Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (EFE).- The percentage of the population that is at risk of poverty or social exclusion dropped 1.6 points in 2022 in the Canary Islands, to stand at 36.2% of the total, the lowest level since The AROPE indicator began to be published in 2014, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics.
Despite this drop, the Canary Islands continues to lead Spain in poverty rates, with an AROPE rate that is 11 points above the average (26.0%) and above which there is only one region, Extremadura, where it suffers risk of social exclusion 36.9%.
The islands continue to be, in addition, the community with the highest proportion of inhabitants subjected to severe material and social deprivation, 11.9%, an indicator that has also improved notably compared to 2021, when it stood at 15.7 %.
The INE has published the AROPE indicator (acronym in English for “At risk of poverty and exclusion”) since 2014.
Its evolution in the Canary Islands has been as follows: 41.8% in 2014, 38.4% in 2015, 47.0% in 2016, 39.9% in 2017, 39.2% in 2018, 38.3% in 2019 , 39.1 in 2020, 37.8% in 2021 and 36.2% in 2022.
In turn, the indicator of population with severe material and social deprivation has had this behavior ever since on the islands: 21.5% in 2014, 15.7% in 2015, 16.8% in 2016, 12.2% in 2017, 15.6% in 2018, 6.6% in 2019, 18.0% in 2020, 15.7% in 2021 and 11.9% in 2022.
The AROPE indicators for each year are prepared with the income of the previous year. In this case, with the income of 2021, which in the Canary Islands stood at an average of 10,716 euros per person, 18% below the national average (13,008).
Below the Canary Islands in average income per person in 2021 are three autonomous communities: Extremadura, with 10,133; Murcia, with 10,632; and Andalusia, with 10,703.
According to the INE, 40.2% of Canarians cannot afford one holiday away from home each year (the fourth highest rate in Spain), 57.2% cannot afford unforeseen expenses (the highest rate highest in the country), 20.0 are late in paying for a home or making purchases in installments (the second highest) and 13.4% have great difficulty making ends meet (the highest).
In the last year, the improvement in employment in the Canary Islands is reflected in one of the indicators that make up the AROPE rate: the percentage of households with low work intensity (those whose members of working age did less than 20% of the total of their work potential during the year).
In this indicator, the Canary Islands has dropped from 21.1% of households that were in this position in 2021 to 14.5% that suffered from it in 2022, the minimum level for the islands since the series began to be published.
The islands with the community that has improved the most in this indicator in the last year, but continues to lead it, with one that exceeds the national average by six points (8.6%). EFE