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Children most hit by poverty

Seven out of ten Argentine children are poor. The INDEC national statistics bureau officially reported yesterday that four million children in Argentina live below the poverty line. Over two million of those do not have enough food to eat.

The statistics show that only 1.7 million children under 14 are not poor, a figure in stark contrast with the 4.1 million who are.

The data released yesterday date back to May and cover the whole country. It is the first nationwide figure of its kind as similar surveys were previously conducted only in Buenos Aires province and in the Federal Capital.

The report also shows that 53 percent of Argentines are poor and one in every four lives in extreme poverty, unable to buy enough food to survive.

The country’s northwest region is the most hit by poverty, with 69.8 people living in poverty and 38,8 percent in extreme poverty.

But the capital of Formosa — a province in the northeast — scores the highest levels of poverty at city level: 78.3 percent of the people are poor. In the province, which borders with Paraguay, 87.7 percent of those under 14 are poor and 56.1 percent live in extreme poverty.

In Greater Buenos Aires, the figures show the conditions are worse than average as 76.7 percent of children, almost 1.8 million, are poor. Only 500,000 children in the city suburbs are not poor.

The city of Buenos Aires has the best socio-economic indexes of the country: 67.4 percent of the children are not poor while 32.6 percent are poor.

Río Gallegos, the capital of the Patagonian province of Santa Cruz province, also showed good figures if compared with the national average: 62 percent of the children live above the poverty line and only 10 percent live in extreme poverty. (Herald staff with Télam-DyN)