Argentina’s poverty rate under Javier Milei reached 32.3% in the first half of 2026, up 4.1 percentage points from the second half of 2025. Extreme poverty rose from 6.3% to 7.5%, while unemployment reached 7.9% in the second quarter, INDEC figures show.
Household income per person rose 11.5% in the first six months of 2026, but the cost of necessities used to calculate the poverty line rose nearly 20%, INDEC said. Average salaries remain below their real level when Milei took office in December 2023. The Catholic University of Argentina, widely viewed as an early indicator of official poverty trends, says the rate could reach 35% by year-end.
After the government’s peso devaluation and sweeping spending cuts sharply reduced purchasing power, poverty climbed to nearly 53% in the first half of 2024; it later fell to 28.2% in the second half of 2025 as austerity eased inflation. The current rate remains below the 2024 level. As Milei seeks re-election in 2027, a September AtlasIntel survey found disapproval among lower-income respondents earning up to about $650 a month at nearly 70%, up from 57% a year earlier; approval fell below 30%, from 37%.
