Poverty in the nation’s capital rose in the first quarter of 2026, snapping a run of consecutive monthly year-on-year declines across five quarters, according to data from the IDECBA Buenos Aires City statistics bureau.
At the close of the January-March period, 651,000 people – around 21 percent of the capital’s population – were living in poverty, up 38,000 on the same period in 2025, said an IDECBA report.
At the household level, 236,000 homes (17.2 percent) fell below the poverty line, compared with 15.2 percent a year earlier.
Extreme poverty also worsened, affecting 274,000 people (8.9 percent) and 93,000 households (6.8 percent) – a jump of 2.7 percentage points year-on-year.
Within the broader poverty figure, the share of households in extreme poverty rose from 27 percent to 39.6 percent over the year; measured by individuals, the proportion climbed from 32.2 percent to 42 percent.
The rise was driven largely by an expansion of non-extreme poverty, according to IDECBA's Quarterly Employment and Income Survey (ETOI), with warning signs for the middle class.
The middle class remains the largest social stratum, accounting for 50.8 percent of households (698,000) and 47.2 percent of the population (1,458,000 people), though both figures fell by roughly 1.5 to 1.7 percentage points over the year.
The bracket covers households whose monthly income is between 1.25 and 4 times the basic household basket (canasta total).
The fragile middle sector, whose income sits between one and 1.25 times the basket, comprised 8.5 percent of households and 9.7 percent of the population (117,000 and 300,000 respectively), registering a year-on-year decline of close to two percentage points.
Wealthier households – those earning four or more times the basket – reached 189,000 (13.8 percent) and 358,000 people (11.6 percent), with the report noting a modest but not significant increase.
Poverty was felt most acutely in the city's southern zone (24.9 percent) and in households with children under 14 (26.2 percent), with rates rising in line with the number of minors present.
Households with elderly members recorded a poverty rate of 12.9 percent, below the City average.
– TIMES/NA/PERFIL
Comments