In 2021, the economic effects in the Philippines of the Covid 19 pandemic had 3.50 million families or 13.2 percent of the total population considering themselves poor, an increase from 12.1 percent in 2018, the Philippine Statics Authority (PSA) reported on 15 August.
PSA Usec. Dennis Mapa in a press briefing said the subsistence incidence among families was observed at 3.9 percent, or 1.04 million families living below the food poverty line.
Mapa added that based on the preliminary results of the Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) in 2021, poverty incidence among population, defined as the proportion of Filipinos whose per capita income cannot sufficiently meet the individual basic food and non-food needs, was recorded at 18.1 percent.
He said this translates to around 19.99 million Filipinos who lived below the poverty threshold of about P12,030 per month for a family of five.
On the other hand, the subsistence incidence, defined as the proportion of Filipinos whose income is not enough to meet even just the basic food needs, slightly increased to 5.9 percent in 2021.
“It was estimated that a family of five needs at least P8,379 per month to meet their basic food requirements,” Mapa said.