(ANSA) - Rome, July 14 - Istat national statistics bureau said based on 2015 data Thursday that an estimated 1.582 million families and 4.598 million individuals live in absolute poverty.

The latter is the highest number since 2005. The data for families was stable over the past three years, but rose by 7.3% per capita in 2013, by 6.8% in 2014 and by 7.6% in 2015. Poverty is on the rise among foreign residents in the wealthier industrialized North, as well as urban dwellers, large families, the elderly, and low-income people. The rise in per capita poverty was mostly due to an increase in absolute poverty among families of four (from 6.7% in 2014 to 9,5% in 2015) and among foreign families (from 23.4% to 28.3%).

Absolute poverty rose in the North both in terms of families (from 4.2% in 2014 to 5% the following year) and per capita (from 24% to 32.1%). The latter figure was due to a greater number of foreign families, Istat said.

