More than half the population in the Region Murcia report financial difficulties: 55.1 per cent say they have at least “some difficulty” making ends meet until the end of the month. This is according to the 16th report, “El Estado de la Pobreza 2026”, published on 15 October 2026 by the Red Europea de Lucha contra la Pobreza y la Exclusión Social in Spain. For 2025, EAPN-ES reports a AROPErate of 32.5 per cent in the region, equivalent to nearly 515,000 people.
The AROPE indicator (poverty or social exclusion) consists of three components. For the region, Murcia the report gives a poverty-risk rate of 26.7 per cent for 2025, severe material and social deprivation of 9.6 per cent, and a 10.0 per cent share of households with low work intensity. Meanwhile, average per capita income in the region is €12,554 a year, €3,066 below the Spanish average. EAPN-ES considers that real purchasing power has not recovered since 2008.
Certain groups of the population are particularly affected. The report records higher AROPE rates for women (34.1 per cent), minors (44.6 per cent) and households renting on the open market (48.2 per cent). The AROPE rate is 57.2 per cent for unemployed people and 36.1 per cent for people with disabilities. At the same time, it notes a slight improvement in severe material and social deprivation compared with the previous year: in 2024, it stood at 11.2 per cent.
The figures presented are based on the Survey on Living Conditions 2025 (ECV) by the Instituto Nacional de Estadística and calculations by EAPN-ES based on it. The organisation stresses that the pressures in the Region of Murcia are structural. Although the AROPE rate in 2025 is below its 2015 level, the region remains well short of the targets of the Agenda 2030 .
EAPN-ES sees the results as evidence of a need for political action. It calls for more reliable income support, targeted labour-market measures and an expansion of social benefits to ease the burden on low-income households. The report contains no forecasts of future trends; its authors point to the need to evaluate existing measures and adapt them to price and rental-market dynamics.
The assessment of conditions in Murcia as more strained than average reflects the combination of high AROPE figures, below-average incomes and widespread reported difficulty with regular expenses. The report thus confirms persistent social vulnerability in the region, despite isolated improvements in some indicators.
Editor: Mira Cadena (Article created with AI assistance).