SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE / MADRID, Sep 10 (EUROPA PRESS) –
Severe poverty grew by 49% in the Canary Islands in 2020 and already affects 373,665 people, 16.5% of the total population of the archipelago, representing a total of 132,285 more people, according to data from the start of the pandemic (2020) collected by the European Network for the Fight against Poverty and Social Exclusion in the Spanish State (EAPN-ES) in the second report ‘The Map of Severe Poverty in Spain. The Landscape of Abandonment ‘.
With these figures, the archipelago grows more than five points in a year and is positioned as the first autonomous community with the highest percentage of its population in severe poverty, ahead of the Valencian Community and Asturias, with 13.4% and 12, 2% respectively.
In the country as a whole, a total of 4.5 million people in Spain (9.5% of the population) live in severe poverty in Spain and 72% are Spanish.
According to the latest data available from the Living Conditions Survey (July 2021), the income threshold to consider that a household is in severe poverty is 6,417.3 euros per unit of consumption per year; that is, each person must survive on less than 281 euros per month in the case of a family with two adults and two minors, and with less than 535 euros per month if they live alone.
EAPN Spain recalls that with this budget, these people have to cover all their needs, so the main difficulty they encounter is having to choose between feeding or maintaining an adequate temperature at home, between culture and diapers or between having a computer or shoes.
Regarding the profile of people living in severe poverty in Spain in 2020, the document reveals that 72% are Spanish, many of them with a medium (53%) or high (17.9%) educational level and, in addition , with work (27.5%) and with home (95.2%).
14% OF CHILDREN LIVE IN THIS SITUATION
In addition, the study shows that 14.1% of girls, boys and adolescents (aged 17 or under) live in this situation, a figure that contrasts with 8.6% of the rest.
Another of the data that the report highlights is that 12% of the people who live in households with minors are in severe poverty compared to 7.1% of those who live in households without minors; and that 21.5% of the people living in single-parent households (mostly headed by women) are in severe poverty.
By territories, the Canary Islands, the Valencian Community and Asturias present the highest percentages, ranging between 12.2% and 16.7% of the total population living in severe poverty. In absolute values, the highest correspond to the communities with the largest population: Andalusia, which groups more than 980,000 people in severe poverty, Catalonia and the Valencian Community, with 702,000 and 674,000 respectively.
In addition, EAPN concludes in its report that after a year and a half of the pandemic, the signs “reaffirm the social bias of the disease”, both in terms of the possibilities of contagion and the “profound economic consequences” it produces. among the poorest population.
Specifically, it points out that people who live in poverty eat worse, have more diseases, are more obese, exercise less, live in underfunded or small homes, and most of those who manage to work do so in jobs that require face-to-face activity. .
The president of EAPN-ES, Carlos Susías, stated during the presentation that in order to face this serious situation of poverty in Spain, the positive impact of tools such as the Minimum Living Income (IMV) must be assessed, and highlighted some aspects improvement.
IMPROVE IMV COVERAGE
“It is necessary to improve the amount of the Minimum Vital Income by placing it above the poverty threshold, as well as its coverage, so that it reaches all the people who need it. In particular, those in a situation of greater social and economic vulnerability,” he asked .
For his part, the author of the report, Juan Carlos Llano, has emphasized the difficulties of people in severe poverty “to manage the permanent need to choose, to make a gradation between essential emergencies; between food and heat, between culture and diapers, between computer and shoes “.
For her part, the head of Political Advocacy and European Affairs, Graciela Malgesini, has pointed out that, in view of the data in the report, “poverty is the result of political decisions, inequality and injustice.”
“Its elimination is achieved through a high level of social protection, with effective and generous resources, universal public services and quality employment. And it is guaranteed through gender equality and the fight against all forms of discrimination,” he stressed.
EAPN-ES warns that the social and economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic will remain and continue to affect the most vulnerable population groups, so it is committed to extending the social protection measures implemented to deal with the social and health crisis.
