SPECIAL RELEASE

Percentage of Filipino Families in Oriental Mindoro Classified as Poor Increased to 14.1 percent in 2023

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) releases updates on the 2023 Full Year Official Poverty Statistics based on the preliminary results of the 2023 Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES). The 2023 Full Year Official Poverty Statistics was initially released on 22 July 2024 covering data at the national level. The updated report includes poverty estimates disaggregated at the regional, provincial, and highly urbanized city levels.

Food and Poverty Thresholds in 2023

Based on the preliminary results of the FIES which was conducted in July 2023 (collected income data from January to June 2023) and January 2024 (collected income data from July to December 2023), a family of five in Oriental Mindoro needed at least PhP9,140, on average, to meet the family’s basic food needs for a month. Specifically, this amount is termed as the monthly family food threshold. On the other hand, no less than Php12,996, on average, was needed to meet both the basic food and non-food needs of a family of five in a month, particularly coined as the monthly family poverty threshold.

Food threshold is the minimum income required to meet the basic food needs that satisfy the nutritional requirements based on the Recommended Energy and Nutrient Intake (RENI) to ensure that one remains economically and socially productive. On the other hand, poverty threshold is the minimum income required to meet the basic food and non-food needs such as clothing, fuel, light and water, housing, rental of occupied dwelling units, transportation and communication, health and education expenses, non-durable furnishing, household operations and personal care and effects.

Meanwhile, the proportion of Filipino families in Oriental Mindoro whose incomes were not sufficient to meet even their basic food needs in 2023 stood at 4.4 percent or equivalent to 9.72 thousand families. Among population, this is around 7.1 percent or 65.81 thousand Filipinos in Oriental Mindoro living below the food threshold in 2023.

Poverty Incidence in 2023

In 2023, the poverty incidence among Filipino families at the national level was estimated at 10.9 percent from 13.2 percent in 2021. The MIMAROPA Region posted a poverty incidence among families at 16.3 percent in the same period.

Poverty incidence among families in Oriental Mindoro was registered at 14.1 percent or equivalent to 31 thousand poor families in 2023. Poverty incidence is the proportion of Filipino families with incomes that are not sufficient to buy their minimum basic food and non-food needs as estimated by the poverty threshold.

The proportion of the population living below the poverty line to the total population or referred to as the poverty incidence among Filipino individuals in 2023 as estimated at 15.5 percent at the national level. In 2021, poverty incidence among Filipinos was recorded at 18.1 percent.

The observed poverty incidence among individuals in the MIMAROPA Region in 2023 was 23.0 percent while that in the province of Oriental Mindoro was estimated at 20.6 percent.

Subsistence Incidence in 2023

The subsistence incidence among Filipino families, alternatively called as the proportion of Filipino families whose incomes fall below the food threshold, was estimated at 2.7 percent in 2023. In 2021, the proportion of families who are food poor was recorded at 3.9 percent.

Subsistence incidence among families in the MIMAROPA region in 2023 was estimated at 4.9 percent and at 4.4 percent in Oriental Mindoro. In 2021, MIMAROPA and Oriental Mindoro posted 5.0 percent and 5.4 percent, respectively.

The proportion of Filipinos whose income fall below the food threshold or better known as the subsistence incidence among Filipino individuals, was estimated at 4.3 percent in 2023 at the national level and 5.9 percent in 2021.

Subsistence incidence among individuals in MIMAROPA in 2023 was registered at 7.4 percent and was at 7.1 percent in Oriental Mindoro. The 2021 results of the subsistence incidence among individuals in MIMAROPA and Oriental Mindoro were observed at 7.5 percent and 8.2 percent, in that order.

Other Poverty Measures

In addition to the thresholds and incidences, the PSA also releases other poverty related statistics in the report such as the income gap, poverty gap and severity of poverty.

The income gap measures the average income required by the poor to get out of poverty, expressed relative to the poverty threshold. In 2023, on average, incomes of poor families in the country were short by 20.6 percent of the poverty threshold.

In MIMAROPA Region during 2023, the income of poor families were short by 22.3 percent while the income of poor families in Oriental Mindoro were lacking by 23.8 percent.

The poverty gap refers to the income shortfall (expressed in proportion to the poverty threshold) of families with income below poverty threshold, divided by the total number of families. The poverty gap in the country in 2023 was measured at 2.2 percent which is a decrease compared with 2021 (3.0 percent).

The poverty gap in MIMAROPA showed an increase from 3.5 percent in 2021 to 3.6 percent in 2023.

Meanwhile, the poverty gap in Oriental Mindoro remained at 3.4 percent.

The severity of poverty is the total of the squared income shortfall (expressed in proportion to the poverty threshold) of families with income below the poverty threshold, divided by the total number of families. This is a poverty measure that is sensitive to income distribution among poor. The overall severity of poverty in the country in 2023 was 0.7 percent, an improvement of 0.3 percentage point.

In MIMAROPA, the severity of poverty increased to 1.3 percent in 2023 from 1.2 percent in 2021. The severity of poverty in Oriental Mindoro remained at 1.3 percent in 2023.

(SGD) CHARLYN ROMERO-CANTOS, PhD
(Chief Administrative Officer)
Officer-in-Charge
Oriental Mindoro Provincial Statistical Office