The number of people living in poverty in Italy rose in 2023 to the highest level in a decade, according to data released Monday by ISTAT, the national statistics office in Rome.

The number of people living in “absolute poverty” – people who cannot afford to buy basic goods and services – rose to 5.75% in Italy last year, equivalent to about 9.8% of the country’s population.

The percentage continued to rise despite Italy’s economy recovering more strongly after the lifting of COVID-related restrictions compared to its neighbors such as Germany and France. At the same time, the level of unemployment decreased on the peninsula.

In 2020, the percentage of Italians living in absolute poverty was 9.1%, and in 2021, at the peak of the pandemic, 9%.

But data released by ISTAT suggests that for low-income Italians the economic recovery has not been enough to offset the cancellation of social assistance programs introduced during the pandemic as a means of supporting households hit by the economic shutdown.

ISTAT defines absolute poverty as a condition in which people cannot afford to buy goods and services necessary for an “acceptable standard of living”, which ensures that they are not isolated on the fringes of society.

With the exception of 2019, the absolute poverty rate in Italy has increased annually since 2014, when ISTAT began collecting data on this indicator.

Italy abandons “citizenship income”

Last year, the new right-wing government led by Georgia Maloney began phasing out so-called “civic income”, a welfare scheme introduced in 2019 aimed at helping low-income people out of poverty.

The scheme, which ISTAT says helped lift an estimated one million Italian families out of poverty in 2019, has been completely scrapped since the beginning of this year and replaced by a limited program that is mostly only accessible to people with disabilities that prevent them from working.

In terms of regional distribution, 9% of the population in northern Italy lived in absolute poverty last year, compared to 8% in the center of the country and 12.1% in the historically poorer south.

However, an interesting development is the fact that, according to ISTAT data, while poverty increased in northern and central Italy last year, it decreased in the south.