New Delhi, Sept. 26 -- The national statistics agency, known as INDEC, reported that the share of Argentines living below the poverty line jumped four percentage points from 28.2% in the second half of 2025. Extreme poverty, or indigence, rose from 6.3% to 7.5%.

The reversal comes after Milei repeatedly touted declining poverty as evidence that his free-market economic overhaul was bearing fruit. Poverty surged to nearly 53% in the first half of 2024 after his government's devaluation of the peso and sweeping spending cuts left most Argentines unable to afford a basket of basic goods. But the rate then fell rapidly as Milei's austerity drive helped tame inflation, hitting an eight-year low of 28% in the second half of 2025.

Thursday's r...