The latest report on ‘The state of poverty in Spain’, from the European network EAPN, reveals the existence of some 169,000 people in the Region who survive on less than 281 euros per month. Although there is an improvement in the situation in reducing the risk of exclusion
Almost
a third of the population of the Region of Murcia is still at risk of poverty and social exclusion, beyond the substantial improvement experienced in recent years and the fact that in 2020 there was again a positive evolution in this regard, despite the burden of the pandemic. Regarding severe poverty, where it measures the most intense degree of this situation, in absolute terms, it is calculated that some
169,000 Murcians are in severe poverty, 19,000 more than in the previous year.
These are families that do not exceed 6,417 euros per unit of consumption per year; or what is the same, where each person must survive with less than 281 euros per month in the case of a nucleus with two adults and two minors. That is, those households whose income per unit of consumption is less than 40% of the national median income, it is reflected that
In 2020, the severe poverty rate in the Region was 11.2%, a figure that represents an increase of 11.6% (1.2 percentage points more) compared to the previous year.
What’s more,
29.7% of Murcians would be at the risk threshold poverty and exclusion that measures the AROPE indicator -analyses income, employment and living conditions-, as recounted in the latest report ‘The state of poverty in Spain’, presented this morning by the European Network to Combat Poverty and Social Exclusion in the Spanish State (EAPN-ES).
In absolute terms, the existence of
some 447,000 people residing in the regional territory who are at risk of poverty, which means up to
26,000 less than those recorded the previous year. However, it cannot be ignored that Murcia still does not reach the AROPE values prior to the first financial crisis. In this sense, the comparison with 2008 shows an increase of 2.2 percentage points, which represents a growth of 8% in the period as a whole. In any case, it is a lower rate than that registered in the national territory as a whole.
In its analysis, this EAPN network, made up of different organizations, all of them non-profit-chaired in the Region by Rosa Cano, reveals that the poverty data for this year confirm the favorable evolution, particularly with respect to 2015, designated year control of the 2030 Agenda and in which the Arope rate reached 44.9%, the worst in its entire historical series. For this reason, the risk index decreased by 9.1 percentage points, 23% less, which means about 120,000 fewer people. Undoubtedly, a very positive aspect in the context of the increase produced at the national level.
Of course, despite the increase in this last year, the data also improve with respect to 2015. In this sense, the rate is reduced by 1.6 percentage points, which meant the removal of some 71,000 people from severe poverty. Even the figures are still well above those registered before the crisis, in which they reached 8.2% of the population. To reach them, 52,000 more people would have to be removed from severe poverty.
Regarding the risk of poverty and exclusion, the decrease of 2.2 points over the previous year came to place
the Region as the second that has decreased the most in percentage terms (6.9%). However, the regional rate is 12% higher than the national average and is
the fifth region with the highest AROPE rate, only behind Extremadura, the Canary Islands, Andalusia and, for very little, Castilla-La Mancha.
For its part, the overall poverty rate in the Region is reduced this year and now stands at 25%, the second lowest figure in the entire historical series. Although, in any case, it is the fifth highest of all the regions, only lower than that of the same autonomies referred to above. On the whole,
there are 376,000 poor Murcians, of which 194,000 are women and 182,000 are men. Meanwhile, due to the decrease in the poverty rate, the difference with the national average is cut, which becomes 4 percentage points.
It must be taken into account that Murcia was one of the autonomous communities that suffered the consequences of the crisis that began in 2008 with the greatest intensity. In fact, the direct consequence was the existence of 57,000 new people at risk of poverty and exclusion. Even since then, the AROPE, poverty, severe poverty and PMS rates are higher than the national average in percentages that range between 8.6% and 19% and higher than those at the beginning of the period.
It cannot be ignored, with respect to 2015, that the poverty rate as such has been reduced by 6.8 points (21.4% less), which represents some 89,000 people who came out of poverty in that period. And with respect to 2008 the difference is cut to half a percentage point. Even so, due to the population increase, there are still 28,000 more people in poverty than at the beginning of this period that lasted more than a decade.
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