The number of Italians living in absolute poverty (below the monthly income of 569.56 euros to 839.78 euros per person, depending on the region), was last year a record since 2005 when they began to keep such statistics. This is reported by the National Institute of Statistics.

In 2020, more than 5.6 million people and more than two million families were living in absolute poverty in Italy. More than 2.6 million families lived in relative poverty (less than 1001.86 euros of spending per family of two). 767,000 families with minor children lived in absolute poverty.

Italy’s national debt in 2021 will be the highest in a century and will amount to almost 160 percent of GDP, writes Bloomberg. It will exceed even the figure of the first year after the end of the Second World War when the ratio between public debt and GDP was 159.5 percent.

The budget deficit is forecast to widen to 11.8 percent this year as Europe’s third-largest economy seeks additional billions of euros in loans to help protect its citizens and businesses from the effects of the pandemic.