PH poverty incidence rises to 18.1% in 2021; 19.99 million Filipinos considered poor

In its report 2021 Full Year Official Poverty Statistics of the Philippines, national statistician Dennis Mapa said the poverty incidence among the population in 2021 rose to 18.1 percent compared to the 16.7 percent recorded in 2018.

Mapa noted that the 18.1 percent poverty incidence in 2021 equates to 19.99 million poor Filipinos, higher than the 17.67 poor Filipinos in 2018.

The poverty incidence among the population is defined as the proportion of the Filipinos whose per capita income cannot sufficiently meet their individual basic food and non-food needs, according to the PSA.

“This translates to around 19.99 million Filipinos who lived below the poverty threshold of about P12,030 per month for a family of five,” the PSA said in a statement.

Mapa said the National Capital Region recorded the lowest poverty incidence among the population at 3.5 percent, while the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao recorded the highest at 37.2 percent.

In general, ten regions recorded higher poverty incidence among the population in 2021 when compared to data recorded in 2018, said Mapa.

Meanwhile, the poverty incidence among families also increased from 12.1 percent in 2018 to 13.2 percent in 2021, said Mapa.

Mapa said the 2021 data is equivalent to 3.5 million poor families, higher than the 3 million poor families in 2018.

‘Food poor’ Filipinos

Further, Mapa reported that food poor families in the country reached 1.04 million in 2021, which is also higher than the 840,000 recorded in 2018.

In terms of population, Mapa said 6.55 million Filipinos are deemed food-poor. This is likewise higher than the 5.54 million food-poor Filipinos recorded in 2018.

Moreover, the subsistence incidence, which is defined as the proportion of Filipinos whose income is not enough to meet even just the basic food needs, slightly increased to 5.9 percent in 2021.

In 2018, the subsistence incidence was at 5.2 percent, according to Mapa.