Istat poverty statistics - Year 2023

In 2023, just over 2.2 million households (8.4% of total resident households, stable compared to 2022) and almost 5.7 million individuals (9.7% of total resident individuals, same as in the previous year) are in absolute poverty.

The incidence of absolute poverty among households with at least one foreigner is 30.4%, while it stops at 6.3% for households composed only of Italians.

The relative household poverty incidence, at 10.6%, is stable compared to 2022; there are more than 2.8 million households below the threshold. The incidence of individual relative poverty rose slightly to 14.5% from 14.0% in 2022, involving almost 8.5 million individuals.

Almost 5.7 million individuals in absolute poverty in Italy in 2023

In 2023, just over 2.2 million households are estimated to be in absolute poverty, accounting for 8.4% of the total number of resident households, essentially stable compared to 2022. Overall, almost 5.7 million individuals, or 9.7% of the total number of resident individuals, are in absolute poverty, as in the previous year.

Despite the positive trend in the labour market in 2023 (+2.1% employment in one year), which was also recorded in the two previous years, the impact of inflation counteracted the possible reduction in the incidence of households and individuals in absolute poverty. In 2023, consumer price growth was in fact still high (+5.9% the change in the harmonised consumer price index, HICP), with effects that, among other things, were more pronounced precisely on the poorest households (+6.5% the year-on-year change in prices estimated for the first fifth of households; see Glossary under Fifths of households). The consumption expenditure of this group of households, which also includes those in absolute poverty, has not kept pace with inflation and, while growing strongly in current terms, has fallen by 1.5% in real terms of equivalent expenditure (on this, see the Report “La spesa per consumi delle famiglie” of 10 October 2024).

Social bonuses for energy and gas – although greatly reduced in 2023 compared to 2022 – have helped to contain the growth of poverty; indeed, it is estimated that this measure has reduced its incidence by four-tenths of a point compared to seven-tenths last year.

The incidence of households in absolute poverty remains higher in the South and Islands (where it involves over 859 thousand households, 10.2%), followed by the North-West (8.0%, 585 thousand households) and North-East (7.9%, 413 thousand households), while the Centre confirms the lowest values (6.7%, 360 thousand households). Among poor households, 38.7% reside in the South and Islands (41.4% in 2022) and 45.0% in the North (42.9% in 2022). The remaining 16.2% reside in the Centre (15.6% in 2022).

The stability of the poverty incidence recorded at individual level is the result of different territorial dynamics: it increases for residents in the North-West (9.1% to 8.2% in 2022), while it decreases for those living in the South (12.0% to 13.3% in 2022).

The incidence of absolute poverty among minors stands at 13.8% (almost 1.3 million children and young people, up to 13.4% in 2022) – the highest value in the historical series since 2014 – while it is 11.8% among the 18-34 year olds (equal to about 1.45 million individuals, stable compared to 2022); for 35-64 year olds it is confirmed at 9.4%, also the highest value reached in the historical series. Also substantially unchanged is the incidence of absolute poverty among the over-65s (6.2%, almost 887 thousand people). The intensity of absolute poverty, which measures in percentage terms how much the monthly expenditure of poor households is on average below the poverty line (i.e. “how poor are the poor”), remains stable at national level (18.2%), with different trends within the breakdowns: increasing in the North (reaching 18.6% to 17.6% in 2022, with a greater increase in the North-East, where it reaches 18.0% to 16.5% in 2022), and in the Centre (18.0 % to 17.1% in 2022) and decreasing in the South and Islands (17.8% to 19.3% in 2022, more markedly in the Islands).

The incidence of poverty is higher in the smallest municipalities, up to 50 thousand inhabitants, other than the peripheral municipalities of metropolitan areas (8.8%); followed by the central municipalities of metropolitan areas (8.1%). Compared to 2022, in the Centre, there is, on the one hand, a reduction in the incidence for the central municipalities of the metropolitan area (5.3% to 7.3% in 2022) and, on the other hand, an increase in the smallest municipalities up to 50 thousand inhabitants (7.9% to 6.3%).

