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New Study Finds Argentina’s Middle Class Shrinking, With Widespread Cutbacks

A Fundación Pensar report finds the middle class contracting under persistent inflation.

Overview

  • The report, produced by Fundación Pensar with Casa Tres and consultants using 2,319 national surveys and INDEC data, frames a structural weakening of the middle class.
  • By the study’s income thresholds, 43% of households qualify as middle class versus 52% in the lower class and 5% in the upper tier.
  • Fifty-five percent of respondents say the middle class is getting smaller, and 41% feel they live worse than their parents.
  • Sixty-three percent report cutting spending in recent months, with private health insurance cited by 28% as the last service they would give up.
  • Two-thirds place themselves at the lower edge of the middle class or below (34% lower-middle and 34% upper-lower), while six in ten say their job only allows them to subsist and only 40% of youth see study and work as a path to advancement.