Andalusia, once again, is among the three poorest autonomous communities in the country (29.1% of its population), has 3.04 million inhabitants at risk (35.8%), and occupies second place in terms of Deprivation Severe Social Material (11.3%). This is determined by the XIII Report ‘State of Poverty in Andalusia. Monitoring of the indicators of the 2030 EU Agenda 2015-2022’, prepared by the Andalusian Network for the Fight Against Poverty and Social Exclusion (EAPN-A), from which it is extracted that the price of housing, inflation in energy and in the shopping basket aggravate this problem.
Although the main poverty indicators analyzed in the study show a “certain improvement” compared to 2021 (although the region is also among the three poorest communities in the nation), the truth is that the situation worsens when it comes to of the Severe Social Material Deprivation (PMSS) items. In this sense, almost one million Andalusians, 11.3% of the population, have serious difficulties making ends meet, cannot keep their home at an adequate temperature, or cannot afford to buy meat or fish every two days), which makes the autonomous community the second region with the highest PMSS in Spain, only surpassed by the Canary Islands.
Poverty in Andalusia becomes chronic. Year after year, studies that address this problem push the community to the top of a dramatic ranking that reflects how the most populated region of Spain is also the one that accumulates the most poverty, with a total of 2.5 million poor people in absolute terms. Although this study by EAPN Andalusia shows improvement in some indices, the poverty rate in the region is 29.1%, 8.7 points above the national average. Those under 18 years of age and households with economically dependent minors register much higher rates than the rest of the country, 38.1% and 34.1% respectively, which is 10.9 percentage points above the rest.
In this sense, housing, employment, the rise in energy prices and the shopping basket have a negative impact on these poverty rates, figures that reveal, on the other hand, the “feminization” of poverty, as pointed out by Concha Danta, coordinator of the Technical Secretariat of the Network.
Almost half of the poor Andalusians (29.1% of the total population) are close to severe poverty, which is already at a rate of 14.4% in 2022, or in other words, they are people who They live in households with a maximum income of 530 euros per month per consumption unit. The average income per person in the region is 10,703 euros, more than 2,300 euros below the national income, making it the third lowest of all communities.
This situation complicates the lives of the inhabitants and generates significant problems in making ends meet. This is reflected in the study, which indicates that 54.6% of the inhabitants classified as poor barely manage to stretch their income to cover basic expenses. Almost a quarter of them (21%) acknowledge that they cannot maintain an adequate temperature in their home or that they cannot afford a meal of meat, chicken or fish at least every two days (8.0%); in addition to 28.5% of the poor population who have housing expenses greater than 40% of their disposable income.
Given the results of this new report, the president of EAPN Andalusia has warned that there is still much to do to comply with the commitments of the 2030 Agenda, since he has demanded that measures be put in place to improve working conditions so that Employment is stable, dignified, with rights and in healthy and safe environments. On the other hand, the entity considers it essential to implement mechanisms through which school failure and early educational abandonment of education are reduced in order to act against child poverty, as well as the promotion of Education Plans. Housing from the central government and the regional executives to increase the stock of protected housing, especially housing intended for people at risk of exclusion.
