AMERICA/ARGENTINA - The Bishops of Argentina meet the Pope, a country with 13 million poor and malnourished children

Tuesday, 30 April 2019 poverty   bishops   civil society   children  

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Rome (Agenzia Fides) - Today the ad limina visit of the Argentine Bishops begins. 106 Bishops will gather to meet with Pope Francis to report on the pastoral work of the Church in the Country.
Argentina is experiencing strong economic difficulties, according to a study by the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina (UCA), reported by the press a few days ago, the number of adolescents under the age of 17 who are socially disadvantaged, have increased from 37 to over 41 percent.
This means that there are 11.7 million children in urban areas and another 1.4 million children in rural areas who live in poverty. In addition to malnutrition, poverty factors include poor or limited access to education and health care.
The UCA poverty statistics have provoked political discussions in Argentina for years (See Fides 22/5/2013; 15/7/2015; 14/9/2015; 15/9/2015). In recent years, the university has changed the basics of its assessment of poverty statistics.
Argentine president Mauricio Macri had asserted that there had been a reduction in poverty during his presidency, but the figures say something else.
Agenzia Fides received from the "Social Debt Observatory", the conclusive report of the inquiry on Labor 2018, which presents the following picture: "Only 44.1% of the population is economically active from 18 years upwards, succeeded in obtaining full employment rights, while 9.9% of the population is unemployed and 18.6% is underemployed (it has odd jobs, holds temporary or unpaid jobs). 27.2% have a regular but precarious employment (with income levels above subsistence, but without any affiliation to the Social Security System)". (CE) (Agenzia Fides, 30/4/2019)


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