Despite the growth driven by the Spanish economy in terms of GDP and employment, poverty does not disappear. 8% of the population is in a situation of "extreme poverty or exclusion" – meaning they have an income below 8,147 euros per year per consumption unit – and 19.5% are "at risk of poverty", being part of a consumption unit with an income below 12,220 euros per year.

The Ramón Areces Foundation and the Valencian Institute of Economic Research have calculated the cost of eliminating poverty in Spain, a figure they place at 24 billion euros, but the most interesting aspect is that the study offers data by territory and allows for a comparative analysis of the last 10 years. This provides two snapshots: a static one of which territories have the highest population at risk of poverty or exclusion, and a dynamic one of which have most improved these indicators in a decade. In this regard, Catalonia does not fare particularly badly, as it has 14.3% of the population at risk of poverty and 5.3% at risk of exclusion (extreme poverty), a figure that represents about half of that of the worst-off autonomous community, which is Andalusia.

February isn't over yet, and January's economic surge has already left several gaping holes, fallen trees, and collapsed embankments. All the pillars of the country are teetering. And not just from the effects of the winds: farmers are in revolt, education is struggling, doctors are protesting, goods are at a standstill, commuter rail is running at full capacity, and the Rental Companies' Union is poised for another mobilization. In fact, it's not January that's knocking them down: the primary sector is struggling, public services are stretched to the limit, housing is impossible, and the right to mobility has been in turmoil for far too long. In a discordant note, or perhaps as a direct consequence, February has also begun with the stark data from the latest Living Conditions Survey, published by Idescat. It's as if it were yesterday, when we woke up, the dinosaur was still there. A chronic and structural fact: 24.8% of Catalan society is at risk of social exclusion, regardless of the number of pigs we export to China and the number of Seats manufactured there and passed off as European cars. The official survey, worse than last year's, paints a consolidated picture: 47.3% struggle to make ends meet, and only 3.8%—an absolute minority—manage "very easily." 29.4% cannot afford a single week's vacation. And the faces, traces, and remnants of the risk of poverty vary by neighborhood and social class: women (26%), children (36%), migrants (49%), and the unemployed (55%). Against this backdrop, a significant counterpoint exists: in reality, the risk of poverty affects 40% of the Catalan population. This figure is only halved after all public social transfers, especially pensions, are taken into account. Rights born after years of hard democratic struggle and constantly challenged by the same old players: the repeat offenders in power. Locked away in a Belgian fortress, the EU is currently debating whether to expand the general deregulation that has brought us to this very point.