(Eagle News)–The first semester 2023 poverty incidence in the country stands at 22.4 percent, the Philippine Statistics Authority said on Friday, Dec. 22, a decline from the 23.7 percent reported in the same period of 2021 according to the Palace.
The PSA said the percentage translates to 25.24 million Filipinos with a per capita income that isn’t sufficient to meet their basic food and non-food needs, or 89526 less poor Filipinos.
The PSA said on average, a family of five will need at least P13797 per month to meet their minimum basic food and non-food needs in the first semester of 2023.
Subsistence incidence, or the proportion of Filipinos whose income is not enough to buy even the basic food needs, stands at 8.7 percent for the same period.
The PSA said that translates to 9.79 million Filipinos.
According to the PSA, on average, the monthly food threshold for a family of five for the same period was estimated at P 9,550.
Among families, on the other hand, the first semester 2023 poverty incidence was estimated at 16.4 percent, down from 18 percent in the same period in 2021.
The government said this is equivalent to 4.51 million poor families, or 23000 households escaping poverty.
Meanwhile, the subsistence incidence among families was recorded at 5.9 percent, which translates to about 1.62 million food-poor families, according to the PSA.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said moving forward, the administration will continue the implementation of various initiatives and interventions in the social sector to reduce poverty at both the national and regional levels.
These include the new Social Protection Floor that institutionalizes basic social security guarantees, the Trabaho Para sa Bayan Act and the Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino Program, and the Walang Gutom 2027 Food Stamp Program.
The government “remains focused on its priority to substantially reduce poverty to a single-digit level,” he said.
