In the midst of tremors in the exchange market and disputes of Javier Milei with former conservative president Mauricio Macri, who has claimed a devaluation of the Argentine currency, the weight, the ultra -right government believed to find a time to celebrate: according to a much discussed measurement, Poverty has gone from 52.9% to 38.1% in the second half of 2024. The destitution, which was 9.9%, reached 7.2%. More than half of children under 15 are poor, despite the novelty released by the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INDEC). Such a decrease causes distrust and suspicion in the researchers who remember The recessive picture of the economy, He has his last expression in Nissan’s decision to stop manufacturing his cars in this country. The crisis is manifested in turn The thousands of lost jobs and the recoil of consumption. Milei expressed unlimited uproar for the official numbers. “These indices reflect the failure of the policies of the pastwhich plunged millions of Argentines in precariousness while selling that they were helping the poor. The current management demonstrates that the path of economic freedom is the way to reduce poverty. “The president mocked the economists who predict calamities and sustained this improvement,” the Argentines enjoy well and suffer mandriles (opponents), the club of the serial devaluators, The miserable politicians and the journalists set (corrupt) and ignorant (from those who self -perceive like the well -thought center and are left -handed left -handed. “The president’s office made his own exalting comment:” Milei and his economic team will deepen this path that has shown to return to Argentines the dignity that was denied for decades. “
In the mid -seventies, Argentina had 8% of the poor. The figure increased steadily between the last military dictatorship (1976-83) and the democratic governments of the 1990s that applied an economic program of edges similar to the present. After the economic collapse of December 2011, poverty hit 62% of the inhabitants. In 2015 it had been reduced to 37%. The administration of Macri, the subsequent pandemic and the Peronist management of Alberto Fernández aggravated the conditions of the humblest and partly explain the electoral victory of Honey.
The inflationary factor
For the government the decrease is a “direct effect ” of the fight against inflation and “macroeconomic stability.” The cost of living in 2024 has had an increase of 117%. Inflation between February 2025 and the same month of the previous year is 66.87%. Only formal workers’ salaries have been able to accompany these increases relatively. The informal market has not received that benefit. The increase in social aid has also contributed to improvement, according to the authorities.
The Indec announcement has been critically observed by economist Leopold Turarolli, a researcher at the Center for Distributive, Labor and Social Studies at the National University of La Plata. “The measurement covers only 100,000 or more inhabitants citiesdoes not capture small cities or rural areas, where the structure of poverty could be different. “
“Statistical fiction”
Poverty is calculated in Argentina in two ways: salaries that account for the ability to acquire basic goods and an evaluation that at the same time takes into account factors such as education, health and housing. Public services are not taken into account when knowing how many Argentines are poor. In the last 16 months The increase in the price of gas, electricity, water and transport in the city of Buenos Aires and its populous surroundings reached 430%. The price of Transportation increased by 2024 by 84% and millions of Argentines get on more than one bus on each round trip. Another element that is not considered are rentals. The latest 2025 national tenant survey states that 88% of those consulted face difficulties to face their obligations due to work precariousness and over -indebtedness.
The food horizon of Argentines also calls into question the presidential euphoria. A report by the Ministry of Human Capital last January showed that 61% of the population became severe problems to reach the basic basketwhich amounts to 1,057,923 (about 755 euros). The average salary of an employee is 520,833 pesos (372 euros). An average pensioner receives 472,000 pesos (337 euros) and that is one of the reasons why they take place weekly protests of grandparents and grandmothers against Congress.
A recent study of Observatory of the UCA Social Debt (ODSA) of the Argentine Catholic University (UCA) Remember in turn that, in addition to the impossibility of accessing food, there are other issues that determine poverty: the lack of medicines, network water or sewers, as well as the postponement of household improvements or personal care. Juan Ignacio Bonfiglio, a researcher at the ODSA, acknowledged that the deceleration of the prices of mass consumption products partially replied the situation of the most vulnerable households. However, he told the newspaper ´La ‘that the decline in poverty announced by INDEC “can be overestimated” if other important dimensions that make people’s rights and quality of life are taken into account. The director of the Observatory, Agustín Salvia has been more eloquent and talked about “Statistical fiction“
