Bogota, May 3 (Inditop.com/EFE) More than 20 million Colombians – 45.5 percent of the population of the Latin American nation – are living below the poverty line, an official report has said.
Poverty in Colombia last year affected 19.9 million people. Of them, more than 7.1 million were destitute, the study released by the country’s statistics office said.
Colombia has a total population of 43.7 million.
According to the statistics, people in Colombia are considered poor when their monthly income is less than 281,384 pesos ($143), and indigent or destitute when they earn less than 120,588 pesos ($61).
The study said poverty decreased by 0.5 percent between 2008 and 2009, while those considered indigent dropped in the same period from 17.8 percent to 16.4 percent.
According to the poverty level in cities, one that had the lowest percentage of poverty among its inhabitants was Bucaramanga with 18.5 percent, while the city with the highest percentage of poverty-stricken people was Manizales with 45.4 percent.
