7.7% of the total, 8.4% in 2018).

After four years of increase, the number and share of households in absolute poverty decreased for the first time, while it remained much higher than before the crisis of 2008-2009.

The number of households in conditions of relative poverty was stable in 2019, and just below 3 million (11.4%) which means to 8.8 million individuals (14.7% of the total).