Italy poverty spending less than half EU average

(ANSA) - Rome, March 14 - National statistics bureau Istat on Monday said that 0.7% of Italy's current public spending is allocated to the fight against poverty, less than half that of the EU average of 1. 9%.
    In testimony in the Lower House on Monday during a hearing before the Labour and Social Affairs Committees regarding an anti-poverty bill, Istat said that in 2014, 1.47 million Italian families were classified as living in absolute poverty.
    Of those, poverty is worst in the country's south, with 704,000 families in absolute poverty, representing 45.5% of the overall total.
    Istat said absolute poverty figures experienced a jump between 2012 and 2013 - increasing a full 5% in the country's south, from 5.1% to 10.1% - before stabilising in 2014.
    The group that showed the biggest change in terms of exposure to absolute poverty has been "the growing vulnerability of minors".
    At the same time, Istat said the condition of poverty among the elderly has improved.
    However, elderly women are at a disadvantage as they depend on pensions that amount to less on average, and they more often live with children who have difficulty reaching economic independence.
    City governments in 2013 spent 6.8 billion euros on welfare programmes, representing a 4% decrease on 2010, when welfare spending hit its peak at about 7.1 billion euros, Istat said.
    In Italy, 84% of welfare recipients are elderly, and Istat said the country's welfare system "is aimed only in part at combating poverty and doesn't cater exclusively to individuals in difficult economic circumstances".
    "The system is less able to support couples with minor children or large families with at least five members," Istat said, adding that 16.4% of those in absolute poverty are families with five or more members.
    Figures on absolute poverty don't take into account those without a stable residence, which in 2014 totaled 50,724 people according to an Istat survey conducted in 158 Italian cities and towns, an increase of 3,076 people on 2011.
    During the hearing, Istat said the anti-poverty bill is justified, but that "it's important it be formulated to provide for a greater availability of resources and a consistent system with a framework of social supports and active labour policies".