INE puts extreme poverty at 6.5% in Venezuela

The Venezuelan National Statistics Institute (INE) reckons that household poverty in Venezuela will finish this year at 21.2%, that is, a 5.3% drop below 26.5% in 2011, according to INE President Elías Eljuri.

In the meantime, the INE envisages extreme poverty ending at 6.5% in 2012. Last year, it stood at 7%.

The preliminary results stem from the Population and Housing Census, the official added. After January 2013, full data will be available, including additional specifics on structural poverty.

Eljuri pointed to a total population of 28,946,000 inhabitants. "People's growth rate has been declining since 1990, from 2.3% down to 1.5%, that is, people's growth is slower," he explained.

He added that Venezuelans' life expectancy is 75 years of age, on average.