SiteMap •  Links • Search

I. Highlights of 2006-2007 official provincial thresholds

Following the movement of poverty threshold from 2000 up to present, Filipino families consisting of five members should be earning a combined monthly income of PhP 6,195 in order to meet their most basic food and non-food needs for this year. A sole breadwinner in a five-member family residing at the National Capital Region (NCR) is expected to find an arduous task in bringing the entire family above the poverty line if he/she only earns at most PhP 265 per day.

Table 1. Monthly and Daily Poverty and Food thresholds for a Family of Five, All Areas

		Monthly			Daily
		2005	2006	2007	2005	2006	2007
Phils.	Poverty threshold	5,916	6,003	6,195	195	198	204
	Food threshold	3,896	4,024	4,162	129	133	137
NCR	Poverty threshold	7,859	7,945	8,061	259	262	266
	Food threshold	4,667	4,735	4,804	154	156	159

Source:  National Statistical Coordination Board

On a general perspective, of the PhP 14,866 annual per capita poverty threshold for 2007, PhP 9,987 is for food while the difference P4,880 is for non-food needs of Juan dela Cruz. Among other provinces excluding NCR, the amount of an “economically-decent” lifestyle is highest in Abra, as it posted PhP 18,058 annual per capita poverty threshold. Of the ten provinces with the highest poverty threshold, nine are in Luzon and one in Mindanao.

Table 2.  Top Ten in Provincial Annual per Capita Poverty Threshold, 2007

Provinces	Poverty threshold			Rank
	2005	2006	2007	2005	2006	2007
NCR	18,859	19,067	19,345
Abra	16,294	17,468	18,058	5	3	1
Cavite	17,157	17,595	18,019	2	1	2
Batangas	17,165	17,583	18,005	1	2	3
Bulacan	16,506	16,895	17,298	3	4	4
Pampanga	16,377	16,812	17,214	4	5	5
Rizal	16,114	16,496	16,887	7	7	6
Mt. Province	16,169	16,499	16,819	6	6	7
Nueva Ecija	15,809	16,201	16,611	8	8	8
Davao Del Norte	14,593	15,535	16,543	24	15	9
Benguet	15,653	16,086	16,508	9	9	10

Source:  National Statistical Coordination Board

The poverty threshold, on the other hand, is lowest in Siquijor, at P11,663, followed by Negros Oriental, P12,012, and Cagayan, P12,479 (Table 3). Of the 10 provinces with the lowest poverty thresholds in 2007, three are in Luzon, six in the Visayas, and one in Mindanao.

Table 3. Bottom Ten in Provincial Annual per Capita Poverty Threshold, 2007

Provinces	Poverty Threshold			Rank
	2005	2006	2007	2005	2006	2007
Siquijor	10,774	11,226	11,663	79	79	79
Negros Oriental	10,990	11,532	12,012	78	78	78
Cagayan	11,863	12,169	12,479	76	76	77
Zamboanga Sibugay	11,500	12,083	12,667	77	77	76
Biliran	12,293	12,409	12,677	72	75	75
Romblon	12,124	12,491	12,793	73	73	74
Leyte	12,483	12,468	12,951	69	74	73
Antique	12,406	12,724	12,990	71	70	72
Cebu	12,052	12,524	13,015	74	72	71
Palawan	12,524	12,766	13,026	67	69	70

Source:  National Statistical Coordination Board

Generally, families residing in urban areas need to earn 20 percent more than the income of families falling within the ridge of the poverty threshold in rural areas. Also, to meet their basic food needs for the year, residents of urban areas are expected to spend 20 percent higher than their rural counterparts.

Table 4. Annual per capita poverty thresholds for urban and rural areas, 2005-2007

	All Areas	Urban Areas	Rural Areas	Urban - Rural Difference
				Level	%
2005	14,196	15,992	13,241	2,751	20.1
2006	14,405	16,429	13,659	2,770	20.3
2007	14,866	16,936	14,103	2,833	20.1

Source:  National Statistical Coordination Board

These are among the highlights from the preliminary model-based estimates of the 2006 and 2007 food and poverty thresholds.

II. Notes on the methodology and estimates

The National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB), the agency mandated to regularly generate and release the country’s official poverty statistics, annually releases food and poverty thresholds at the national, regional, and provincial levels. These thresholds are estimated upon availability of price data from the National Statistics Office (NSO) and the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS). These are deemed useful for targeting and planning purposes such as: 1) determination of minimum wage; 2) negotiations for collective bargaining agreements (CBAs); and 3) identification of beneficiaries of government programs, etc.

In line with the thrust of providing relevant, timely and accurate poverty statistics, NSCB formulated a model-based methodology of estimating food and poverty thresholds, which was approved by its Executive Board on 14 February 2007. This methodology will compute for advance estimates of food and poverty thresholds even before price data for the reference year are made available by the NSO and BAS.

The model-based methodology underwent an open and rigorous process of evaluation, refinements, and revalidation through a series of interagency discussions and consultations with the Technical Committee on Poverty Statistics, which is the body tasked to study the methodologies and estimation procedures used in generating official poverty statistics and related indicators. Further, it should be noted that given the limitations of the methodology and its data constraints, it would still be subject to further improvements and refinements as more data inputs become available. The first set of preliminary model-based food and poverty thresholds are released for the years 2006 and 2007, as discussed in Section I of this release. Final estimates for 2006, which is a FIES year, will be released in May 2007 using actual price data from NSO and BAS. On the other hand, final (model-based) estimates for 2007 is scheduled to be released after the review of the methodology in May 2010.

For inquiries, please contact Ms. Jessamyn O. Encarnacion or Mr. Art Martinez, Jr. at telephone number +632-8965390 or through e-mail addresses jo.encarnacion@nscb.gov.ph and am.martinez@nscb.gov.ph.

ESTRELLA V. DOMINGO
Officer-in-Charge
Office of the Secretary General

 

Contact Persons:

Ms. Jessamyn O. Encarnacion; Mr. Arturo M. Martinez, Jr.
Tel. No.: (63-2) 896-5390
E-mail: jo.encarnacion@nscb.gov.ph; am.martinez@nscb.gov.ph

 

 

PRESS RELEASES Current Year 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002

Announcements

Latest Releases of Designated Statistics

Statistically Speaking

For the Record

Media Services

E-Newsletter

Events

Bids, Quotations & Canvasses

	E-mail the webmaster	Terms of Use					Home • Top of Page
		1997-2008, National Statistical Coordination Board Makati City, Philippines