SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 24 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The rate of risk of poverty or social exclusion AROPE (At Risk Of Poverty or social Exclusion) stood at 36.2% of the population residing in the Canary Islands in 2022, which represents 1.6% less compared to the previous year, when the AROPE rate was 37.8%, which places the Archipelago as the seventh autonomous community where this indicator falls, according to the 2022 Living Conditions Survey (ECV) published this Monday by the National Statistics Institute (INE).
The reduction in the AROPE rate in the Canary Islands occurred in two of its three components. Thus, the percentage of people residing in homes with severe material and social deprivation decreased on the islands by almost four points, to 11.9%, making it the first community where this indicator fell the most. For its part, the percentage of the population in a situation of low employment intensity went from 21.1% to 14.5%, the second largest drop in the country and the lowest data in the historical series (2014). However, the percentage of the population at risk of poverty increased from 28.4% to 29.4%.
At the national level, 35.5% of Spanish households did not have the capacity to face unforeseen expenses last year, the percentage 2.1 points higher than in 2021 and the highest since the year 2018 (35.9%), according to the INE Survey, which considers that households have the capacity to face unforeseen expenses when they have their own resources to do so, that is, without resorting to loans or purchases in installments to pay habitual expenses that were previously settled in cash.
The survey, carried out in the second quarter of 2022, with the war in Ukraine already underway and inflation on the rise, also reveals that 8.7% of households made it to the end of the month with “great difficulty” in 2022, a percentage one tenth lower than that of 2021 and the lowest since 2019, when it reached 7.8%.
The INE also points out that the number of households that have not been able to afford to go on vacation for at least one week a year stood at 33.5% in 2022, eight tenths higher than in 2021.
According to the statistical body, 13.2% of households admit that they are behind in payments when paying expenses related to the main home or purchases in installments in the 12 months prior to the survey. This percentage has improved by slightly more than one point compared to 2021.
CANARY ISLANDS AND ANDALUSIANS, THOSE WHO HAVE THE HARDEST DIFFICULT TO MAKE IT TO THE END OF THE MONTH
Canarias (13.4%), Andalucía (11.7%) and Extremadura (11%) were the autonomous communities with the highest percentages of households that made it to the end of the month with “much difficulty” in 2022. In contrast, the lowest percentages They are presented by La Rioja (3.3%), the Basque Country (3.9%) and the Balearic Islands (5.7%).
Likewise, households in the Canary Islands (57.2%) and Murcia and Andalusia (44.7% in both cases) are the ones with the least capacity in 2022 when it comes to facing unforeseen expenses. On the opposite side are the Basque Country (18.7%) and La Rioja (19.6%).
For their part, Andalucía (45.2%), Extremadura (42.3%) and Murcia (41.9%) registered the highest percentages of households that could not afford to go on holiday away from home for at least one week a year in 2022. The lowest percentages were in La Rioja (18.3%), the Basque Country (18.7%) and Madrid (21.3%).
In the case of households with delays in payments related to the main residence or purchases in installments, the Balearic Islands (20.5%), the Canary Islands (20%) and Andalusia (16.3%) presented the highest percentages. On the contrary, Cantabria (5.3%) and the Basque Country (7.2%) registered the lowest.
AVERAGE INCOME PER PERSON RISES 5.4% IN 2021
The 2022 ECV also includes how the average income per person has evolved, although in this case referring to the year 2021. In the Canary Islands these stood at 10,716 euros, a figure 5.4% higher than the previous year, when it was 10,161 euro.
At the national level, the average income per person stood at 13,008 euros, which is 6% more than in 2020, the year in which, due to the pandemic, the first drop in this indicator since 2013 was recorded.
The highest average annual income in 2021 occurred in the Basque Country (16,427 euros per person), Navarra (15,970) and Madrid (15,695), while the lowest corresponded to Extremadura (10,133 euros per person), Murcia (10,632) and Andalusia (10,703).
Taking into account the income of 2021, the percentage of the population at risk of poverty reached 20.4% in 2022, the lowest rate since 2013. For its part, the rate of risk of poverty or social exclusion fell in 2022 by almost two points, up to 26%, its lowest figure since 2014, when the series began.
