BAGUIO CITY (PIA) — The poverty incidence in the Cordillera Administrative Region declined in 2023, based on the Official Poverty Statistics of the Philippines 2023 Full Year presented by the Philippine Statistics Authority-Cordillera (PSA-CAR) during the dissemination forum here on Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024.
PSA-CAR Regional Director Villafe Alibuyog reported that poverty incidence among families in the region improved to 4.4 percent in 2023 from 6.9 percent in 2021. This translates to 20,440 poor families in 2023, down from 30,740 poor families recorded in 2021.
The poverty incidence among the population was also down to 7.0 percent in 2023 from 9.9 percent in 2021, meaning from 180,710 ‘income poor individuals’ in the Cordillera in 2021, it went down to the estimated 129,000 in 2023.
Alibuyog said the average poverty threshold, or the amount that represents the minimum income required by a family of five members to meet their basic food and non-food needs, increased to P13,239 in 2023 from P11,793 in 2021.
Meanwhile, the average food threshold per family per month, or the minimum amount required by a family with five members to meet their basic food needs is P9,274.
The subsistence incidence which is the proportion of families with income less than the food threshold, decreased to 0.7 percent in 2023 from 1.4 percent in 2021. This means that an estimate of 3,330 families in the Cordillera are considered food poor in 2023 from 6,120 families in 2021.
The subsistence incidence among population is also down to 1.3 percent in 2023 from 2.2 percent in 2021. This equates to 23,790 individuals who are food poor in 2023, down from 39,660 food poor individuals in 2021.
“Looking closely at the average per capita income by per capita income decile, families in the first decile posted the highest growth in income in 2023, estimated at 25.5 percent. We can also observe a 23.5 percent increase in income of those in the second decile or the families with income close to the poverty threshold,” Alibuyog stated.
“Increase in income of the families near the poverty threshold is faster compared to the rise of prices of the basic food and non-food needs, which resulted in the reduction of poverty incidence among families in the Cordillera,” she added.
The PSA data showed that Mountain Province reflected the highest estimate of poverty incidence among families in 2023 with 10.5 percent, followed by Abra with 9.4 percent, Ifugao with 4.6 percent, Benguet with 4.2 percent, Apayao with 4.0 percent, Kalinga with 2.6 percent, and the City of Baguio with 0.5 percent.
Among the population, Mountain Province reflected the highest poverty incidence estimate in 2023 with 16.8 percent, followed by Abra with 13.7 percent, Ifugao with 7.4 percent, Benguet with 6.4 percent, Apayao with 5.8 percent, Kalinga with 4.3 percent, and the City of Baguio with 0.8 percent.
To further understand the poverty situation in the country, the PSA grouped the provinces and highly urbanized cities into six categories based on the estimated poverty incidence among families. Group 1 represents the poorest group or the provinces with poverty incidence greater than 50% while Group 6 represents the least poor group or the provinces with incidence rates that are 10% or lower. All the provinces in CAR except Mountain Province were included in Group 6 or the LGUs that have poverty incidence not greater than 10 percent.
Mountain Province stayed in Group 5 or LGUs with poverty incidence not greater than 20 percent. **JDP/DEG-PIA CAR