The poverty rate in 2022 fell by two points to 16.4% compared to the previous year, according to data released this Friday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE). In a press conference, Labor Minister Ana Mendes Godinho pointed out that this is “the biggest fall in the poverty rate in a year”. “It is important because it affects all populations: children, working-age adults, the elderly, pensioners, workers and the unemployed,” he stressed.
For the minister, “these numbers are historic from a point of view of the collective capacity to reduce poverty and reflect the resumption of the positive trajectory of improving incomes, living conditions and alleviating poverty, after the difficult year of fighting the pandemic.”
According to INE, the at-risk-of-poverty rate in 2021 corresponded to the share of residents with a net monetary income (per equivalent adult) of less than €6,608 (€551 per month).
By way of balance, Ana Mendes Godinho stated that “all aggregates reflect a reduction in poverty since 2015, the exceptional year of the pandemic”.
“In families with three or more children, it is important to reduce the rate, which has fallen by half since 2015,” he added.
Regarding the risk of poverty or exclusion, the minister also highlighted “the historic result”: “it fell from 22.4 to 19.4%, the biggest drop ever”. And he concluded: “We have 300,000 fewer people at risk of poverty or exclusion compared to 2021 and 735,000 fewer people compared to 2015”.
Given that “no fatalism or devilishness”, Ana Mendes Godinho believes that if the country “maintains this pace of recovery, it will be possible to achieve the goals of the 2030 poverty reduction strategy”.
The official stressed that the government has taken “strong action both in the competition agreement for wage valuation and in the decent work agenda”, which is expected to be approved by parliament this month, and recalled the update of the solidarity surcharge for the elderly, which will increase by 50 euros this year, the social benefit for inclusion, the social insertion income, which will increase by 10.3% to 209.11 euros, and the child benefit, the average benefit of which will increase by 77%.
However, the minister did not rule out new aid in the face of an inflationary crisis scenario: “We will continue with our mission and focus on monitoring the situation, taking extraordinary measures, we will continue on this path of reading the grounds, evaluating the action needed”.
Source: DN
