Poverty and the

Millennium Development
Goals

Definition of Poverty
Fundamentally, poverty is a denial of
choices and opportunities, a violation of
human dignity. It means lack of basic
capacity to participate effectively in
society. It means not having enough to feed
and cloth a family, not having a school or
clinic to go to, not having the land on which
to grow ones food or a job to earn ones
living, not having access to credit. It means
insecurity, powerlessness and exclusion of
individuals, households and communities. It
means susceptibility to violence, and it
often implies living on marginal or fragile
environments, without access to clean
water or sanitation.

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Historical Factors
Target 1.A:
Halve, between 1990 and 2015,
the proportion of people whose
income is less than $1.25 a day.

The dollar-a-day poverty threshold is a purchasing power

parity (PPP) adjusted dollar that has the same purchasing
power in all countries.

Where do we stand?
1.2 billion still live in extreme poverty, even
though poverty rates have been halved
between 1990 and 2010 and the MDG target
has been met.

Target 1.A:
The target of reducing extreme poverty rates by
half was met five years ahead of the 2015 deadline.
The global poverty rate at $1.25 a day fell in 2010
to less than half the 1990 rate. 700 million fewer
people lived in conditions of extreme poverty in
2010 than in 1990. However, at the global level 1.2

DEMOGRAPHICS

IN ASIA

Year 2000
2008

Year

 Target 1.B:

Achieve full and productive employment

and decent work for all, including women
and young people.

Here we look at a related indicator, the percentage of workers

living on less than $1.25 (PPP) a day.

Where do we stand?

Globally, 384 million workers lived below the $1.25 a

day poverty line in 2011a reduction of 294 million
since 2001.

The gender gap in employment persists, with a 24.8

percentage point difference between men and women
in the employment-to-population ratio in 2012.

Target 1.C:
Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the
proportion of people who suffer from
hunger.
Hunger here is measured by the percentage of children under 5
years of age who are moderately or severely underweight.

Where do we stand?
The hunger reduction target should be almost met
by 2015.
Globally, about 842 million people are estimated to
be undernourished.
More than 99 million children under age five are
still undernourished and underweight.

Political Factors
Reasons why PH is poor,
according to the IMF
WEAK government spending and
political uncertainty are just some
of the reasons why the Philippines
has been outperformed by most of
its Asian neighbors, a study
sponsored by the International
Monetary Fund showed.

Among the factors blamed for the

countrys weak economic performance
were:
weak agricultural productivity
high government debt
low public, private, and foreign investment
weak research and development spending
low spending on education
lackluster tourism sector
relatively high income inequality
high corruption
strong population growth
more episodes of financial crisis
and political uncertainty

Poverty Reduction and Empowerment of

the Poor and Vulnerable

The people are our countrys greatest

resource. A healthy, educated and energized
citizenry raises the countrys chances for
sustainable development and prosperity. The
work at hand is urgent: to reduce poverty
incidence to 16.6 percent by 2015 and meet
key Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),
particularly in basic education and healthcare.

The Aquino Administrations strategy

to fighting poverty is to empower the
poor and the marginalized segments of
society. This means providing a life
vest to those currently drowning in
extreme poverty through social
protection interventions. At the same
time, fighting poverty also means
investing in peoples capacity to
participate meaningfully in the
economy, access gainful livelihood and
improve the quality of their lives.

As a testament to the Aquino

Administrations bias for the poor, the
2012 National Budget infuses the largest
sector allocationP567.9 billion or 31
percent of totalinto the social services
sector. This is also higher than the
previous years budget by P46.5 billion
or 8.91 percent. This will fund programs,
activities and projects that were
designed to have a direct, immediate
and substantial impact in empowering
the poor.

Social Protection and Welfare

In light of the Presidents commitment to
reduce poverty across the country, budgetary
allocations for the governments social
protection programs will continue to increase,
with the total allocation for the Department of
Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) up by
47.9 percent to P48.9 billion in 2012.

Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program

(4Ps)
Most of the DSWDs budget, amounting to
P39.4 billion, will support the Pantawid
Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), to cover an
estimated 3 million indigent householdbeneficiaries, from 2.3 million households in

The Aquino Administration aims to enroll all

4.3 million indigent households into the
program by 2016.
Under the 4Ps, indigent households receive a
conditional cash transfer (CCT) of as much as
P1,400 per month, on condition that:

Supplemental Feeding Program

To address hunger and malnutrition among poor

children, the 2012 Budget provides P2.9 billion for the
Supplemental Feeding Program. Hot meals will be
served five days a week for a period of six months for
an estimated 1.6 million children enrolled in daycare,
as well as out-of-school children aged 6 months to 5
years. The children will be weighed at the start of the
feeding program and then monthly in order to monitor
improvements in their nutrition.

THANK YOU