Close to 70,000 Peruvians managed to escape extreme poverty last year, thus reducing such social condition to 3.8% by end-2016, the National Institute of Statistics and Informatics (INEI) reported on Wednesday.
Said result represents a 0.3% drop from the previous year, INEI head Anibal Sanchez indicated.
It should be noted a 3.8% extreme poverty rate means 1.197 million Peruvians are still unable to afford a basic food basket.
Declining poverty rates
Sanchez affirmed penury in the Inca nation declined 2.5 percentage points in the past five years, equal to 693,000 Peruvians leaving said condition behind.
Furthermore, the level plunged by 10 percentage points over the last 10 years (2007-2016); that is, 2.688 million people overcoming extreme poverty.
Extreme poverty affected 13.2% of Peru's rural population in 2016, 0.7 percentage point less than in 2015.
Cajamarca, poorest region
Last year, North-Andean Cajamarca region posted the highest extreme poverty rate, doubling that of Amazonas, Ayacucho, Huancavelica, Huanuco, Loreto, Pasco and Puno regions.
Cajamarca's penury level was also five times greater than the national average of 3.8%.
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