Istat said Wednesday that just over 2.18 million households in Italy were in absolute poverty in 2022, Azernews reports, citing ANSA.

The national statistics agency said this represented 8.3% of the total number of families, up from 7.7% in 2021.

It said the incidence of families in absolute poverty reached 11.2% in southern Italy, compared to 7.9% in the north-east and 7.2% in the north-west.

Istat added that around 5.6 million individuals were in absolute poverty last year, an increase of 357,000 on 2021.

That took the proportion of individuals in absolute poverty up from 9.1% to 9.7%.

The agency said the increases were "largely attributable to the strong acceleration in inflation".

Istat said 1.27 million minors were in absolute poverty last year, taking the proportion up to 13.4% from 12.6%.