PH poverty incidence rose to 18.1% in 2021
The poverty incidence among Filipinos — or the proportion of individuals whose incomes fell below the per capita poverty threshold from the total population — rose from 16.7% in 2018 to 18.1% in 2021.
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), around 2.3 million Filipinos plunged into poverty between 2018 and 2021 as the COVID-19 pandemic left lasting scars on the economy.
This brings the total number of poverty-stricken Filipinos to 19.992 million in 2021, from 17.670 million in 2018.
During a press briefing, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said that the strict lockdowns during the last two years contributed significantly to the rise of poverty in the country.
However, with unemployment and underemployment levels decreasing in 2022, Balisacan is optimistic that the current administration will be able to achieve its goal of bringing down poverty to nine per cent by 2028.
The poverty data were derived from the Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES), conducted in July 2021 and January 2022. It covered 165,029 Filipino families for both rounds of the survey.
