NEARLY SIX MILLION FAMILIES BELONG TO THE LOWEST 40 PERCENT INCOME GROUP IN OCTOBER 1998

Of the 14.37 million families, 5.75 million belonged to the lowest 40% income group while 8.62 million in the highest 60% income bracket.

In terms of percentage to total families, families in the highest 60% income strata got the biggest percentage in almost all indicators. But in terms of the percentage to the total families within each income strata, families in the lowest 40% income strata are not far off from families in the highest 60%.

The Minimum Basic Needs Framework

Of food and nutrition, ...

• Less than 10 percent of the total families with pregnant women and lactating mothers received iron and iodine supplements. These supplements are taken to prevent or treat iron deficiency (anemia) and to prevent iodine deficiency causing visible or palpable goiter that can cause mental retardation, speech impairment, deaf, mutism, squint locomotor problems and physical deformities in the babies they are carrying. Goiter can also cause stillbirth or miscarriage.
• Of those who received iron supplements, around three in ten belonged to the lowest 40% income strata while nearly five in ten belonged to the highest 60% income stratum. On the other hand, of those who received iodine supplements, nearly three in ten belonged to the lowest 40% income stratum while four in ten belonged to the highest 60% income stratum.
• Biggest percentage of families belonging to the lowest 40% availing of the iron and iodine supplements came from Bicol Region and the least from ARMM.
• More families with higher income were provided with iron and iodine supplements than those with lower income as indicated by the 41 percent disparity of the proportion of the highest 60% over that of the lowest 40%.

Of health, ...

• Two in every twenty-five families with female family members who were pregnant and lactating during the past six months received at least 2 doses of tetanus toxoid to prevent tetanus neonatonium in newborn babies which is obtained from unclean instruments or hands used in the delivery of a newborn baby. Of these families 3.6 percent belonged to the lowest 40% income bracket and 4.5 percent in the highest 60%.
• Likewise, families in the Bicol Region and ARMM had the highest and lowest percentage of families availing of such services, respectively.
• A disparity of 26 percent was reported between the highest 60% and lowest 40% income group that received at least 2 doses of tetanus toxoid.
• Almost six out of ten families had access to family planning services but nearly three out of ten families had couples practicing family planning. Of these families with access to family planning services, about 21 percent are in the lowest 40% income stratum wherein Central Luzon reported the biggest percentage, around one-fourth of its families, and ARMM, the least (14.5 percent).
• Due to the small percentage of families with access to family planning services, only about 10 percent families in the lowest 40% income group have couples practicing family planning.
• Geographically, the highest percentage of families having access to family planning services and with couples practicing family planning can be found in Central Luzon and the least in ARMM.
• There is a great difference (at least 81 percent) between the highest 60% and lowest 40% in terms of access to family planning services and in terms of practicing it.
• One in every two families were able to visit any health facility like hospital, clinic, etc. during the past six months when their family members got ill. Of these families, only 16.3 percent are in the lowest 40% income bracket and 30.1 percent in the highest 60% income group.
• Western Mindanao reported the lowest percentage of families in the lowest 40% to have visited any health facility like hospital, clinic, etc., during the time when their family members got ill. NCR reported higher percentage of families visiting health facility, maybe because of the presence of government hospitals and other health facilities.

Higher percentage of families in the highest 60% income stratum visited health facilities in time of sickness than that in the lowest 40% as indicated by a disparity of 90 percent. Families in the higher income group could afford to visit private hospitals or clinics while those in the lower income group depend only in the services of government health facility.

Of water and sanitation, ...

• Eight in every ten families had access to safe drinking water and with sanitary toilet, three in the lowest 40% and five in the highest 60%.
• Geographically, those families in the lowest 40% with less access to safe drinking water were reported to be in Bicol, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, Northern Mindanao, Southern Mindanao, Western Mindanao and ARMM.
• Smaller percentage of families in the lowest 40% with sanitary toilet could be found in CAR and Bicol in Luzon, all Visayan Regions, Northern Mindanao, Western Mindanao and ARMM.
• The disparity between those with larger income and those with lower income in terms of access to clean and safe drinking water was very high (94%). Greater disparity could be seen in Bicol Region, Central Visayas Region and Western Visayas Region.
• Even greater disparity was reflected by those families in the highest 60% and lowest 40% in terms of having sanitary toilet. The percentage of families in the highest 60% with sanitary toilets is twice as the percentage of those families in the lowest 40%. Eight out of the fifteen regions reported the same situation.
• The percentage of families in the lowest 40% to the total families in the lowest 40% differed notably from the percentage of families in the highest 60% to the total families in the highest 60%. The families with highest income had easy access to safe drinking water and sanitary toilets.

Of income and employment, ...

