Caritas Report 2023: 113 thousand Sardinian families in poverty

There are 113 thousand families who live in poverty without being able to maintain an average standard of living. These are the numbers that come from the Caritas 2023 report , presented today in the "Giorgio Pisano" room of L'Unione Sarda in Cagliari , on poverty and social exclusion relating to last year.

In its analysis, Caritas recounts the economic and social reality of the island thanks to the work carried out by the diocesan listening centers in the area.

«The great work of collecting and analyzing the data collected - reiterated Don Marco Statzu regional Caritas delegate on the sidelines of the meeting - returns a complex picture of critical issues that deserve special attention from the Christian community and from politics, to which we do not want and cannot replace each other, but with whom we can collaborate."

The Caritas listening centers of Sardinia, distributed in the 36 municipalities involved in the investigation, listened - one or more times - to almost 10 thousand people suffering from one or more personal or family problems. A figure that remained stable compared to 2021, but which should not be read as a positive aspect .

The ones who knocked on the doors of the centers were mostly Italians (67.6%). Of these, a share equal to 48.3% passed through those of the diocese of Cagliari, which absorbs the largest portion of the population resident in the Sardinian dioceses (33.6%) and where the highest population density is recorded

The 2022 data bring to light a fragility among women , almost as if to bring the scenario back to the situation before the pandemic. The phenomenon could be explained by the more marked exposure of women to the fragilities of the labor market that have arisen in recent years, just as it is they who found themselves asking for help for the first time from Caritas on behalf of their family, including many foreigners.

Almost one in two people is a forty or fifty year old . Furthermore , the lower the level of education, the higher the exposure to social disadvantage . Just under four fifths of the people who turned to the Help Centers (a share equal to 76.8%) have a low or medium-low level of education.