Argentina Poverty Rate Rises to 32.3% Under Milei Administration
- Argentina's national poverty rate climbed to 32.3 percent during the first half of 2026, according to official statistics released Thursday by the national statistics agency Indec.
- The rate of extreme poverty also rose significantly, moving from 6.3 percent to 7.5 percent over the same period.
- The latest statistics deliver a setback to Milei, a free-market radical who took office on a platform promising to revive a struggling economy through sweeping deregulation and drastic...
Argentina’s national poverty rate climbed to 32.3 percent during the first half of 2026, according to official statistics released Thursday by the national statistics agency Indec. The figures show a 4.1-point increase compared to the second half of 2025, partially erasing prior gains achieved under President Javier Milei as household incomes struggle to keep pace with rising consumer prices.
Extreme Poverty and Child Impact
The rate of extreme poverty also rose significantly, moving from 6.3 percent to 7.5 percent over the same period. Indec defines adults as poor if they cannot afford a basic basket of goods and services valued at approximately $340, while extreme poverty designates individuals unable to purchase a basic food-only basket worth roughly $150. Children absorbed the heaviest impact of the economic downturn. Data shows that 44.5 percent of Argentines aged 14 years and younger are classified as poor, with 10.8 percent falling into the extreme poverty category.
Economic Context and Austerity Measures
The latest statistics deliver a setback to Milei, a free-market radical who took office on a platform promising to revive a struggling economy through sweeping deregulation and drastic austerity measures. During his first two years in office, the poverty rate was nearly halved, dropping from a peak of 52.9 percent in the first half of 2024—which followed a more than 50 percent devaluation of the peso—down to 28.2 percent in the second half of 2025. This year’s upward shift coincided with a temporary rebound in inflation at the start of the year, though inflation subsequently declined to 1.7 percent by August, marking its lowest level in 14 months.
Labor Market Pressures and Job Insecurity
Eduardo Donza, a researcher at the Social Debt Observatory of the Argentine Catholic University (UCA), pointed to job insecurity as a primary driver of high poverty rates within South America’s second-largest economy. Falling domestic purchasing power combined with Milei’s policy of opening Argentina to foreign competition has triggered a surge in imports, leading to widespread closures in the manufacturing and retail sectors. Official records indicate that approximately 30,000 companies have closed since Milei assumed office, pushing unemployment up to 7.9 percent in the second quarter of this year, the highest level recorded since 2021. Economists note that informal work remains an even larger driver of distress than headline unemployment figures.
The biggest problem is job insecurity, not unemployment, because when families are deprived…they have to invent a job, which can be collecting waste, street vending, selling food at the train station.
Eduardo Donza Despite the setback in official poverty metrics, Milei maintains that his administration has successfully lifted 14 million people out of poverty, an estimate calculated from the dramatic peak recorded shortly after he took power.