The UNR Data Factory presented a special report on poverty lines in the city based on total basic food baskets differentiated by household type.
In March of this year, a person needed $428.282 to avoid falling below the poverty line, and a typical homeowner household of two adults and two children needed $1.273.413.
Since 2019, the UNR Data Factory has been producing monthly estimates of the basic food basket for the city of Rosario, and starting this year, it also incorporated the monthly estimate of the total basic basket, a key input for calculating poverty in Rosario and the region. This includes, in addition to food and beverages, clothing, housing and basic services, household equipment and maintenance, medical care and health expenses, transportation and communications, recreation, and education.
The term poverty "is complex and controversial," say researchers, and throughout history there have been numerous debates about both its definition and measurement. In general terms, it is associated with the idea of deprivation and the inability of people to satisfy a set of needs considered basic to functioning in the society in which they live.
To estimate the cost of this total basic basket in Rosario, they constructed coefficients based on an analysis of the latest National Household Expenditure Survey prepared by INDEC. In this sense, they defined ten types of households according to size (single-person, non-single-person), tenure (owners, non-owners), the presence of children under 18 years of age, and the presence of people over 65 years of age.
For example, a single-parent household headed by a young woman with two children and no homeownership required $1.036.216 in March 2025 to avoid poverty, an increase of almost $100.000 compared to the previous month. Meanwhile, a family of four with their own home had the highest total basic food basket among the cases analyzed: $1.275.171, due to household size, although moderated by economies of scale and homeownership.
“The comparison between both cases shows that the material conditions of existence, in addition to the number of members, are determining factors in access to decent living conditions,” the Report indicates, and considers that this methodology allows for the estimation of more precise poverty lines that are sensitive to the diversity of conditions, observes how the cost of a basic basket of goods and services varies according to the profile of the household, and offers a tool for the evaluation of material living conditions and social policies at the local level.
Food prices rise
The basic food basket is defined as the set of foods a person needs, per month, to meet their minimum nutritional requirements. It is defined by INDEC and seeks to account, first, for the calorie and basic food group requirements to ensure physical survival and, second, for a cultural component related to the population's consumption habits.
Since these nutritional requirements vary according to sex, age, and intensity of physical activity, the basket is based on an adult male aged 30 to 60 years, with moderate physical activity, who is called an "adult equivalent." This means that a household's basic food basket depends on the number, sex, and age of its members.
In March 2025, the basic food basket for an adult equivalent was valued at $156.880, with a monthly increase of 12,6%. This increase was driven by strong increases in fresh products such as fruits (+46,0%), vegetables (+37,0%), and roots and tubers (+63,7%). The year-over-year variation in this basket reached 38,2%. Meanwhile, the total basic food basket was $428.422, with a monthly increase of 10,2%. In year-over-year terms, it grew by 37,2%.
According to the report, that month was marked by a widespread increase in fresh food prices, which strongly boosted the basic food basket. This indicates that the share of food in total consumption increased, a phenomenon often observed in inflationary contexts, especially among lower-income households.
The value of the food in pesos contained in the basket determines the value of the poverty line, used as a reference to determine whether households have sufficient income to meet their minimum energy and protein needs. The official value of this basket is valued using prices collected from the consumer price index.
Thus, households whose income does not cover the value of a food basket, based on their specific size in terms of the number of adult equivalents, are identified as indigent. This method, traditionally used in Argentina and other countries in the region, does not seek to assess the actual satisfaction of food needs but rather the capacity of households to meet those needs with their income. A household will therefore be considered indigent if its total monthly monetary income is less than the value of a food basket capable of meeting a minimum threshold of energy and protein needs for its members.
To access the full Reports:
Basic food basket and total basic basket. Monthly valuation. City of Rosario. March 2025.
Journalist: Victoria Arrabal