Proportion of poor Filipinos declines in H1 2018

MANILA, Philippines — The proportion of poor Filipinos declined in the first half of 2018, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported Wednesday.

Poverty incidence — or the proportion of the population living below the poverty line to the total population among Filipino individuals — was estimated at 21.0% in the first half of 2018, below the 27.6% registered in the comparable period in 2015.

Meanwhile, poverty incidence among families stood at 16.1% in the first half of 2018, lower than 22.2% recorded in the same period in 2015.

According to the PSA, 16 out of 100 families were poor in the first semester of 2018. During the same period last year, a family of five needed around P10,481 per month to meet their minimum basic food and non-food needs.

The Duterte administration is targeting to bring down individual poverty rate to 14% by 2022. — Ian Nicolas Cigaral