News of poverty

UCA report puts poverty rate at 43.1%

06-12-2022 14:07 More than 17 million people in the country are poor, according to the latest report by the influential Social Debt Observatory of the UCA Catholic university; Figure would rise to 50% without existing state assistance, concludes study.

Prices have risen by 88% over last 12 months, reveals INDEC

15-11-2022 17:06 Inflation was 6.3% in October, according to national statistics bureau; Price hikes stand at 76.6% since the turn of the year, with 2022 likely to end with a rate in triple digits.

Argentina 'must maximise resources to defend human rights,' says UN expert

06-10-2022 16:33 Visiting United Nations envoy Attiya Waris calls on authorities to ensure financial pressures do not affect the defence of human rights.

by Sam Forster

Around 5.5 million children in Argentina living in poverty

29-09-2022 02:11 Child poverty affected 50.9% of Argentina’s population in the first half of 2022, according to the Permanent Household Survey (EPH) by the INDEC national statistics bureau.

Inflation is upending politics in the most unequal region on Earth

15-09-2022 02:22 In Latin America, persistent high inflation is widening the gap between rich and poor in what is already the world’s most unequal region.

Social organisations renew demand for greater inflation aid

11-08-2022 09:47 Decision to spend the night in front of the Casa Rosada was taken after an assembly in which Unidad Piquetera leaders declared that their "demands were not heard" in meetings with government officials.

Recycled blankets and soup – volunteers help homeless as temperatures plummet

23-06-2022 23:16 Members of the Dando Una Mano and La Sachetera NGOs are providing vital assistance to the homeless in and around the capital as those living rough struggle against the freezing temperatures of the cold southern winter.

Family needs almost 100,000 pesos a month not to be poor

23-06-2022 14:29 A typical family in Argentina needed to earn almost 100,000 pesos in May not to qualify as living in poverty, according to INDEC.

Poverty fell to 37.3% in the second half of 2021

31-03-2022 15:55 Just over 37% of the population were living in poverty in the second half of 2021 – a drop of three points compared to the first half of the year, according to official data.

Jaime Perczyk: ‘The prime educational policy is economic policy’

18-02-2022 22:00 Education Minister Jaime Perczyk on the importance of classroom attendance, the pandemic’s impact on learning and the make-up of Argentina’s education system.

by Jorge Fontevecchia

'We're ignorant': Illiteracy haunts isolated Venezuelan village

13-10-2021 09:28 People in Ologá are facing a serious problem due to the lack of education, although it is far from being their main trouble since, for a long time now, they have also been suffering from lack of electricity, water, and domestic gas.

The poverty of patronage

02-10-2021 07:47 The defeat of the Frente de Todos government snapped a cruel paradox prevailing all this century whereby rising poverty represented a vicious socio-economic cycle for the nation but a virtuous circle for populist politics.

Pandemic pushes new homeless onto São Paulo's streets

29-08-2021 10:33 São Paulo is facing a homelessness crisis, as recent prices become too heavy of a burden for an increasingly impoverished population.

Sailing boats and cycle rickshaws in oil-rich, fuel-light Venezuela region

18-08-2021 15:13 Venezuelans are improvising to survive chronic fuel shortages in Zulia, the region that saw the birth of the nation's oil industry.

World Food Programme head warns of 'biblical' famine without action

30-06-2021 11:41 At the G20 Conferance, head of the World Food Programme David Beasley appealed for US$6 billion to prevent a "famine of biblical proportions" caused by pandemic-exasperated food shortages.

Venezuela's public sector surviving on 'starvation salary’

25-06-2021 23:46 Highest monthly salary for someone working in public administration is less than US$10 – many working in the public sector now take second or even third jobs to make ends meet.

Millions of pesticide containers illegally discarded or recycled in Argentina

04-06-2021 02:00 Argentina may be a leader in the production and sale of grains and oilseeds, but the country does not yet have a comprehensive strategy for the recycling of pesticide and fertiliser containers.

Pandemic, poverty loom over Mexican elections

02-06-2021 16:38 Mexico's Covid-19 death toll of more than 227,000 is the fourth-highest in the world. On Sunday, citizens will go to the polls to elect 500 members of the lower house of Congress, as well as 15 state governors and thousands of local politicians.

Economic downturn fuels crypto craze in Argentina

07-05-2021 08:00 As Argentines battles high inflation, a weaker currency and a shortage of US dollars, citizens have been putting their money into cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Tether, Etherium or Dai.

‘Abandoned’: Pandemic exacerbates poverty in La Matanza

30-04-2021 02:00 In poverty-stricken La Matanza, the economic downturn sparked by the coronavirus pandemic is hitting hard, with more and more people flocking to soup kitchens to feed their families.