Poverty and Food Threshold[edit]

Poverty Threshold, also known as Poverty Line, is the minimum income required to meet basic food
needs and other non-food requirements such as clothing, housing, transportation, health, and
education expenses.[6] Food Threshold is the minimum income required to meet basic food needs
and satisfy the nutritional requirements set by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) to
ensure that one remains economically and socially productive.[6] Recent estimates for the Poverty
and Food Thresholds has been consistently increasing.Food threshold, being the estimate for
minimum food expenditures, consistently comprise around 70% of the minimum income requirement
or poverty threshold.

Compiled Average Annual per Capita Poverty and Food Threshold in the Philippines based on the results of the
Family Income and Expenditure Survey[1] released by the Philippine Statistics Authority. Survey covered 51,000
samples

Poverty Incidence and Subsistence[edit]

Given the poverty thresholds mentioned above, poverty and subsistence incidences are computed
by determining the proportion of the population and the families whose per capita income are below
the poverty and food thresholds. Poverty Incidence is the proportion of the population with per capita
income less than the per capita poverty threshold.[6] Subsistence Incidence, on the other hand, is the
proportion of the population with per capita income less than the per capita food threshold. [6] Poverty

and subsistence incidences for 2013 significantly decreased, indicating an improvement in the
proportion of the population that are below the poverty line.

Poverty and Subsistence Incidence based on the Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES)
Annual Poverty Indicator Survey (APIS).

[5]

and the

[4]

Latest data released by Philippine Statistics Authority, however, estimates a 25.8% poverty incidence
for the first semester (January to June 2014). This is an increase in poverty level from 2013.
Subsistence incidence for the first semester of 2014, on the other hand, shows an improvement with
a 10.5% estimate.[1]

Depth of Poverty[edit]
Income Gap[edit]
Income gap measures the average income required by the poor in order to get out of poverty
(expressed relative to the poverty threshold).[6] Income Gap is a measure of depth of poverty. In
2013, on the average, families below poverty line need 27.4% the poverty threshold, or an additional
monthly income of Php 2,638, to get out of poverty.[1] This is a slight decrease from 2012's income
gap which requires an income of Php 2740 in order to overtake the poverty line.

Income Gap in the Philippines for 2006, 2009, 2012, and 2013 based on the results from the Annual Poverty
Indicator Survey

Poverty Gap[edit]
Poverty Gap is the total income shortfall (expressed relative to the poverty line) of families with
income below the poverty threshold, divided by the total number of families. It is also a measure of
depth of poverty. The poverty gap for the first semester of 2014 is 5.4%, a 0.2 unit increase from
2013 which is 5.2%.[1]

Poverty Gap in the Philippines for 2006, 2009, 2012, & 2013 based on the Annual Poverty Indicator Survey.

GINI Index[edit]
Gini index, also known as Gini ratio or Gini coefficient, measures the degree of inequality in the
distribution of family income in a country.[7] A Gini index of 0 represents perfect equality, while an
index of 100 implies perfect inequality. For the Philippines, Gini Index is measured every three years
during the Family Income and Expenditure Survey. For 2009, the Gini index was 46.41. It decreased
0.36 units to 46.05 in 2012. These indices are both higher than the average of 38.8.

Other Poverty-related Statistics[edit]

Rapid population growth[edit]
Given that the population of the Philippines is increasing at a rapid rate of 1.9% per year, this can be
translated as an increase of more than 5,000 people daily in a country that already has an increase
of more than four million poor people since 1985.[8] In 1985, the absolute number of people living in
poverty was 26.5 million. This increased to 30.4 million in 2000 and from 2006 to 2009, increased by
almost 970,000 Filipinos from 22.2 million to 23.1 million.[3]
As the Philippines has financially limited resources and a high poverty rate, the rapid increase in
population has become a problem because there is insufficient resources to support the population,
which leaves much fewer resources to improve the economy. From 2003 to 2006, even though the
Philippines experienced above-average economic growth, the poverty incidence increased as a
result of its population growth rate.[9]

Unemployment[edit]
Poverty reduction has not kept up with GDP growth rates, largely due to the high unemployment
rate, high inflation rate and wide income inequality. The official rate of unemployment for 2012 in the
Philippines was 6.5 per cent.[10]

Labor Force Survey for 2014 and 2015

Education and Literacy[edit]

