In the radial pass between Reynaldo Sietecase and Ernesto Tenembaum A compiled recording of several monthly speeches by the president was broadcast on Radio con Vos Javier Milei, at different times, in which the statistics of how many inhabitants of the country have left the line of poverty since the inauguration and management of the libertarian government are increasing, one million at a time.
In the edited version you can hear the president start with 8 million Argentines and, as the months go by, it increases million by million, until reaching 15 million citizens. Curiously, in the speech, the percentage average always remains at 30%, without the millionaire number of Argentines who overcome poverty altering the percentage. And there was no demographic boom in between either.
Since the government of Javier Milei in December 2023official figures and studies by private consulting firms agree that poverty in Argentina has shown relevant variations, although with different interpretations depending on the source. According to the official data from the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC)the percentage of Argentines below the poverty line experienced a strong increase in the first months of 2024 —reaching approximately 52.9% of the population during the first half of the year, which means around 24.9 million poor people in the country. This rebound was mainly driven by the impact of currency devaluation and inflation after the change of Kirchnerist government for the Libertarian one.
However, with slowing inflation and the proliferation of social plans, official semiannual reports indicate that poverty began to decrease. The second semester of 2024 closed with a poverty rate of 38.1%which according to INDEC was equivalent to approximately 11 million people below the poverty line. Already in the first semester of 2025the organization recorded a new reduction to 31.6%a figure that represents just over 14 million people in poverty in the country.
Many disbelieve the veracity of these numbers, after the resignation of Marco Lavagna as director of the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC) he February 2putting an end to a management of more than six years in front of the body that directs the main official statistics of Argentina, including inflation and poverty. An exit that generated a strong political and economic impact, at a time when official statistics are under public scrutiny.
According to INDEC sources and statements from officials, The formal reason for the resignation were differences with the national government over the implementation of a new methodology to measure the Consumer Price Index (CPI).. Lavagna had promoted the change towards a new CPI based on more current data from the Household Expenditure Survey, but the Ministry of Economy, led by Luis Caputoproposed that this change should be postponed until disinflation was “fully consolidated.”
Minister Caputo explained that Lavagna’s departure occurred because “We have been working on the new INDEC methodology and Marco’s target date was to implement it now, and with the president we always had the vision that the change had to be implemented once the disinflation process was already consolidated”in reference to the slowdown in prices that the government promotes as one of its achievements.
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