Record 5.6mln people in Italy cannot afford basic goods - Istat

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The National Institute of Statistics (Istat) stated that approximately 5.6 million Italians are living in "absolute poverty," a new record high since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
 
Italian experts revealed that absolute poverty is defined as a situation in which people cannot afford to purchase basic goods and services required to achieve a minimum acceptable standard of living.
 
According to the most recent Istat data, approximately 1.9 million families in Italy live in absolute poverty, accounting for 7.5 percent of all households. In turn, the number of citizens living in absolute poverty reached 5.6 million, accounting for 9.4 percent of the country's population.
 
Due to the economic impact of the pandemic, more than 1 million Italians were pushed into absolute poverty in 2020, a 15-year high.

100,000 Italian farms at risk of closure

Two months back, the major farming association Coldiretti said in a report that almost 100,000 Italian farms are on the verge of closing due to skyrocketing production costs caused by the war in Ukraine.

Growing production costs far outweigh what farmers and breeders are paid for their products, which range from milk to fruit, meat, and vegetables, the report added.

Furthermore, Coldiretti detailed, citing data from the Italian agricultural research organization CREA, that more than one farm in ten (11%) is on the verge of closure, and roughly one-third of the nation's total (30%) is working in conditions of negative profits.

Another issue is the discrepancy between the final price of products and what farmers receive after transportation and processing. 

Only 6 to 15 cents of every euro spent by consumers on food products goes to farmers. Bread, for example, is now nearly 13 times the price of wheat, according to Coldiretti.