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| More Filipinos have become poor in the past 3 years, government statistics show (File) |
Almost one of every five Filipinos is mired in poverty, according to the Preliminary Results of the Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) released today by the Philippine Statistics Authority.
PSA also reported that poverty has spread to more people, increasing from 16.7 per cent of the population in 2018 to 18.1 per cent in 2021.
Poverty -- defined by PSA as earning an income below the minimum of PhP12,030 monthly required to meet the food and non-food needs of a family of five -- engulfed the equivalent to 19.99 million people in 2021, the latest statistics show
Those living in subsistence, or earning less than the PhP8,379 per month needed to meet just their basic food requirements, increased from 5.2 percent to 5.9 percent.
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Poverty incidence among families stood at around 3.50 million families or 13.2 per cent in 2021, the PSA reported.
On the other hand, the subsistence incidence among families was observed at 3.9 percent, which is equivalent to 1.04 million poor families below the food poverty line.
The incidence of poverty among families was lowest in Metro Manila at 2.2 per cent and highest in Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao/Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM/BARMM) at 29.8 per cent.
In terms of specific places, the first district of National Capital Region (which is Manila) had the lowest family poverty incidence at 1.1 per cent, while Sulu in ARMM had the highest at 51 per cent.
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PSA also reported that the average income of Filipino families from January to December 2021 was estimated at PhP307,190, lower by -2.0 percent from the PhP313,350 in the same period of 2018.
On the average, the Filipino families spent PhP228,800 in 2021, a decrease of 4.1 percent compared to the PhP 238,640 in 2018.
The declines were even bigger when measured at constant 2018 prices, which is obtained by adjusting the estimates with the 2018 inflation rate; the average annual family income in 2021 stood at PhP282,080 while expenditures stood at PhP210,100.
Again, the biggest earners were those in the National Capital Region (NCR), where annual family income in 2021 averaged at PhP417,850.
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Four of the country’s 17 regions posted higher average annual family income compared to the national average of PhP 307.19 thousand: NCR (PhP417,850), Region IV-A (PhP 361,030), Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) (PhP 350,430), and Region III (PhP 328,540).
Again, Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) registered the lowest average annual family income of PhP184,940.
Among provinces and Highly Urbanized Cities (HUCs), Makati City registered the highest average annual family income of PhP 579,570 in 2021. On the other hand, the lowest average annual family income in 2021 was noted in Sulu at PhP 159,300. In terms of the growth in the average annual family income from 2018 to 2021, Lanao del Sur posted the highest growth rate of 42.9 per cent, followed by Camarines Norte (27.6%), Apayao (22.7%), Batanes (22.2%), and Eastern Samar (21.9%).
Comparing the average annual family income in 2018 and 2021, the top five provinces and HUCs that posted the highest negative growth rate were, Mandaluyong City (-28.5%), Cebu City (-20.4%), Las Piñas City (-19.5%), Pateros (-17.7%), and Bohol (-15.7%).
In terms of the average annual family expenditure, the top five provinces with the highest growth rate in average annual family expenditure from 2018 to 2021 were Lanao del Sur (63.6%), Batanes (29.6%), Kalinga (21.8%), Misamis Occidental (19.0%), and Zamboanga del Sur excluding Zamboanga City (18.3%).
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