Almost one in three people in Italy are at risk of poverty or social exclusion, ISTAT said in a report on Wednesday.
"In 2016, 30% of people residing in Italy were at risk of poverty or social exclusion, showing a worsening of the economic conditions compared to the previous year (28.7%)," the national statistics agency said. It said this rate is much higher than the EU average of 23.5%.
This means that that 18,136,663 people were exposed to the risk of poverty or social exclusion last year in Italy. The agency said this means that Italy was 5.255 million above the target set in the Europe 2020 strategy.
"All the components of the at-risk-of-poverty-or-social-exclusion indicator showed an increase," ISTAT said.
"The share of people at risk of poverty (20.6% from 19.9% in 2015), the share of severely deprived people (12.8% from 11.5%) as well as the share of people with low work intensity (12.8%, from 11.7%)".
ISTAT said that Italian households had registered "a significant and widespread growth of disposable income and purchasing power" but added that there had also been "an increase in economic inequality".
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