About a fifth of Italian households are living at or just above the bread line, according to a report issued on Thursday.

Some 11.7 percent of the Italian population are under the poverty threshold while 7.9 percent risk slipping beneath it, said the report from national statistics agency Istat, which was based on data from 2004.

Poverty is much worse in the underdeveloped south where a quarter of households were reported to be under the benchmark ( consumer spending of 1,100 euros a month) and 13.2 percent of families can be considered very poor, Istat said.

Poverty rates for elderly couples and the unemployed were worse, Istat said.

In last year's report based on 2003 data, Istat said 10.6 percent of Italian families were living beneath the poverty line and 7.9 percent risked falling into poverty.

The Italian opposition parties immediately said Premier Silvio Berlusconi's government was to blame for the increase in poverty.

The Democratic Left, the largest opposition party, said that " this confirms what we have been saying for a long time, that government policies have abandoned the south."

"The north-south gap has grown again in Italy," said Democratic Left chief Piero Fassino.

Source: Xinhua