Rome, Nov 9 (IANS/AKI) A total of 4.6 million people - 7.6 percent of the population - were living in absolute poverty in Italy, the country's central statistics agency ISTAT said.

The number of people living in absolute poverty rose more than two-and-a-half-times from 2006 when it stood at 1.8 million, ISTATE noted.

But the number of children in absolute poverty more than tripled since from 2006 to reach 1.1 million in 2015, ISTAT said in a report presented to the Senate.

Welfare spending in Italy reached 446.8 billion euros in 2015, of which over four-fifths went on the poorest sections of the population, according to the report.

Italy is still struggling to recover from its worst recession in the post-war period.