Istat poverty statistics - Year 2024

In 2024, over 2.2 million households in condition of absolute poverty – (8.4% of total resident households) and  5.7 million individuals (9.8% of total resident individuals) are in absolute poverty, both shares are stable compared to 2023, when they were equal to 8.4% and 9.7% respectively.

The incidence of absolute poverty among households with at least one foreigner is 30.4%, rising to 35.2% in households made up exclusively of foreigners, while falling to 6.2% for households made up only of Italians.

The relative household poverty incidence, at 10.9%, is stable compared to 2023 (it was 10.6%), as there are more than over 2.8 million households below the threshold. The incidence of individual relative poverty rose slightly to 14.9% (from 14.5% in 2023), involving over 8.7 million individuals.

Over 5.7 million individuals in absolute poverty in Italy in 2024

In 2024, just over 2.2 million households are estimated to be in absolute poverty; accounting for 8.4% of the total number of resident households, is substantially stable compared to 2023. Overall, over 5.7 million individuals or 9.8% of the total number of resident individuals are in absolute poverty as in the previous year (for statistically significant changes, see Statement 1 of the methodological note).

The incidence of households in absolute poverty remains highest in the South and Islands (where it involves over 886 thousand households, 10.5%), followed by the North-West (8.1%, 595 thousand households) and the North-East (7.6%, almost 395 thousand households), while the Centre confirms the lowest values (6.5%, 349 thousand households). On the other hand, among absolutely poor households, 39.8% reside in the South and Island (38.7% in 2023) and 44.5% in the North (45% in 2023); the remaining 15.7% reside in the Center (16.2% in 2023).

Absolute poverty is also stable at the individual level with the only exception of the Islands where there is a significant increase, reaching 13.4% from 11.9% in 2023.

The stability of the incidence of absolute poverty is observed for all age groups: among minors it is confirmed at 13.8% (almost 1.3 million children and young people) – the highest value of the historical series since 2014 – and among young people aged 18-34 at 11.7% (equal to approximately 1 million 153 thousand individuals); for 35-64 year olds it is confirmed at 9.5%, also the maximum value reached by the time series, and among the over-65s confirmed at 6.4% (over 918 thousand people).

The intensity of absolute poverty, which measures in percentage terms how much the average monthly expenditure of poor households is below the poverty line (i.e. “how poor are the poor”), remains stable at a national level (18.4%), in the North (18.5%, with values of 19.1 % in the North-West and 17.6 % in the North-East) and in the Centre (18.0%), while increasing in the South and Islands: incidence estimates rise to 18.5% from 17.8% in 2023.

In small municipalities (up to 50 thousand inhabitants), different from peripheral municipalities in metropolitan areas, the incidence of absolute poverty is higher (8.9%); followed by municipalities over 50 thousand inhabitants and peripheral municipalities in metropolitan areas (8.0%) and by the central municipalities of metropolitan areas (7.8%). However, in the South and Islands and the North are the central municipalities of the metropolitan area that record the highest values (12.5% and 8.2% respectively), while in the Centre the highest incidence is recorded in the smaller non-peripheral municipalities of the metropolitan areas (7.9%).

The situation of larger households still remains critical

The incidence of absolute poverty remains higher among households with more members: it reaches 21.2% among those with five and more members and 11.2% among those with four members. The incidence of households with three members is also unchanged (8.6%).

The most marked distress is observed for households with three or more minor children, where almost one in five household is in absolute poverty (19.4%) and even for households of other types, where several households and/or aggregate members often live together, the incidence is higher than average (15.7%); as well as for single-parent households (11.8%).

The incidence of absolute poverty among households with a reference person (r.p.) aged 65 or over takes on the lowest values (6.7%), compared with those with a younger r.p. (the incidence exceeds 10% among households with a r.p. aged no more than 54 years and stands at 7.3% among r.p. households aged 55-64 years). The values are particularly low among couples with elderly r.p. whose incidence (4.4%) is two percentage points lower than those of younger couples that showed a worsening between 2023 and 2024.

In general, an inverse relationship is confirmed between the value of the incidence and the age of the r.p., also due to the lower propensity to save of younger r.p. households.

Education and work: protective factors against poverty

The incidence of absolute poverty decreases the educational qualification of the household reference person increases: if the reference person has at least an upper secondary school diploma, the incidence is 4.2%, it is three times higher (12.8%) if the r.p. has at most a middle school diploma and reaches 14.4%, for households with the reference person has obtained at least a primary school diploma.

Among households with an employed reference person, the incidence of poverty in the case of an employed households r.p. is 8.7%, rising to 15.6% if households with blue-collar and assimilated r.p.; Among households with self-employed  reference person, the highest values of the incidence are recorded for those who are self-employed other than entrepreneurs or freelancers (“other independent” 7.4%). Finally, among households with a reference person retired from work the incidence is confirmed at 5.8%, while the highest values are confirmed for households with a r.p. seeking employment (21.3%).

Absolute poverty continues to affect children

In 2024, absolute poverty in Italy affects over 1 million 283 thousand minors (13.8% of resident minors); the incidence varies from 12.1% in the Center to 16.4% in the South and Islands, and rising to 14.9% for children from 7 to 13 years old. The substantial stability compared to 2023 confirms the highest incidence value since 2014.

Households in absolute poverty in which there are minors number almost 734 thousand (12.3%); the highest incidence, is observed for other types ofhouseholds with minors (23.9%) (i.e. those households where several households and/or aggregate members frequently live together); among couples, the spread of the phenomenon increases as the number of minor children increases (7.3% for couples with one minor child, 10.6% for those with two minor children and 20.7% if there are at least three minor children), reaching high values even among single-parent households with minors (14.4%).

The intensity of poverty for households with minors, at 21.0%, is higher than that for poor households as a whole (18.4%), further evidence of a more marked condition of hardship.

Also evident for households with minors is the association between the spread of absolute poverty and the working status/position in the profession of the reference person: for employed persons, for employed persons (18.7%), followed by households with minors in which the r.p. is another self-employed person (9.4%). It reaches 23.2% for households with minors in which the r.p. is not an employed person, touching 20.0% for cases in which the r.p. is seeking employment.

Citizenship is strongly linked to the socio-economic condition of households with minors: for households with minors composed only of Italians, the incidence stands at 8.0% and becomes five times higher (40.5%) for households with minors composed only of foreigners (reaches 33.6% in the more general case where there is at least one foreigner in the household with minors).

The incidence of absolute poverty among households with minors in the central municipalities of the metropolitan area (16.1%) is almost six percentage points higher than that found in the peripheral municipalities of the metropolitan area and municipalities of more than 50 thousand inhabitants (10.8%); for the smallest municipalities, up to 50 thousand inhabitants, it stands at 12.2%.