There is a great contrast between the achievement of tertiary education by family heads belonging to
the lowest 30% and the highest 70%. From the 3 to 24-year olds who attended school during the
year 2010 to 2011, only 4% of those under the poverty line were in college, while 18% of the highest
70% were in college. From the data concerning 6 to 24-year olds from the lowest 30% who had not
attended school during the year 2010 to 2011, the two highest reasons for not attending were "lack
of personal interest" at 28.9% and "high cost of education" at 26.8%. [4]

Families by Highest Grade Completed of the Family Head and by Income Stratum, Philippines 2011

Human Development Index[edit]

Human Development Index, as defined by United Nations, is a summary measure of average
achievement in key dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, being
knowledgeable and have a decent standard of living.For the Philippines, HDI increased by 16.5%
between 1980 and 2013. The country ranked 117 out of 187 countries in 2013. The HDI at 2013 is
0.660, which implies that Philippines is under the medium human development group (which needs
an HDI of 0.614). The nations HDI is higher than the average for countries in the medium human
development group, but lower than the average of the countries in East Asia and Pacific (0.703).
Now, we look at the Inequality Adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI). The IHDI discounts each
dimensions (health, education and income) average value according to its level of inequality.
Inequality pulls down HDI by 18.1% in the Philippines which makes IHDI equal to 0.540. Like in the
HDI, the countrys IHDI is higher than the average of medium human development group which is
0.457, a 25.6% loss due to inequality. The IHDI value of the average in the countries of East Asia
and Pacific is 0.564 which is still higher than the Philippines. [2]

House and Lot[edit]

It can be seen that 50.2% of families from the lowest 30% have floor areas below 30 square meters.
From the data concerning the type of construction material of the roof of the building families occupy,

87.4% of the highest 70% had strong materials compared to the 62.8% of the lowest 30% and 6.3%
of the highest 70% had light materials compared to the 27.3% of the lowest 30%.
From the data concerning the type of construction material of the outer walls of the building families
occupy, 78.3% of the highest 70% had strong materials compared to the 46.4% of the lowest 30%
and 8.7% of the highest 70% had light materials compared to the 32.4% of the lowest 30%. From the
data concerning the type of toilet facility families use, it was noticeable that 12.9% of the lowest 30%
had no toilet, field, or bush.[4]

Hunger[edit]

The gap between the percentage of families below the poverty line and those above the poverty line
is noticeable. 14.5% of families belonging to the lowest 30% have experienced hunger in the past 3
months preceding the survey, while only 2.8% of families belonging to the highest 70% have
experienced hunger in the past 3 months preceding the survey.[5]

Electricity and Access to Resources[edit]

Only 70.2% of families belonging to the lowest 30% have electricity in their homes, compared to the
94.5% of the families belonging to the highest 70%. It is also noticeable that 27.2% of families
belonging to the lowest 30% have either a public tap, an unprotected well, or an undeveloped spring
for their main source of water supply.[4]

Poverty Demographics[edit]
National Level[edit]
In 2012, a family of 5 would need an average of P5,513 per month in order to meet their basic food
needs, and a further P2,377 in order to meet the nonfood needs. This represents an average
inflation of 4.1% per year from 2009 to 2012.[6]
Statistically, the percentage of Filipinos that couldnt meet the basic food needs stood at 7.5%.
Furthermore, the number of poor families remained steady at 1.61 Million. One in five families are
estimated to be poor in 2012 at 4.2 Million.
Aside from previous indicators, other measures such as income gap, and poverty gap also exist in
order to have enough data to properly design programs that will help poverty. The Income gap
measures the amount of income required by the poor in order to get out of poverty in relation to the

poverty threshold. In 2012, it was estimated that the income gap was at 26.2%, which means that,
on average, a family of 5 would need an additional P2,067 in order to move out poverty in 2012.
A total of P124 Billion will be needed by the national government as cash transfers to the poor
families in order to totally eradicate poverty in the country.

Regional Level[edit]
At the Regional level, NCR, CALABARZON and Central Luzon have the lowest poverty incidence in
the country during 2006, 2009, and 2012. ARMM remain the poorest region with the highest poverty
incidence which ranged from 40-49% in 2006, 2009, and 2012.

Provincial Level[edit]
At the provincial level, the group of provinces with the least poverty incidence are the 4 districts of
NCR, Bataan, Benguet, Bulcan, Cavite, Laguna, Pampanga, Rizal, and Ilocos Norte. The group with

the highest poverty are Eastern Samar, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Masbate, Northern Samar,
Sarangani, Zamboanga del Norte, Camiguin, Lanao del Norte, North Cotabato, and Western Samar.