NAVAL, Biliran (PIA) – The provincial office of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) in Biliran has released a report on the 2023 first-semester poverty statistics, showing a significant drop in the number of low-income families and individuals.
Based on the report, the number of impoverished households has significantly dropped from 19.7 percent to 13.2 percent in the first semester of 2023.
Meanwhile, there has been a significant decrease in impoverished households, from 30.7 percent to 22.4 percent in the first semester of 2021.
“This implies that about one in every eight families in the province was poor,” said Renavil V. Cueva, chief statistical specialist of PSA-Biliran.
Cueva mentioned that in the first semester of 2023, two out of 10 individuals in Biliran belong to a poor household.
Rice farmers in Sitio Ilawod, Caray-Caray, Naval in Biliran joined with other family members to earn a day's income, enough to feed their families, from their work in the rice field. Agriculture is one of the major industries in the province, serving as a significant source of income for their families. (Photo: PIA Biliran)
In the same report, it was noted that there was a significant decrease in the subsistence incidence, or the number of families with an income below the food threshold.
The figure dropped from 8.7 percent in the first quarter of 2021 to 3.5 percent in the first quarter of 2023. These figures implied that four out of every 10 families in Biliran need more income to meet their basic food needs and satisfy the nutritional requirements set by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI).
There were notable improvements in reducing subsistence incidence among individuals in Biliran during the first semester of 2023, with a decrease of 5.8 percent from 13.1 percent in the first semester of 2021. These figures indicate that around six out of every 100 individuals in Biliran are experiencing food insecurity, indicating a need for increased income to meet their basic needs.
A family of five in the province requires a minimum of P11,938 per month to purchase their basic food and non-food necessities during the first semester of 2023. This indicates a 0.16 percent decrease compared to the poverty threshold estimated at P11,957 during the first quarter of 2021.
The report also indicated that a family of five average average monthly food expenses in the province during the first quarter of 2023 was estimated at P8,378, 0.31 percent higher than the first quarter of P8,352 in 2021. (AAC/RSV/PIA Biliran with reports from PSA-Biliran)
