Poor and materially deprived people. Analysis of the current situation in Italy

In recent decades, the growth of the world population caused the absolute number of extremely poor people in the world to increase (Roser & Ortiz-Ospina, 2013). Moreover, while the progress continues in the developed Countries, fragile contexts affected by conflict/poor governance/natural disasters have seen an increasing number of people living in poverty (Collier & Dollar, 2002; Sumner, 2016). Not only that, the Oxfam International states that the gap between the richest and poorest people is growing: during the last year, the poorest half of the world became 11% poorer, while billionaires' fortunes rose 12%. Looking at Italy in more detail, in 2017 (year of last data available) this Country has recorded, together with Bulgaria, Romania, Greece and Lithuania, the higher share of persons being at risk of poverty or social exclusion (data source: European Commission Statistics). Furthermore, in the last ten years, the rate of severe material deprivation, that is the proportion of people whose living conditions are severely affected by a lack of resources, in Italy increased from 7.0% in 2007 to 10.1% in 2017. In addition, as stated by Italian National Institute for Statistics, the incidence of absolute poverty in 2017 was equal to 6.9% in terms of residing households (it was 3.5% in 2007) and 8.4% in terms of individuals (3.1% in 2007); the percentage of poor households in relative terms increased with respect to 2007 (12.3% in 2017 from 9.9% in 2016) and the same for poor individuals (15.6% in 2017 from 10.5% in 2007). Considering the growth of these numbers/statistical rates, the study presented in this paper aims to deepen the economic conditions both of families and individuals in Italy. The descriptive study will be carried out with the use of secondary data and through the analysis of historical series.