The deterioration of the economy in recent years is taking its toll on minors in the Region of Murcia with greater intensity than in other autonomous communities. According to the 2023 Living Conditions Survey published this Friday by the Childhood Platform, the percentage of Murcian children and adolescents at risk of poverty or social exclusion has stood at 41.4% this year, eight tenths more than last year. , while in Spain this rate was reduced by another eight tenths to remain at 32.2%.
The Region is the third autonomous community with the highest percentage of minors at risk of poverty. Only the Canary Islands (48.7%) and Andalusia (43%) surpass it. Some 125,000 children and adolescents in the Region are in this situation.
The problem is much more serious than the figures indicate because of its persistence over time, since the Region has always maintained a risk of poverty and social exclusion rate (also known as the Arope rate) above the national average. .
The fourth in severe poverty
The highest rate in the last fifteen years was reached in 2014, when more than half (56.5%) of those under 18 years of age in the Region were in poverty, more than twenty points above the average national. On the other hand, the year in which the percentage was lowest was in 2018, with 32.7%.
The report also offers positive data, such as that Murcia is the autonomous region that has reduced the rate of severe material deficiency the most this year.
In the ranking of communities by severe poverty rate, the Region is once again at the bottom. It is the fourth with the highest percentage, with 14.1%, which means that some 49,000 Murcian children and adolescents live in households with incomes below 40% of the median income. The regional rate is six tenths higher than the national average (13.5%).
The report also offers positive data for the Region of Murcia, which this year has been the autonomy that has reduced the rate of severe material deficiency the most.
Murcia exceeds the national average in the number of households that cannot afford to face unforeseen expenses (44.1%), that cannot go on vacation for at least one week a year (43%), that cannot maintain their home at a adequate temperature (22.8%) and that they do not have a computer (6.9%).
Almost half of households (44.1%) cannot meet unforeseen expenses
These are some of the factors that make up the rate of severe material deficiency, an index in which the Region stands out for being the one that has managed to reduce this indicator the most in the last year (6.1 points), compared to the increase of 1. 2 points experienced in the whole of Spain.
This decrease has resulted in Murcians under 18 years of age in a situation of severe material deprivation representing 5.3% of the total, the second lowest percentage by community, only higher than that of Aragón (4.9%) and much lower to the national average (10.1%).
recommendations
In the chapter of the work dedicated to Murcia, the Childhood Platform includes a series of recommendations, such as “implementing improvements in the guaranteed income of citizenship so that it reaches a greater number of vulnerable families.”
It also proposes “developing transversal protocols” that allow identifying minors in situations of poverty or social exclusion, and “configuring a network to help the most needy children in which both local public administrations and third sector entities are involved.” and civil society.
Increasing dining scholarships, improving access to public education for children under 3 years of age and creating strategies to promote rural development and digitalization are other proposals of the Childhood Platform.
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