Fewer poor families in Ilocos region

DAGUPAN CITY, Pangasinan, Philippines — Fewer families in Ilocos region live below the poverty line as the region’s poverty incidence rate continues to fall, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed.

From 20.4 percent in 2015, there were 8.7 percent poor families in the region during the first semester of 2018, the PSA said.

The 11.7-percent drop in the poverty incidence made Ilocos the country’s second fastest in reducing poverty next to Bicol (12.3 percent).

The lowest poverty incidence was 4.9 percent, which was recorded in the National Capital Region, followed by Calabarzon’s 7.6 percent and Central Luzon’s 7.8 percent.

The National Economic and Development Authority attributed the region’s drop in poverty incidence to the expanded coverage of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program. —Gabriel Cardinoza