The Canary Islands is the fourth region in the country with the highest rate of severe poverty. One in ten inhabitants of the archipelago lives in households that earn less than 644 euros per month. This is according to the 15th report on The State of Poverty, prepared by the European Anti-Poverty Network (EAPN).
Severe poverty rates are higher in people who are unemployed (22%), who pay market-rate rent (17.65), who have children in their care (10.3%), who live in rural areas (16.3%), or who have a disability (10.2%).
In total, 550,000 people residing in the archipelago live in poverty. Although 26,000 people have managed to escape poverty in the last year, a reality that is largely due to the annual change in standards in the methodology, the archipelago remains above the national average in the percentage of people living in poverty.
Severe poverty in the archipelago is higher in women than in men also in 2024, as it was in the previous three years. The gender gap is currently 0.8 points.
By age, more than one in ten minors lives in severe poverty, making them the age group most affected by this reality. After that, people between 30 and 64 years of age and people over 65 years of age are the ones with the lowest rates of severe poverty.
In the Canary Islands, one in ten people live in households with severe material and social deprivation, unable to access most basic items. It should be noted that being at risk of poverty is not the same as being in severe material and social deprivation, although a person may find themselves in both situations.
In the archipelago, one in ten households with economically dependent minors suffers from severe material and social deprivation. Among the deprivations analyzed, this study reveals that almost half of the Canary Islanders cannot cope with unexpected expenses, nor can they afford to go on vacation away from home for at least a week a year or replace broken or old furniture.
