Istat: 5.4 million people in absolute poverty in Italy in 2025, 9.3% of population

Headline figures

Istat, Italy's national statistics agency, estimates that about 2.1 million households, with 5.4 million people in total, were in absolute poverty in 2025. The figures come from the agency's report 'La povertà in Italia: Anno 2025', published on Thursday, 15 October 2026. The incidence among households stood at 8.0%, against 8.4% in 2024, while the share of individuals was 9.3%, down from 9.8% a year earlier. Istat sets its poverty thresholds by region and type of municipality, so the rates reflect local price levels rather than a single national line. Against the 2024 base of 2.22 million households and 5.74 million people, the change is small in absolute terms as well.

Nationality and family gaps

The gap by household composition is stark. Households made up only of Italian nationals had an absolute-poverty incidence of 5.9%. That figure rises to 26.7% for households with at least one foreign national and reaches 29.4% for households made up exclusively of foreign nationals. Children are also heavily affected, with 1,136,000 minors in absolute poverty, or 12.5% of resident minors. Among families with minors, the rate climbs with the number of children: 7.8% for couples with one minor, 10.0% with two and 17.7% with at least three. Single-parent families with minors stand at 11.6%, and for households with minors where the reference person is not employed or is looking for work, the rate is 21.1%.

Regional and age differences

The South, or Mezzogiorno, has the highest concentration of poor households: 813,000 families, or 9.6% of households there, down from 10.5% in the earlier measure. Next come the North-west with 568,000 households (7.7%) and the North-east with 386,000 (7.4%). The Centre records the lowest level, 338,000 households (6.3%, down from 6.5%). By share of all poor households, the South accounts for 38.6% (39.8% in 2024), the North for 45.3% (44.5% in 2024) and the Centre for 16.1% (15.7% in 2024). By age, the incidence falls as people get older: 12.5% of minors, 12.1% of people aged 18 to 34 (nearly 1,198,000), 8.9% of those aged 35 to 64 and 6.1% of people over 65 (over 891,000).

Depth of poverty and relative poverty

Istat's intensity measure, which captures how far the monthly spending of poor households sits below the poverty line, stands at 18.5% nationally and is stable. In the South it rose slightly to 19.0% from 18.5% in 2024. Relative poverty is also broadly flat: 10.8% of households (10.9% in 2024) and 14.8% of individuals (14.9%), amounting to more than 2.8 million families and nearly 8.7 million people. Absolute poverty also rises with household size, reaching 19.2% for households with five or more members, 10.5% for those with four and 8.4% for three-member households, which is still above the average.