Spain creates basic minimum income for the poorest

The Spanish government approved in the Council of Ministers on Friday the creation of a guaranteed minimum basic income for the poorest households.

This income was set at 462 euros per month per person living alone, and up to 1,015 euros for a family, said Pablo Iglesias, leader of the left-wing Podemos party and one of the government’s vice presidents . It can be combined with low income.

At 21.6% of the population, the poverty rate in Spain is the highest among Western European countries, ranking third in the European Union. The objective of the government of Pedro Sanchez is to bring it back to the level of the European average (16.9%).

Some 850,000 households, or 2.5 million people, should benefit from this basic income, which will cost around 3 billion euros per year to public finances.