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Poverty incidence down to 16.6% or 17.6M poor Pinoys in 2018 —PSA


An estimated 17.6 million Filipinos are still considered poor even if the country’s poverty incidence dropped to 16.6% of the population in 2018, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Friday.

This was a substantial decline from the previous record of 23.3% in 2015, said National Statistician Undersecretary Claire Dennis Mapa.

“This translates to 17.6 million Filipinos who lived below the poverty threshold estimated at P10,727 on average for a family of five per month in 2018,” Mapa said.

“Ito ay dahil sa malaki ang pagtaas ng income ng mga poorest families natin, in particular ‘yung poorest 30% in the period 2015 to 2018. The poorest families increased their income on the average 31%,” he said in a separate interview.

“Sa kabilang side tumaas din naman ‘yung ating mga presyo [ng mga bilihin]. Between 2015 and 2018, tumaas ng mga about 14% pero dahil mas malaki ang pagtaas ng income kaya mas maraming Pilipino ang naiahon doon sa tinatawag nating poverty line,” he added.

Entrepreneurial activities and cash transfers from the government such as the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), helped improve the poverty incidence level.

“On the other hand, subsistence incidence among Filipinos, or the proportion of Filipinos whose income is not enough to meet even the basic food needs, registered at 5.2% in 2018. The monthly food threshold for a family of five was estimated, on average, at P7,528,” the PSA said.

All regions in the country recorded lower poverty incidence  levels except for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM)—now called the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao or BARMM.

The poverty incidence among families in Luzon decreased to 6.5% in 2018 from 10.8% in 2015, disaggregated data showed.

In Visayas, the poverty incidence went down to 15.1% from 24.1%; and data from Mindanao placed the poverty incidence at 23.7% from 30.7%.

Of the country’s 17 regions, the National Capital Region has the lowest poverty incidence at 1.5%.

ARMM, on the other hand, had the highest poverty incidence of 53.6%. National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) attributed this to higher food prices in the region and persistent armed conflict.

NEDA is optimistic that these numbers are a stepping stone for the Philippines to meet its goal of lifting more Filipino families above the poverty line and bringing down the poverty incidence to 14% by 2022.

The severity of poverty in the country decreased to 0.9 percent from 1.7 percent, according to NEDA.

The poverty gap which reflects the ratio between the average income of the poor and those living below the poverty line has improved to 2.6 percent in 2018 from 4.5 percent in 2015.

“We are also likely to meet the Sustainable Development Goal or SDG target of eradicating extreme poverty as defined by the international poverty line and cutting by half the proportion of the population living below the national poverty line by 2030,” NEDA Undersecretary Adoracion Navarro said.

“In fact, we have almost reached our target to lift 6 million Filipinos out of poverty by 2022 as 5.9 million have already been lifted out of poverty as of 2018,” she said.

The latest official poverty statistics was computed based on the 2018 Family Income and Expenditures Survey. —VDS, GMA News

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