The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) releases updates on the 2023 Full Year Official Poverty Statistics based on the preliminary results of the 2023 Family Income and Expenditure Survey. The 2023 Full Year Official Poverty Statistics was initially released on 22 July 2024 covering data at the national level. The updated report includes poverty estimates disaggregated at the regional, provincial, and highly urbanized city levels. Also, it incorporates the poverty estimates for the newly established Negros Island Region (NIR) for years 2018, 2021 and 2023. The inclusion of NIR led to the adjustment in the poverty estimates of Region VI (Western Visayas) and Region VII (Central Visayas) in 2018 and 2021 to reflect the new composition of the regions. Moreover, separate poverty estimates for Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur were included in the updated report.

Poverty Threshold

A family with five members needed at least PhP 13,873 per month to meet their minimum basic food and non-food needs in 2023. Among the regions, nine had poverty thresholds higher than the national average. This was led by Region III (Central Luzon) with a poverty threshold of PhP 16,046, followed by the National Capital Region (NCR) at PhP 15,713, and Region IV-A (CALABARZON) at PhP 15,457. On the other hand, Region XII (SOCCSKSARGEN) posted the lowest poverty threshold at PhP 12,241.

Poverty Incidence

The national poverty incidence among families in 2023 was recorded at 10.9 percent. This is equivalent to 2.99 million Filipino families without enough income to meet their basic food and non-food needs.  

At the sub-national level, NCR remained the least poor among the regions, with a poverty incidence among families estimated at 1.1 percent in 2023. In contrast, Region IX (Zamboanga Peninsula) recorded the highest poverty incidence among families at 24.2 percent for the same year, followed by the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) at 23.5 percent and NIR at 22.6 percent.

Out of the 18 regions, 11 recorded statistically significant decreases in poverty incidence among families in 2023 from 2021. Caraga showed the most notable improvement with a poverty incidence among families of 14.9 percent in 2023, a decrease of 11.0 percentage points from its poverty incidence of 25.9 percent in 2021. In addition, four regions exhibited downtrends in their poverty incidence among families in 2023 from 2021. However, these decreases are not statistically significant. Meanwhile, increasing trends were recorded in the poverty incidence among families in MIMAROPA at 1.2 percentage point difference, NIR at 4.4 percentage point difference and Region IX (Zamboanga Peninsula) at 0.8 percentage point difference, with only NIR exhibiting statistically significant increase.

CLAIRE DENNIS S. MAPA, PhD 
Undersecretary
National Statistician and Civil Registrar General

See more at the Poverty Statistics landing page