Good news, although the numbers are still outrageous. The Arope rate, which measures the risk of poverty or social exclusion, stood at 26% of the population resident in Spain in 2022, compared to 27.8% that had been recorded the previous year. But those under the age of 16 continue to be the most affected and, in this group, the decline barely reaches 1%, according to the 2022 INE Living Conditions Survey. In Catalonia the Arope rate has dropped by 1.2 points and affects 24.7% of the inhabitants. In this way, it continues with the downward trend that was already observed in 2021 (25.9%) in relation to 2020, the year with the most alarming figure, 26.7%, due to the impact of the covid pandemic, according to data published yesterday by the Statistics Institute of Catalonia (Idescat).
The Arope rate analyzes the proportion of people at risk of poverty, which fell from 21.7% to 20.4%, combined with those living in households with severe material and social deficiencies, which they decreased by six tenths, 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 how many people have low incomes in relation to the population as a whole, clarifies the INE.
By age group, this rate dropped by one point among those under 16, and 2.7 in the 16 to 64 group. Conversely, it rose 0.8 points among those over 65.
The survey also focuses on other issues that describe the perceived economic situation at the time of the interview, which took place during the second quarter of 2022. Thus, 8.7% of the population stated that they reached end of the month with "much difficulty" in 2022, 0.1 points below what was recorded last year.
And 33.5% of the population could not afford to go on vacation for at least one week a year, 0.8 points above what was recorded in 2021.
In Catalonia, the deprivation that has registered a greater increase has been that which refers to the ability to keep the home at an adequate temperature: 19.2% have not achieved this, 3.3 points more than in 2021.
As for the average income per person (with reference to 2021), it reached 13,008 euros, a figure 6% higher than that recorded the previous year. In 2022 the poverty risk threshold for one-person households (calculated with 2021 income data) was 10,088 euros, 5.8% more than the estimate the previous year. In households made up of two adults and two children under the age of 14, this threshold was 21,185 euros.
Idescat points out that this survey in the case of Catalonia covers living conditions at the time of the interview, while the information on income, social benefits and work intensity refers to 2021.
