Poor numbers rise in Italy to 10.5 million

The number of poor people in Italy rose to 10.48 million people - or 16.6 percent of the population - in 2013, Italy's official data agency Istat said on Monday. In 2012, the number of people counted as poor relative to an average cost of living index was 9.56 million people, or 15.8 percent of the population, Istat said in a report. The 2013 figure is for households of two people living on a budget of less than 972.52 euros ($1,325.18) a month.
Of that number, 6.2 million were estimated to be living in "absolute" poverty - compared to 4.81 million in 2012. The study found that households with three or more children were becoming poorer faster and noted the sharp rise in southern Italy where the number of "absolute" poor rose by 725,000 to 3.72 million people between 2012 and 2013. Italy's worst post-war recession formally ended in the fourth quarter of last year with growth of 0.1 percent of gross domestic product but the economy dipped back into negative territory in the first quarter by 0.1 percent.