Contact Person: Frederick B. Dulay E-mail: nscbrd1@digitelone.com
PR-200608-RO1-06
Tel. No. (072) 888-2160/700-3035
PRESS RELEASE
August 07, 2006
The National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) Regional Division (RD) I announces the release of the poverty maps for the Province of La Union for 2004. The maps come in printed and CD-ROM format and is an update of the 2002 poverty maps released in 2004.
The poverty maps of La Union were produced by the NSCB RD 1, in collaboration with the Provincial Government of La Union, in support to the government’s poverty alleviation program. The NSCB embarked into the poverty mapping activity to identify the poor areas in the province through the use of social and economic indicators. The maps will serve as basis of policy and decision makers in identifying what and where poverty reduction programs/projects will be implemented.
The data used in the poverty mapping in La Union were provided by the local government units through the Provincial Planning and Development Office (PPDO) of La Union. The initial results were earlier presented during the April 17, 2006 meeting of the Regional Statistical Coordination Committee (RSCC). These were validated by the Municipal Planning and Development Coordinators (MPDC) of La Union during their League meeting last May 19, 2006.
The following indicators were used in generating the poverty maps: number of underweight children 0-5 years old, number of underweight children 7-10 years old, number of newborn with weight less than 2.5 kg., infant mortality rate, under 5 mortality rate, number of medical and other health workers, number of households with access to safe water supply, number of households with access to sanitary toilet facility, number of crimes against properties, number of crimes against persons, percentage of makeshift houses to total dwelling units, number of registered voters who actually voted, participation rate in public elementary schools and literacy rate.
The poverty index of each municipality was computed using these indicators and the municipal indices were compared with the provincial index. The indices were plotted in maps using the Geographic information System (GIS) software.
IRENEA B. UBUNGEN
Head, NSCB Regional Division I