• Nine out of ten families had gainfully employed family heads, four families belonging to the lowest 40% and five in the highest 60%.
• Families in the two special income strata had a difference of 42 percent. Eastern Visayas reported the highest disparity of 55 percent and Central Visayas, the lowest disparity of 39 percent.
• Almost all families reported to have family members 18 years old and over who are gainfully employed.
• Geographically the situation was the same in all regions where the disparity of the highest 60% and the lowest 40% is approximately 50 percent.

Of basic education, ...

• Five out of ten families had children aged 6 to 12 years old in elementary school and three in every ten families were with children 13 to 16 years old in high school.
• Two out ten families in the lowest 40% income stratum sent their children 6-12 years old in the elementary school while one out ten families in this income group sent their children 13-16 years old in high school.
• Families belonging to lowest 40% income stratum in Eastern Visayas and Western Mindanao reported the lowest proportion of families who sent their children 6-12 years old to elementary school and children 13-16 years old to high school, respectively.
• Higher disparity was noted in the families belonging to highest 60% and lowest 40% income strata who sent their children 13-16 years old to high school than those who sent their children 6-12 years old to elementary school.
• More families in the highest income bracket (29% against 18% of the lowest 40%) sent their children 13-16 years in high school.
• Of the total families in the country, only 2.4 percent received any educational/scholarship assistance for tertiary education program. Of these families, 0.5 percent are poor.
• The disparity of availing the scholarship program for tertiary education between the lower income and higher income strata was so high, about 290 percent.
• The significant disparity was observed in Western Mindanao Region, Central Mindanao Region, Cagayan Valley Region and ARMM.

Of people’s participation/community development, ...

• One out of five families had at least one family member involved in at least one legitimate people’s organization/association for community development. Only 5.2 percent of these families belonged to the lowest income stratum.
• Geographically, lower income families in ARMM (1.5%) had lesser involvement as compared to the lower income families in Northern Mindanao Region (10.5%).
• The percentage of higher income families was greater than the percentage of low-income families with respect to involvement to people’s organization.

Of family care and psychological need, ...

• One in every ten families had working children 5-17 years old, almost equal percentages of 5 percent were in the lowest 40% and highest 60% income strata. Working children 5-17 years old include all children gainfully employed whether paid or unpaid or whether currently attending school or not.
• More of these families in the lowest income group were found in CAR, Bicol Region, Central Visayas Region, and most Mindanao Regions except Caraga and ARMM.
• In terms of percentage to total lowest 40% or highest 60%, there were more families reported in the lowest 40% with working children 5-17 years old than those in the higher income bracket.

Of shelter, ...

• Almost all families have houses that they either owned, rented or shared with other families, two out of five families and three out of five families in the lowest 40% and highest 60% income strata, respectively.
• A disparity of 50 percent between the lowest and highest income strata was reported nationwide.
• Of the total families with owned or owner-like possession of house and lot, only 5.6 percent were able to acquire these properties through the assistance of the government housing or financing program. More than 1 percent of these families (1.17%) belonged to the bottom 40%.
• A high disparity of 330% between the poor and the non-poor income strata was reported which means that the highest 60% families were the ones that benefited from the housing program of the government.
• Same situation was observed in all regions specifically in Eastern Visayas Region and Western Mindanao Region.

Of agricultural lands, ...

• Nearly five of the families owned agricultural lands being used for other purposes other than residence like operating agricultural activities that was acquired under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) land distribution.
• Of these families, 2.0 percent of the poor families benefited from the CARP land distribution program.

Of housing characteristics, ...

• Two of every five families live in single houses, usually made of light roofing and outer wall materials.
• Three out of ten families live in housing units with floor area ranging from 10 square meters to 49 square meters.
• Two out of ten families used electricity for fuel and lighting.
• About 10 percent of them shared tubed/piped and 8 percent shared faucet as their main source of water supply.
• One in every five families used water-sealed toilet, however, 8.3 percent had still no toilet facilities.
• Three out of ten families owned radio or stereo and one out of ten families had television.

Of financial crisis and remedies, ...

• Of the total families, about 94 percent reported that they were affected by the financial crisis whether they came from the lowest 40% or highest 60% income bracket.
• Specifically, 95.6 percent of the families in the lowest 40% income stratum reported to have been affected by the increased price of food and other basic commodities. This increased price of food could have been the effect brought about by the drought or "El Nino" which is also the second problem cited by the poor families.
• Other families in the lowest income group (about 18 percent) reported loss of job within the country or reduction of wages (about 16 percent).
• In response to the financial crisis, one in every two families in the lowest 40% changed their eating pattern while three out of ten families increased their working hours.
• On the other hand, one-fifth of the poor families received or accepted financial assistance from their friends or relatives. About a few had taken their children out of school (7.5%), migrated to another city or country (6.0%), and received assistance from the government (9.8%).

Source: Income and Employment Statistics Division
               National Statistics Office
               Republic of the Philippines