The poverty rate reached 40.1% of the population at the end of the first half of this year, compared to 39.2% in the second half of 2022, the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (Indec) reported this Wednesday. Meanwhile, the indigence index, which includes the number of people with income that is not enough to buy the minimum amount of food necessary for subsistence, stood at 9.3%, compared to 8.1% in the second half of the year. from last year. With a population estimated at 46 million people, these figures imply that 18.4 million people are below the poverty line, and that of the latter total 4.2 million are indigent. Between both measurements, the level of economic activity registered a drop of 1.8%, while the cost of living-inflation index accumulated a rise of 115.6% in the last twelve months, according to data from Indec itself. At the end of the first half of the year, the percentage of households located below the poverty line (PL) was 29.6%, where 40.1% of the people included in this situation reside. Within this group, 6.8% of households are distinguished below the indigence line (LI), which includes 9.3% of people.