In the South and Islands, the incidence is increasing for municipalities in the centre of the metropolitan area (12.5% to 9.6% in 2022), the result of the increase in the South (15.9% to 10.1% in 2022), while it decreases in municipalities on the periphery of the metropolitan area and in municipalities with 50,001 inhabitants and more, which fall to 8.8% (to 11.6% in 2022).

The situation of larger households remains critical

The incidence of absolute poverty remains higher among households with more members: it reaches 20.1% among those with five and more members and 11.9% among those with four members. The incidence of households with three members is also unchanged (8.2%).

The most marked distress is observed for households with three or more minor children, where the incidence reaches 21.6%; and, more generally, for couples with three or more children (18.0%). High values are also observed for households of other types, where several households and/or aggregate members often live together (15.9%), as well as for single-parent households (12.5%). The incidence of absolute poverty among households with a reference person (r.p.) aged 65 or over takes on the lowest values; the highest is recorded for households with an elderly person (6.8%). In general, contained values of the incidence are confirmed as the age of the r.p. increases; in fact, younger households generally have lower spending capacity because they have lower average incomes and fewer savings accumulated over a lifetime or inherited assets.

Education and work: protective factors against poverty

The incidence of absolute poverty decreases as the educational qualification of the household reference person increases; if the reference person has at least an upper secondary school diploma, the incidence is 4.6%, worsening compared to 2022 (when it was 4.0%), and reaches 12.3% if he or she has at most a middle school diploma. Among households with employed r.p., high values of the poverty incidence are confirmed for households with blue-collar and assimilated r.p. (16.5% to 14.7% in 2022), reaching the highest value of the series since 2014; the same dynamics for the incidences of employed and dependent. Among households with self-employed persons, the highest values are recorded for those who are self-employed other than entrepreneurs or freelancers (6.8% other self-employed, improving to 8.5% in 2022). Households with a person withdrawn from work show stable values (5.7%) after the growth in 2022, while the highest values are confirmed for households with a r.p. seeking employment (20.7%).

Absolute poverty continues to affect children

In 2023, absolute poverty in Italy affects more than 1 million 295 thousand minors (13.8% compared to 9.7% at the national level); the incidence varies from 12.9% in the North to 15.5% in the South and Islands. Compared to 2022, the condition of minors is stable at a national level, with the highest value since 2014, but there are signs of worsening for children aged 7 to 13 in the Centre (the incidence reaches 13.9% to 10.7%).

Households in absolute poverty in which there are minors number almost 748 thousand, with an incidence of 12.4%. Other types of households with minors, i.e. those households where several households and/or aggregate members frequently live together, present the highest incidence values (25.6%), followed by large households made up of couples with three and more minor children, for which the incidence reaches 18.8%.

In general, the spread of the phenomenon increases as the number of minor children in the household rises (6.6% for couples with one minor child, 11.6% for those with two minor children) and remains high among single-parent households with minors (14.8%). Compared to 2022, there is substantial stability; however, the intensity of poverty among households with minors, at 20.1%, is higher than that of poor households as a whole (18.2%), further testifying to a more marked condition of hardship.

The incidence of poverty among households with minors varies a great deal depending on the working condition and on the position in the occupation of the r.p.: for employed persons, the highest values are found among households with a worker and assimilated r.p. (19.4%, up compared to 2022); followed by households with minors in which the r.p. is another self-employed person (9.1%). It reaches 22.7% for households with minors in which the r.p. is not an employed person, touching 23.9% for cases in which the r.p. is seeking employment.

Citizenship also plays an important role in determining the socio-economic condition of households with minors. The incidence of absolute poverty for households with minors composed only of Italians stands at 8.2%, while it reaches 41.4% for households with minors composed only of foreigners (it is 34.1% in the more general case where there is at least one foreigner in the household with minors).

The incidence of absolute poverty for households with minors is highest in the central municipalities of metropolitan areas (14.7%), while it is lower and at similar levels for the peripheral municipalities of the metropolitan area and municipalities with more than 50 thousand inhabitants (11.9%) and for the smallest municipalities, up to 50 thousand inhabitants, where it is 12.1%.