Argentina’s poverty rate rose to 32.3% in the first half of 2026, up from 28.2% six months earlier, as prices for basic goods outpaced household incomes, INDEC reported. About 9.7 million people across 31 surveyed urban areas were below the poverty line.
Extreme poverty, or indigence, rose to 7.5% from 6.3%, affecting 2.25 million people; nearly 45% of children under 15 were poor. The survey covers 30.1 million people in major urban areas, not the country’s full population of 46 million.
Per-capita household income rose 11.5% from the previous half-year, while the basic basket used to set the poverty line climbed nearly 20%, INDEC said. Poverty had fallen from nearly 53% in the first half of 2024 to 28% in late 2025. Economy Minister Luis Caputo acknowledged the rise but said poverty and extreme poverty remained sharply below first-half 2024 levels.
