ILOILO City – Poverty incidence in Western Visayas, excluding Negros Occidental and Bacolod City which now belong to the Negros Island Region, was recorded at 13.7% in 2023, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
This figure translates to approximately 664,000 individuals in the region whose incomes fell below the poverty threshold of P13,801 per month for a family of five, which means their per capita income is not sufficient to meet their basic food and non-food needs.
The 2023 poverty data, derived from the Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES), highlighted significant improvements in the region’s poverty statistics compared to previous years.
POVERTY INCIDENCE AMONG FAMILIES
The poverty incidence among families was pegged at 9.8%, equivalent to around 119,000 families, which means that about one in every 10 families in the region are poor.
This marks a 1.1 percentage-point improvement compared to the national family poverty incidence of 10.9%.
Western Visayas ranked seventh lowest in family poverty incidence among the country’s 18 regions and was the least poverty-stricken among the Visayas regions.
FOOD POVERTY INCIDENCE DECLINES
Subsistence incidence, or the proportion of the population whose incomes are insufficient to meet basic food needs, dropped to 2.8% in 2023 from 5.5% in 2021.
This represents 137,000 individuals in Western Visayas whose monthly income fell below the food threshold of P9,650.
Among families, subsistence incidence stood at 1.8%, affecting 22,000 households — a marked reduction from 41,000 families in 2021.
INCOME AND POVERTY GAPS
The income gap — the average additional income required by a poor family to escape poverty — was estimated at 17.8%.
This means a family of five needed an extra P2,457 monthly to rise above the poverty line.
Meanwhile, the poverty gap in the region narrowed to 1.8% in 2023 from 2.6% in 2021, reflecting a 30.8% improvement. The severity of poverty also decreased significantly from 0.9% in 2021 to 0.5% in 2023.
REGIONAL IMPROVEMENTS
The PSA credited the improvements in Western Visayas’ poverty statistics to factors such as effective social programs, sustained economic activities, and better access to livelihood opportunities. The data underscores the region’s continued progress in alleviating poverty and enhancing the quality of life for its residents.
The report, based on the PSA’s 2023 FIES and provincial food bundle methodology developed by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute, offers insights for policymakers to further strengthen poverty reduction efforts./PN
