PSA reviews poverty, food thresholds

The methodology for coming up with thresholds used by the government to determine poverty will be adjusted in 2025, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said, with the current food threshold deemed insufficient.

- LOUELLA DESIDERIO

As of 2023, the poverty threshold or the minimum income required to meet the basic food and non-food needs of a family of five was pegged at P13,873 per month.

Meanwhile, the food threshold or the minimum income needed by a family of five to meet basic food needs per month was at P9,581 or about P64 per person per day.

The latest poverty data released last month showed the poverty incidence among the population was at 15.5 percent last year, lower than the 18.1 percent poverty incidence in 2021.

National Statistician Dennis Mapa said he agrees “that the food threshold might be insu cient.”