1.4 million kids live in absolute poverty in Italy

The number of children living in absolute poverty across Italy has risen to over 1.4 million, newly-released official figures show.

Italy’s national statistics agency Istat released the figures on Monday in a report, showing a total of 1.434 million children lived in absolute poverty last year, a rise from 1.058 million in the previous year.

In addition, the data revealed that over six million Italians were found to be living last year in absolute poverty, meaning they were unable to afford the goods and services to meet the minimum standards of living.

The figures revealed a sharp rise of the Italian population living in absolute poverty, from 8 percent in 2012 to 9.9 percent the following year.

According to the report, the southern part of the country is the worst affected area, where 14.8 percent of the people were living in absolute poverty, compared to the 7.3 percent in the north and the 7.6 percent in the central regions.

The Istat report comes just days after a study by Caritas, an organization that aims to assist the poor, highlighted that poverty in Italy was affecting parts of society previously not regarded as vulnerable, such as employed families with two children living in the central and northern regions.

Caritas said the main contributors to the “scourge” of poverty in the country were lack of appropriate government intervention and the absence of a national plan to tackle the problem. The organization called on the cabinet of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi to enact measures to fight poverty.

Over the past decade, Italy has been the slowest-growing economy in the eurozone. The country’s unemployment rate stands at 12.6 percent. The jobless rate is even worse among the youth as more than 42 percent of young Spaniards are out of work, the highest level recorded since 1977.