Ecuador’s poverty rate rises to 27% of population in first half of 2023

Ecuador experienced a rise in poverty and extreme poverty in the first half of 2023, with rates reaching 27.0% and 10.8% respectively by June, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Census of Ecuador (INEC).

This suggests that 27 out of every 100 individuals in Ecuador live in conditions of income poverty, per the findings of the National Survey of Employment, Unemployment, and Underemployment (ENEMDU).

The figures indicate a 2.0% rise from June 2022. Urban poverty increased from 16.7% to 18.0%, and rural poverty from 42.9% to 46.4% within the same period.

Since 2007, the nation has tracked income poverty through the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

The INEC explained that individuals with a per capita income below the poverty line are identified as income poor.

In June 2023, the poverty line was set at US$89.29 per capita per month, and the extreme poverty line at US$50.32 per capita per month.

This implies that an individual living in poverty earns less than US$2.97 per day on average, and a person in extreme poverty survives on less than US$1.67 per day.

Extreme poverty, at 10.8% nationally, impacts around 1.9 million people. It is more prevalent in rural areas at 22.6% compared to 5.2% in urban areas.

In terms of income inequality, measured by the Gini Index, there was a small, statistically insignificant increase between June 2022 and June 2023, taking the index to 0.467 nationally.

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