AROUND 17.6 million Filipinos remain poor even as the country’s poverty incidence dropped to 16.6 percent 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 percent 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 percent in the period 2015 to 2018. The poorest families increased their income on the average 31 percent,” 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 percent 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, 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 percent 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 – now called the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao or BARMM.
The poverty incidence among families in Luzon decreased to 6.5 percent in 2018 from 10.8 percent in 2015, disaggregated data showed.
In Visayas, the poverty incidence went down to 15.1 percent from 24.1 percent; and data from Mindanao placed the poverty incidence at 23.7 percent from 30.7 percent.
The severity of poverty in the country decreased to 0.9 percent from 1.7 percent, according to NEDA. (GMA News)
