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The National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB)
released the 2006 official poverty estimates, showing that the poverty
incidence in the region slightly dropped to 31.1 percent, down by 0.3
percentage points from its 2003 level of 31.4 percent. This 31.1 percent
poverty incidence translates to 425,571 poor families, which is 7.2 percent
higher than the 397,073 families in 2003.
Poverty incidence is the proportion of families/individuals with per capita
income/expenditure less than the per capita poverty threshold to the total
number of families/individuals.
Poverty threshold or the minimum income/expenditure required for a
family/individual to meet the basic food and non-food requirements, on the
other hand, rose to Php14,405, an increase of 17.2 percent over its 2003
level of Php12,291. This means that a family of five (5) would need at least
Php6,002 a month in order to be considered as “not poor.”
Table 1: Poverty threshold and incidence of poverty, Region VI and its
provinces: 2000, 2003 and 2006
|
Region/Province |
Annual Per Capita
Poverty Threshold (in Pesos) |
Poverty Incidence
Among Families (%) |
|
|
2000 |
2003 |
2006 |
2000 |
2003 |
2006 |
|
Region VI |
11,314 |
12,291
|
14,405
|
36.7
|
31.4
|
31.1
|
|
Aklan |
11,527 |
11,980
|
15,150
|
36.3
|
33.5
|
42.6
|
|
Antique |
10,938 |
11,377
|
14,650
|
35.1
|
43.4
|
43.0
|
|
Capiz |
10,536 |
11,298
|
14,242
|
40.8
|
21.6
|
24.3
|
|
Guimaras |
10,759 |
11,694
|
14,811
|
22.6
|
32.7
|
35.2
|
|
Iloilo |
12,122 |
13,221
|
14,810
|
29.7
|
31.1
|
24.1
|
|
Negros Occidental |
11,126 |
12,131
|
13,975
|
41.6
|
31.4
|
33.4
|
Among the provinces
of Western Visayas, Aklan has worsened its poverty incidence to 42.6 percent
in 2006, a 9.2 percent increase from its 2003 level of 33.5 percent. Iloilo
and Antique, on the other hand, managed to improve in 2006. Iloilo reduced
its poverty incidence by 6.9 percentage points from its 31.1 percent level
in 2003 to 24.1 percent in 2006. Antique succeeded in reducing its poverty
incidence in 2006, however, remained the poorest in 2006.
Western Visayas is one among the only four regions that had successfully
reduced its poverty incidence in 2006. However, it also continued to have
the highest number of poor families. It accounted for 9.1 percent of the
total number of poor families in the country, 0.8 percentage point lower
than the region’s share in 2003.
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