Share of population living below national poverty lines in Italy
Italy: Share of population living below national poverty lines was 20.1% in 2021. ▲ Rising
Share of population living below national poverty lines in Italy, 2003–2021
Source: World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform (2026) – processed by Our World in Data. Measured in % of population.
Analysis
Italy recorded 20.1% for share of population living below national poverty lines in 2021.
That represents a change of up 3.1% over ten years.
Over the whole period, share of population living below national poverty lines in Italy peaked at 20.6% in 2015 and was at its lowest, 18.4%, in 2008.
That places Italy 29th out of 70 countries with data for 2021, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 19 years of available data.
Share of population living below national poverty lines in Italy, year by year
| Year | % of population | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 18.9% | — |
| 2004 | 19.2% | +1.6% |
| 2005 | 19.3% | +0.5% |
| 2006 | 19.5% | +1.0% |
| 2007 | 18.9% | -3.1% |
| 2008 | 18.4% | -2.6% |
| 2009 | 18.7% | +1.6% |
| 2010 | 19.8% | +5.9% |
| 2011 | 19.5% | -1.5% |
| 2012 | 19.3% | -1.0% |
| 2013 | 19.4% | +0.5% |
| 2014 | 19.9% | +2.6% |
| 2015 | 20.6% | +3.5% |
| 2016 | 20.3% | -1.5% |
| 2017 | 20.3% | +0.0% |
| 2018 | 20.1% | -1.0% |
| 2019 | 20.0% | -0.5% |
| 2020 | 20.1% | +0.5% |
| 2021 | 20.1% | +0.0% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 19.0% | 18.4% | 19.5% | 7 |
| 2010s | 19.9% | 19.3% | 20.6% | 10 |
| 2020s | 20.1% | 20.1% | 20.1% | 2 |
Countries ranked near Italy
More poverty & inequality data for Italy
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via the World Bank 8 surveys (2025)
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via 0 surveys per person (2025)
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via 0 surveys per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Fertility rate vs. share living in extreme poverty 1.2 live births per woman (2023)
- Cereal yield vs. share in extreme poverty 5,059 kg per hectare (2023)
- Cereal yield vs extreme poverty, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2023)
- Cereal yield vs extreme poverty, annual growth rate 6.51 % change on previous year (2023)
- Tax revenues vs income inequality, gaps filled 41.99 (2023)
- Tax revenue as share of GDP vs. income inequality 42.0% (2023)
- Tax revenues vs income inequality, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2023)
Frequently asked questions
- What is share of population living below national poverty lines in Italy?
- Share of population living below national poverty lines in Italy was 20.1% in 2021, according to World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest share of population living below national poverty lines recorded in Italy?
- The highest recorded value was 20.6% in 2015.
- What is the lowest share of population living below national poverty lines recorded in Italy?
- The lowest recorded value was 18.4% in 2008.
- How does Italy rank for share of population living below national poverty lines?
- Italy ranks 29th out of 70 countries with data for 2021.
- Is share of population living below national poverty lines rising or falling in Italy?
- Over the last ten years it is up 3.1%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Italy data come from?
- The figures come from World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform (2026) – processed by Our World in Data, published as part of Share of population living below national poverty lines. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 19 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
National poverty headcount ratio is the percentage of the population living below the national poverty lines. National estimates are based on population-weighted subgroup estimates from household surveys.