Rising Nearly 10% In A Single Year, Almost 77% Of Venezuelans Now Live In Extreme Poverty

A new study reveals that 76.6% of Venezuelans now live in extreme poverty — rising nearly 10% in a single year.

In 2020, the National Survey of Living Conditions — completed by researchers at Andres Bello Catholic University — had found that 67.7% of Venezuelan residents lived in extreme poverty. When income alone is considered, 94.5% of the population lives in poverty.

“It is the absence of opportunities,” Andres Bello Catholic University sociologist Pedro Luis Espana told Reuters. “It is sitting in front of the door of the house, doing nothing, not because you do not want to do anything, but because there is nowhere to do it.”

A host of economic problems currently plague the oil-rich South American nation, including hyperinflation, power outages, and shortages of food and medicine. According to the BBC, more than 5.6 million Venezuelans have fled the country in recent years.

The Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom finds that Venezuela is the 177th freest nation in the world — underperforming every other country with the exception of North Korea.= – READ MORE