More than a million more Spaniards are living below the poverty line now than before the country was battered by an economic crisis, according to a study by a Spanish charity released Friday.
Some 22.7 percent of Spain's population of around 46 million were either moderately or severely poor in the second half of 2009, when the study was carried out, up 3.4 percent from an earlier survey in 2007, the Spanish branch of the international charity Caritas said.
"It seems clear that the social impact of the crisis is far from ending," the study said. "We are talking about the first impact of the crisis over the two years, which will have to be monitored in the future."
The Spanish economy entered recession at the end of 2008 as the global financial crisis accelerated a collapse of its once-booming property sector. It only emerged with tepid 0.1 percent growth in the first quarter this year.
The crisis has sent unemployment soaring to more than 20 percent, the second highest in the European Union after Latvia.
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