The National Institute of Statistics has updated poverty and indigence data for the first half of the year.

Poverty in Uruguay stood at 9.1% during the first half of 2024, according to data released Tuesday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

This meant that out of every 1,000 people, 91 did not exceed the minimum income to cover their food and non-food needs considered for the measurement.

The data indicates that poverty in the South American country was reduced by 1.3 percentage points compared to the first half of 2023, when the figure was 10.4%.

Household poverty also decreased. In the first half of 2024, household poverty stood at 6.4% compared to 7.2% last year.

This meant that out of every 1,000 families, 64 were below the poverty line.

The Ministry of Economy (MEF) pointed out that, unlike estimates from previous semesters, the data is indicating a reduction in poverty, since the interannual variation exceeds the margin of error set by the INE. On this occasion, it was 08% for poverty.

In the 2023 semester, for example, the difference had been 0.3 percentage points, so the measurement was within the margin of error established at that time of 1 percentage point.

According to the official view, poverty reduction is linked to the recovery of employment, real wages and the improvement of formality, among others.

The MEF estimates that in the first half of 2024, approximately 45,000 people will have escaped poverty compared to the first half of last year.

Economist Aldo Lema mentioned in his X account that the reduction in poverty according to estimates by the income method was statistically significant in the interannual comparison.

Meanwhile, indigence in the first half of the year ended at 0.4% with minimal year-on-year variation. In the same period of 2023, it had been at 0.2%.

This meant that for every 1,000 people, four did not earn the minimum income required to cover basic food needs.

Household surveys showed that 0.3% were in the same situation.