The difficulties of the Argentine middle class in making ends meet

A report shows that middle-income households across the country were the ones who had the most difficulty covering their expenses in the last half of the year

12/07/2025 – 6:48 p.m

The graduation of 2025 will take place Argentine middle class in a situation of critical economic vulnerability, since it is the sector that has experienced this greater difficulty covering their expenses. A recent report from Argentine Grande Institutebased on microdata from the Permanent Household Survey (EPH – INDEC) for the second quarter of 2025, revealed that the need to resort to complementary survival strategies is a reality almost half of the houses.

The analysis found that a total of 48% of households in the country were required to do so Use at least one mechanism to make ends meet. However, particularly in middle-income households, this proportion rises to 53% and even exceeds low-income deciles. These dynamics suggest that year-end economic pressures disproportionately affected a sector that traditionally has better access to financial mechanisms to alleviate deficits.

The “strategy” of the middle class to counteract the imbalance between income and expenditure was characterized by the Capital liquidation and record debtsa trend that is intensifying given the strong impact on the prices of basic services due to the abolition of subsidies.

The middle class’s survival strategy: record savings and debt

The IAG study details that middle-income households were characterized by using more complex financial mechanisms than low-income households to supplement their budgets, sacrificing their reserves and future assets in the process.

• Spend savings and sell possessions: 35% of households in Argentina spend their savings to cover current expenses. However, in the middle class this percentage was higher, reaching 40% of average households. Additionally, 9% of households across the country chose to sell possessions as a livelihood strategy.
• Record levels of debt: 25% of households have taken on debt (either from acquaintances or through financial institutions) to make ends meet. This indicator is particularly worrying since debt is the only variable whose situation is worse than in 2024, the year considered the peak of the historical series.
• Indebtedness to banks: Reliance on financial institutions was a characteristic feature of the middle class, with 18% of middle-income households indebted to banks. This percentage is significantly higher than the 12% recorded in low-income sectors, which occurs in a context where personal loan defaults reached 9.1%, the highest peak on record.

The Argentina Grande Institute report explains that the financial pressure on the middle class is due in large part to the change in relative prices resulting from the elimination of subsidies for public services.

This change led to a dramatic increase in the weight that basic services have on income. Spending on essential services such as water, gas and electricity, which accounted for just 4% of an average salary in November 2023, rose to 11% of the same salary in 2025. This almost tripling of the share of basic fixed costs drastically reduces the middle class’s scope to meet the rest of their needs.