Forty-four percent or about 2.8 million out of 6.4 million Filipino families in the bottom 40% income group do not have electricity in their homes based on the 2002 Annual Poverty Indicators Survey (APIS). In comparison, only 6 percent or 573 thousand out of 9.6 million families in the upper 60% income group have no electricity.

In rural areas, five out of ten families belonging to the lowest 40% income stratum have no electricity as compared to about 12 percent of families in the upper 60% income group. On the other hand, in urban areas, 26 percent of families in the lowest 40% income group as compared to only 2 percent of families in the upper 60% income group do not have electricity.

The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao is the most disadvantaged among the regions with 70 percent of families in the bottom 40% income group and 36 percent of families in the upper 60% income group without electricity. The National Capital Region, the country’s most urbanized region, registered the lowest percentages of families without electricity (3 percent for families in the lowest 40% income stratum and less than 1 percent for families in the upper 60% income stratum).

The lowest 40% income group refers to the bottom 40 percent of the total families in the list of families arranged in descending order of the family income. In this report, the bottom 40% income group represents the poor families.

The 2002 APIS is a nationwide survey conducted by the NSO to provide inputs to the integrated poverty indicator and monitoring system of the Philippines. A total of 38,014 households were interviewed for the 2002 APIS.

Table 1.   Percentage of families with no electricity, by region and income stratum, Philippines: 2002