The poverty level in Spain has reached its minimum

Spain is living through the lowest poverty rate in 10 years, but more than 13 million people remain below the line. These figures were published by the National Institute of Statistics for 2025.

According to the study, the AROPE (at risk of poverty or social exclusion) indicator has fallen to 25.7% of the population, which is approximately 13.5 million people. This is the lowest figure in the last ten years. The decline comes as a result of a rising household income and a decrease in the proportion of people experiencing serious financial difficulties.

The average income per person in 2024 was €15,620, an increase of 5.5%  in comparison to the previous year. However, problems remain. 8.5% of the country's residents admitted that they find it difficult to make ends meet at the end of the month. This figure has fallen by 0.6 percentage points over the year. In addition, almost a third of the population (32.2%) cannot afford at least one week of holiday per year, despite a slight improvement compared to 2024.

By age group, the greatest improvement was recorded among children under 16, for whom the risk of poverty fell by 0.8 points. Among elders over 65, the decline was 0.3%. For the 16-64 age group, the AROPE indicator rose slightly, by 0.1 points.

The situation varies significantly by region. The highest AROPE indicators are recorded in Andalusia (34.7%), Castile-La Mancha (34%) and Murcia (32.5%).

At the opposite end of the ranking are the Basque Country (14.7%), the Balearic Islands (15.2%) and Navarre (16.5%). These areas have the lowest levels of risk of poverty or social exclusion in the country.

Looking separately at regions where people struggle to make ends meet, the leaders are Castile-La Mancha (12.7%), Murcia (12.1%) and the Canary Islands (11.5%). At the other end of the spectrum are the Basque Country (3.8%), Aragon (4.7%) and the Balearic Islands (4.8%).