A family of five needed no less than PhP 7,337 in the first half of 2018, on average, to meet the basic food needs of the family for a month. This is the threshold of food. On the other hand, a family of five in a month needed no less than PhP 10,481, on average, to meet both basic food and non-food needs. This is the threshold of poverty. These are 10.9 percent higher than the thresholds for food and poverty in the first half of 2015.
Food threshold is the minimum income required to meet basic food needs, meeting the nutritional requirements set by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) to ensure that one remains economically and socially productive. On the other hand, the poverty threshold is the minimum income required to meet basic food and non-food needs such as clothing, fuel, light and water, housing, rental of occupied residential units, transportation and communication, expenses for health and education, non-sustainable furnishing, household operations and personal care and effects.
The incidence of poverty among Filipino people was estimated at 21.0 percent in the first semester of 2018. This is called the proportion of the population living below the poverty line to the population as a whole. Poverty incidence among Filipinos was recorded at 27.6 percent during the same period in 2015. Besides the thresholds and incidences, the PSA also publishes in the report other poverty-related statistics such as income gap, poverty gap and poverty severity.
The income gap measures the average income, expressed relative to the poverty threshold, required by the poor to get out of poverty. The poverty gap refers to family income deficit below the poverty threshold, divided by the total number of families. The severity of poverty, divided by the total number of families, is the total square income shortfall of families with income below the poverty threshold. This is a measure of poverty sensitive to the distribution of income among the poor.
