Introduction

To further serve the needs of local planners and policy makers in our efforts to win the war against poverty, the NSCB produced prototype poverty maps for the provinces of Laguna and Albay in 2002 as part of the Poverty Mapping Study under the Project on Re-engineering the Government Statistical Services – Phase II. Poverty maps make possible the integration of data from various sources such as surveys and administrative-based data and from different disciplines such as social, economic and environment data. Since different dimensions of well-being can be examined and integrated, these maps serve as very useful tools to local government units as well as local chief executives, particularly in identifying priority areas that should benefit from anti-poverty programs and interventions.