Poverty

Poverty alleviation in the Philippines has been one of the greatest challenges for all past administrations including the present. Up to now, solving this problem still remains as a main priority of the Government.  Although there have been very slow growths and improvements, statistics show that the country is heading in the right direction with respect to finding solutions to this perennial problem.  The government though, still needs all the help they can get and therefore, ordinary citizens must continue finding ways on how to contribute to further reducing poverty in the Philippines.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on April 29, 2014 released its report on the country’s  official poverty statistics for the first semester of 2013.

• http://www.nscb.gov.ph/pressreleases/2014/PSA-NSCB-PR-201404-SS2-09_povertyincidence.asp

From Wikipedia

Poverty remains the most critical social problem that needs to be addressed. Philippines' poverty line marks a per capita income of 16,841 pesos a year.^[1] According to the data from the National Statistical Coordination Board, more than one-quarter (27.9%) of the population fell below the poverty line the first semester of 2012, an approximate 1 per cent increase since 2009.^[2] This figure is a much lower figure as compared to the 33.1% in 1991.^[3]

The decline in poverty has been slow and uneven, much slower than neighboring countries who experienced broadly similar numbers in the 1980s,^[4] such as People's Republic of China (PRC), Thailand, Indonesia (where the poverty level lies at 8.5%) or Vietnam (13.5%). This shows that the incidence of poverty has remained significantly high as compared to other countries for almost a decade. The unevenness of the decline has been attributed to a large range of income brackets across regions and sectors, and unmanaged population growth. The Philippines poverty rate is roughly the same level as Haiti.^[4]

The government planned to eradicate poverty as stated in the Philippines Development Plan 2011-2016 (PDP). The PDP for those six years are an annual economic growth of 7-8% and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Under the MDGs, Philippines committed itself to having extreme poverty from a 33.1% in 1991 to 16.6% by 2015.^[4]

From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_Philippines