Investigators believe that every year it gets more and more difficult to fight poverty increase.
In 2017 poverty increased in Peru for the first time in this millennium, said El Comercio today.“According to the National Household Survey (Enaho), conducted by INEI, the poverty rate rose one percentage point last year, from 20.7% to 21.7% of the population.”, the media wrote, adding that 375,000 Peruvians stopped locating themselves in the middle class to fall into poverty.
This result implies that 21.7% of the country's population subsists by spending less than 338 Soles per month. This amount, according to the INEI methodology, covers only basic food and non-food needs.
As for the geographical zones where poverty increased, urban areas were affected the most, in comparison to rural areas.
“The area with the most deterioration in the country was Lima, where poverty climbed from 11% to 13.3% last year, reaching 180,000 additional people. This represents half the increase at the national level.”, El Comercio informed.
The increase in poverty matches a year where the Peruvian economy grew the least in recent years. Nevertheless, in 2009 and 2014, the economic activities showed even less movement and the country still managed to reduce poverty.The investigator Hugo Ñopo said to El Comercio that every year it gets more and more difficult to fight poverty, added to a “neglect of social policies”.
