In 2002, out-of-school Filipino children and youth were 14.7 percent or 4.84 million out of 32.96 million population aged 6 to 24 years. Among the 16 regions, the percentage was highest in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) (23.1 percent), followed by Central Visayas (18.3 percent), and National Capital Region or NCR (17.2 percent). It was least in Cagayan Valley (10.6 percent) and Cordillera Administrative Region or CAR (10.8 percent).

Results of the 2002 Annual Poverty Indicators Survey (APIS) showed that about 250 thousand of the approximately 1 million children and youth aged 6 to 24 years in ARMM were out of school. Among the children and youth who belonged to families in the bottom 40% income group in ARMM, 28.4 percent were out of school. This was much higher than the percentage of those who belonged to families in the upper 60% (17.9 percent). Likewise, in NCR, the percentage of out-of-school children and youth was higher among those in the bottom 40% (24.7 percent) than among those in the upper 60% (17.0 percent).

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.

Out-of-school children are household members 6 to 14 years old who are not attending formal education during the school year, while out-of-school youth are household members 15 to 24 years old who are out of formal school and are not gainfully employed.

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 children and youth aged 6 to 24 years who are out of school, by region and income stratum, Philippines: 2002