In the middle of a year that marked him Sudden economic adjustments and changes in patterns consumptionthe W Consulting – Directed by Guillermo Oliveto – It released new social X-rays for the third quarter, showing a slight reconstitution at the base of the pyramid and a decline in the proportion of households below the poverty line. That is, according to the report. The main discrepancy regarding the second quarter.
The study once again divided the community based on the monthly income of families.
- at the upper end, “upper class”, Which represents 5% It requires a minimum income $7 million, although its current average rises to $12 million.
- “And immediately after that”“upper middle class” Where 17% of the population is located, with apartments $3.7 million per month.
- The following is “Lower middle class“, whose income threshold starts at $2.05 million and scores on average $2.4 million. This group covers 26% of families.
Until this moment, The percentage structure is no different from what was observed in the previous quarter; What has changed are the updated amounts for inflation.
Thus the social pyramid was formed in the third quarter
Movements at the base of the pyramid
The news emerged among low-income segments. The most vulnerable class, which is defined as “lower class, in poverty”, It decreased from 26% to 24% of the population. here Households that do not exceed $1.18 million per month are included.
The flip side was the growth of the group immediately above: The percentage of “upper lower class, not poor” increased from 24% to 28%.With an average income $1.85 million.
The consulting company W works on these data from the Permanent Household Survey Indec. The only component developed using the model household is the poverty line; The rest originates from Oliveto’s own model.
How do you consume these chips?
How each segment of society consumes
When explaining what is happening with consumption at each level, Oliveto proposed a provocative combination: “How is consumption going? The answer is what is consumption?”. This was during his presentation at the “New Generations and Market Trends” meeting, organized by Banco Ciudad.
As described “Upper class“Continue allocating resources to travel, instead The “upper middle class” has managed to stabilize after the shock of 2024. There, male Caballito as the “signature neighborhood” of this group. Despite this improvement, he warned against this In this part “there is no room for error” and many homes do “juggles” so as not to affect the quality of life.
Instead, both ““The lower middle class” and “the upper lower class, not poor” are experiencing what the consulting firm defines as a “no culture.”. At these levels, “no money” emerges as a pattern.
Winners and losers in the new consumption cycle
The study identifies the sectors that were able to take off in this context and the other sectors that lagged behind. In his book “Consumption traffic light”, cars and trips abroad Listed as WinnersWith jumps of more than 50% between January and October 2025 compared to the same period in 2024.
On the other hand, the Domestic tourism, clothing and supermarkets are showing red numbers, with declines ranging from 5.1% to 18%.
In this last area, Oliveto highlights differentiated behavior within mass consumption. Dairy products remained practically stable compared to the previous year, but the rest of the list was affected: cleaning decreased by 1%; food 3%; Cosmetics 4.5%; candy 5.5%; Non-alcoholic beverages 14%; And alcoholic beverages 16.5%.
With all these components, Scentia data shows that sales in supermarkets accumulated a 5.1% decline in the period from January to October 2025 compared to the same period in 2024.