Poverty in the Philippines

and How It Affects the

Economy

What is poverty?
the state of being extremely poor.

the state of being inferior in quality or

insufficient in amount.

What is a poor family?

When a familys income is less than
the amount needed to meet
minimum needs.

Effects of poverty

Malnutrition
Health
Education
Economy
Society

What causes poverty in the

Philippines?
Low to moderate economic growth for the
past 40 years;
Low growth elasticity of poverty reduction;
Weakness in employment generation and the
quality of jobs generated;
Failure to fully develop the agriculture sector;

What causes poverty in the

Philippines?
High inflation during crisis periods;
High levels of population growth;
High and persistent levels of inequality (incomes
and assets), which dampen the positive impacts
of economic expansion
Recurrent shocks and exposure to risks such as
economic crisis, conflicts, natural disasters, and
"environmental poverty."

How poverty affects health

Poverty and poor health worldwide are
inextricably linked. The causes of poor health
for millions globally are rooted in political,
social and economic injustices. Poverty is
both a cause and a consequence of poor
health. Poverty increases the chances of poor
health. Poor health in turn traps communities
in poverty. Infectious and neglected tropical
diseases kill and weaken millions of the
poorest and most vulnerable people each
year.

 Food Thresholdrefers to the annual

per capita cost of basicfood
requirements.
PovertyLine/Thresholdis equal to
the annualper capitafood
thresholdplus the cost of other basic
non-food requirements.

Poverty increases your chance of

getting ill because of:

Poor nutrition
Overcrowding
Lack of clean water
Harsh realities that may make
putting your health at risk the only
way to survive or keep your family
safe.

Poor health increases poverty by:

Reducing a familys work productivity
Leading families to sell assets to
cover the costs of treatment. This
increases poverty and their
vulnerability to shocks in the future.

Philippine Statistical updates on

Poverty
The National Statistics Coordination Board
(NSCB) released itslatest report on poverty in
the Philippines onApril 23, 2013. The results of
the survey, which is taken every three years,
showed that as of the first semester of 2012,
27.9percentof Filipinos were living below the
poverty line. This estimate is a concern to the
Philippine government because it shows that
despite the governmentstargeted efforts,
poverty rates have remained relatively
unchanged from their 2009 levels.

World Statistical Updates on Poverty

According to the most recent estimates, in 2012, 12.7
percent of the worlds population lived at or below $1.90 a
day. Thats down from 37 percent in 1990 and 44 percent in
1981.
This means that, in 2012, 896 million people lived on less
than $1.90 a day, compared with 1.95 billion in 1990, and
1.99 billion in 1981.
Progress has been slower at higher poverty lines. Over 2.1
billion people in the developing world lived on less than US
$ 3.10 a day in 2012, compared with 2.9 billion in 1990- so
even though the share of the population living under that
threshold nearly halved, from 66 percent in 1990 to 35
percent in 2012, far too many people are living with far too
little.

How the Government Attempts to

Combat Poverty?
Community-driven development
In the past decade or so, there has been
growing frustration with the traditional,
ineffective top-down approach to
development and poverty reduction.
Therefore, the Philippines and several other
countries have been experimenting with
community-driven development (CDD). The
many local successes have now led the
government to try and replicate the
experience at a larger scale.

How the Government Attempts to

Combat Poverty?
Empowering the poor
community-driven development is now at the
center of many strategies, so that the poor can
actively take part in the development of their own
region and reap the benefits from growing their
economy. In the end CDD could happen in a topdown manner too, since its also about playing a
fairer game with the poor, providing them with the
right information, training and a fair trade system.
But too often, governments or local officials seem
to tempted to skew the rules of the game in their
favor.

How the Government Attempts to

Combat Poverty?
What are they developing?
Rice, rice, rice. Well, for the most part. The Philippines
remains very much a rural economy and farmers income is
generally quite low, so it makes sense to focus on the main
staple in order to grow, develop (and hopefully diversify)
the economy.
With 1 in 2 farmers living below the poverty line and about
35% of the population in poverty, economic development
remains an important challenge for the Philippines. And
increasing rice productivity seems like a good starting point.
The first community-driven development programs were
indeed effective at improving this and gathered all local
players in rural Philippines; from farmers to local NGOs,
local officers, union representatives and so on.