Aklan poverty incidence falls to 12.1% in 2018

The poverty incidence in Aklan in 2018 fell to 12.1 percent from 16.1 percent in 2015, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)-Aklan.

The figure means that about 72,100 Aklanons lived below the poverty threshold in 2018.

Poverty incidence is the proportion of people below the poverty line.

The annual per capita poverty threshold or the minimum income required to meet the basic food and non-food needs of Aklanons was estimated at P 23,730.

This means that a family of five would need to earn at least P 9,888 per month to meet its basic food and non-food needs.

On per family basis, Aklan’s poverty incidence was estimated at 8.8 percent or 12, 600 poor families, lower than the 12.0 percent registered in 2015.

To meet the basic food needs, the minimum amount needed by a family of five was estimated at P 6,892 per month

Based on food threshold, the proportion of Aklanon families whose income were not sufficient to meet the basic food needs in 2018 was estimated at 1.0 percent, which is equivalent to about 1,400 families.

Among population, about 2 in 100 (1.8%) Aklanons lived below the food thresholds, higher than the 0.9% recorded in 2015.

Meanwhile, incomes of poor families were short by 15.6 percent of the poverty thresholds in 2018.

This means that, on the average, an additional monthly income of about P1,542 is needed by a poor family with five members to move out of poverty.