Good news, although the figures are still scandalous. The AROPE rate, which measures the risk of poverty or social exclusion, stood at 26% of the population residing in Spain in 2022, compared to 27.8% registered the previous year. But those under 16 years of age continue to be the most affected and, in this group, the decrease is barely 1%, according to the INE's 2022 Living Conditions Survey. In Catalonia, the AROPE rate has dropped 1.2 points, reaching 24.7% of the inhabitants. In this way, the downward trend that was already observed in 2021 (25.9%) compared to 2020, the year with the most alarming figure, 26.7%, due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, continues. covid, according to data published this morning by the Catalan Statistics Institute (Idescat).
It should be remembered that the Arope rate analyzes the proportion of people who are at risk of poverty, which fell from 21.7% to 20.4%, combined with those who subsist in homes with severe material and social deprivation, which decreased six tenths, up to 7.7%, and with a very low work intensity, which went from 11.6% to 8.6%.
The risk of poverty is a relative indicator that measures inequality. It does not measure absolute poverty, but rather how many people have low incomes in relation to the population as a whole, clarifies the INE.
By age groups, this rate dropped one point among those under 16 years of age, and 2.7 in the group from 16 to 64 years of age. On the contrary, it rose 0.8 points among those aged 65 and over.
The level of training continues to be a key element to avoid the situation of poverty. 36.1% of the population that has reached an educational level equivalent to primary education or less was at risk of poverty or social exclusion, while among the population that has attained higher education, said rate drops to 14.1%.
By type of family, 49.2% of the people who lived in households made up of an adult with dependent children (single parents) were at risk of poverty or social exclusion, in 2022. In relation to the activity, the 55.7% of the unemployed were at risk of poverty or social exclusion, compared to 16.5% of the employed and 17.4% of the retirees.
By nationality, the percentage of people below the risk of poverty or social exclusion threshold was 21.9% for Spaniards, 39.6% for foreigners from the European Union and 60.4% for people whose nationality was not from an EU country.
Regarding the average income per person (referring to 2021), it reached 13,008 euros, a figure 6.0% higher than that registered the previous year. In 2022, the poverty risk threshold for one-person households (calculated with the income data for 2021) stood at 10,088 euros, 5.8% more than the estimate for the previous year. In households made up of two adults and two children under 14 years of age, said threshold was 21,185 euros.
The Survey also looks at other issues that describe the economic situation perceived at the time of the interview, which took place in the second four-month period of 2022. Thus, 8.7% of the population stated that they reached the end of the month with "a lot of difficulty” in 2022. This percentage was 0.1 points lower than that registered the previous year.
For their part, 35.5% did not have the capacity to face unforeseen expenses, compared to 33.4% in 2021. And 33.5% of the population could not afford to go on vacation for at least one week a year. This percentage was 0.8 points higher than that registered in 2021.
In Catalonia, the deprivation that has registered the greatest increase has been that related to the ability to maintain the home at an adequate temperature: 19.2% have not succeeded, 3.3 points more than in 2021.
Idescat specifies that the Catalan Survey includes living conditions at the time of the interview, while the information on income, social benefits and work intensity refers to 2021.
