SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE/MADRID, May 22. (EUROPE PRESS) –
Severe poverty fell last year by 3.7 percentage points in the Canary Islands to 286,423 people, 13.2% of the population, which means 79,288 fewer people, while the population at risk of poverty increased by 1. 1 points and stood at 641,296 people, 24,624 more than the previous year, with a rate of 29.4%, according to the report ‘State of poverty in the Autonomous Communities’ prepared by the European Network Against Poverty (EAPN- ES, for its acronym in English) and made public this Monday.
Compared to 2008, severe poverty has grown by 60,327, 1.8 percentage points more, and in the case of risk of poverty, it has fallen by 1.3 points, although it has grown by more than 29,000 people.
Despite the fact that its AROPE rate falls by 1.7 points compared to 2021, the Canary Islands is the second autonomous community with the highest proportion of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion, specifically more than a third of its population (36.3%).
In addition, the archipelago is the community with the second worst rates of risk of poverty (29.4%) and severe poverty (13.2%), the first experiencing the highest national increase.
Although its rate of severe material and social deprivation decreased (-3.8 percentage points) and its proportion of people in households with low work intensity (-6.6 percentage points), the Canary Islands register the worst data for both indicators, the report states. .
In turn, it presents the highest Gini index in Spain, 2.2 percentage points above the national figure.
Compared to 2015, only 2,000 people have ceased to be in an Arope situation, which keeps the Canary Islands far from the objectives committed to in the 2030 Agenda, for which it would have to accommodate around 190,000 fewer people at risk of poverty or social exclusion.
The report indicates that the increase in the corrective action of the State appreciated in 2021 is reproduced, although to a lesser extent, during 2022.
Thus, the continuity of some of the measures contemplated in the ‘social shield’ launched by the pandemic continue to have
a poverty containment effect, which highlights the importance of the role played by public administrations.
In total, Spain should have 2.1 million fewer people in a situation of poverty and social exclusion in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
“To comply, we should have 10.2 million people in AROPE, however we have 12.3 million, we are exceeded by 2.1 million,” warned the head of EAPN-ES Research, Juan Carlos Llano, in the presentation of the study.
Despite this data, the report highlights that poverty and social exclusion fell in all the autonomous communities in 2022 compared to the previous year. In total, there were 12.3 million people in this situation, 26% of the population, 800,000 fewer people than the previous year.
However, the improvement continues to be “insufficient”, according to EAPN-ES, since the country is “still far” from meeting the objectives established in the Agenda which, in its goal 1.2, establishes that by 2030 it should have been reduced ” at least half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions”. In the case of Spain, this means that in 2030 there should be a maximum of 6.6 million people at risk of poverty or exclusion.
The data also reflects a division of Spain into “two halves” and, although it notes “a process of reduction” in territorial inequality since 2016, it points out that “it is still very insufficient” since the AROPE and Severe Material and Social Deprivation rates ( The highest regional PMSS) multiply by 2.5 and 3, respectively, the lowest.
Specifically, the report highlights that, in 2022, in the southern regions, that is, Extremadura, Castilla-La Mancha, the Valencian Community, Murcia, Andalusia, the Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla, the AROPE rate reached 33.1% of the resident population (close to 5.5 million people), a figure that is reduced to almost 20.5% (6.8 million people) for those who live in the northern half of the country.
Regarding severe poverty, that is, people living in households with incomes of less than 6,725 euros per consumption unit per year (560 euros per month), in 2022 there were a total of 4.2 million people in this category in Spain. situation, that is, 8.9% of the population.
Regarding the regions, the severe poverty rate decreased in the last year in the vast majority of Autonomous Communities, except in Navarra, the Basque Country and Castilla y León. Despite the improvement, in some regions the rate of severe poverty affects more than a tenth of its population: Andalusia (14.4%), the Canary Islands (13.2%), Murcia (11.6%) and Extremadura (10.2%).
Considering the indicator of severe material and social deprivation, the study shows that five communities have seen their situation deteriorate: Navarra, Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura, Galicia and Andalusia. However, despite the general improvement, the north-south “gap” remains.
For example, regarding the ability to keep the home at an adequate temperature, in 2022, 17.1% of the national population was in this situation, compared to 14.3% in 2021 and 10.9% in 2020. All the autonomous communities with the exception of Aragon, the Region of Murcia and La Rioja have worsened their situation, with Extremadura and Andalusia showing the highest figures, with 23.1% and 21%, respectively.
A similar trend can be seen in the indicator of people who cannot afford vacations for at least one week a year. Despite the improvements in Andalusia, the Canary Islands and the Region of Murcia, these Autonomous Communities have, together with Extremadura, the highest percentages: 45.4%, 40.2%, 42.3% and 42%.
The report also assesses the value of the actual poverty risk rate and that which would exist in a society without State action. Thus, the study shows that, if there were no public transfer to households, nor those corresponding to pensions, 44.5% of the Spanish population would be at risk of poverty, some 11.3 million poor people more than those that are actually recorded.
In terms of the poverty risk rate, EAPN-ES highlights that in Cantabria, the Balearic Islands, Galicia, the Canary Islands, Extremadura and the Basque Country, transfers reduce between 30% and 39% the value that the poverty rate would have if they were not those contributions existed; while in the Community of Madrid, Castilla y León, La Rioja, Region of Murcia, Castilla-La Mancha, Aragon and Andalusia, transfers reduce it by between 21% and 25%.
THEY ARE NOT GOING TO BUY A YACHT OR AN ACCOUNT IN SWITZERLAND
In this sense, the president of EAPN Spain and EAPN Europe, Carlos Susías, has encouraged all political parties to apply economic development policies and allocate money to social protection. “These are incomes that go directly to commerce or to the local economy, it does not stay with families, it is not going to buy a yacht or an account in Switzerland, it goes to the local economy and helps economic growth”, he highlighted. Susiah.
Despite this “worrying” reality, EAPN-ES regrets that in the electoral campaign for the next regional and municipal elections “very little” is being said about the problems of the most vulnerable people.
In any case, from EAPN-ES they are optimistic about the reduction in poverty indicators because, as Juan Carlos Llano has specified, “in one year, in one go, they have recovered 12 years” so that people Those who were in a situation of severe poverty have become in a situation of poverty, and those who were in poverty have come out of it.
