BUENOS AIRES — Argentina’s poverty rate jumped to 32.3% in the first half of 2026, official data showed, as incomes failed to keep pace with the cost of basic goods — a setback for libertarian President Javier Milei little more than a year before he seeks reelection, the Associated Press reported.
The national statistics agency INDEC said the share of Argentines below the poverty line rose four percentage points from 28.2% in the second half of 2025. Extreme poverty, or indigence, rose from 6.3% to 7.5%. Roughly 9.7 million people in the 31 urban areas surveyed were living below the poverty line, including 2.25 million in extreme poverty; nearly 45% of children under 15 were poor.
Average per-capita household income rose 11.5% from the previous six months while the basic goods basket used to set the poverty line increased nearly 20%, INDEC said. Formal private-sector employment has fallen for 13 straight months, and economic activity dropped 2.9% in July from the prior month. Economy Minister Luis Caputo acknowledged the rise but stressed poverty remained far below the nearly 53% recorded in the first half of 2024 after Milei’s early austerity shock.
Sources: Associated Press via WTOP
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