Poverty incidence in 10 basic sectors decline in 2023 

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said poverty incidence in 10 basic sectors declined in 2023 from 2021, according to a report by Philippine News Agency.

PSA data released on Monday showed that 10 of the 14 basic sectors identified in Republic Act 8425 or the Social Reform and Poverty Alleviation Act recorded a decline in the poverty incidence during the year.

The PSA said senior citizens, formal labor and migrant workers, and individuals residing in urban areas posted the lowest poverty incidences among the basic sectors in 2023 at 7.8 percent, 8.3 percent, and 10.3 percent, respectively.

In 2021, the poverty incidence for senior citizens and formal and labor migrant workers was higher at 10.2 percent while that of urban residents was also higher at 11.6 percent.

PSA data showed that other sectors which recorded a decline in poverty incidence include youth (14.1 percent from 16.5 percent), persons aged 15 years and above with disability (14.1 percent from 17.2 percent), women (15.6 percent from 18.3 percent), and self-employed and unpaid family workers (16.1 percent from 18.5 percent).

Other sectors include children (23.4 percent from 26.3 percent), farmers (27 percent from 29.9 percent), and fisherfolks (27.4 percent from 30.2 percent).

The PSA said that for 2023, new in the list of basic sectors with estimates of poverty incidence is the Indigenous Peoples.

The poverty incidence for the said sector was at 32.4 percent.

Last year, the PSA reported that the country's poverty rate fell to 15.5 percent in 2023 from 18.1 percent in 2021.

The poverty incidence during the period surpassed the government's 16 percent to 16.4 percent target in the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028.

The National Economic and Development Authority earlier said the decline in poverty incidence last year marked significant progress toward the Marcos administration's goal of reducing poverty to a single-digit level by 2028.