Almost 6 Million People in Italy Live in Absolute Poverty

Nearly 6 million individuals in Italy are living in absolute poverty. This is stated in the ISTAT (National Institute of Statistics of Italy) report titled Poverty in Italy for 2024, reported by BELTA, citing the Italian news agency AGI.

According to estimates, in 2024, 2.2 million families—representing 8.4% of all households in Italy—were living in absolute poverty. This amounts to a total of 5.7 million people.

It is noted that the highest levels of absolute poverty are found in small municipalities (with populations up to 50,000 residents) outside major urban centers, where the rate reaches 8.9%. The next highest figures are observed in municipalities with populations over 50,000 and in the outskirts of large cities, with rates around 8%.

The report highlights that the rate of absolute poverty remains the highest among large families. Nearly one in five families with three or more children (19.4%) are living in poverty. Furthermore, the report states that in 2024, over 1.28 million minors—representing 13.8% of all children living in Italy—are affected by absolute poverty. The number of families in absolute poverty that include minors is nearly 734,000.

As noted on Rai News, the poverty rate among families with at least one foreign-born member is 30.4%, rising to 35.2% among families composed entirely of foreigners.

The number of families living in absolute poverty in rental housing exceeds 1 million, or 22.1%.