BUTUAN CITY – The Caraga Region showed the “most notable improvement” in poverty incidence among the country's 18 regions, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed.
The 2023 full year official poverty statistics was initially released on July 22 covering data at the national level and was updated to include poverty estimates disaggregated at the regional, provincial and highly urbanized city levels, according to a news release Thursday.
“Caraga Region showed the most notable improvement with a poverty incidence among families of 14.9 percent in 2023, a decrease of 11 percentage points from its poverty incidence of 25.9 percent in 2021,” the PSA said.
Surigao del Sur posted the highest decline among provinces at 13 percent -- from 24 percent in 2021 to 10.3 percent in 2023.
Butuan City, the region’s premier city, posted a 10.4 percent drop from 22.6 percent in 2021 to 12.2 percent last year.
Caraga Region’s poverty threshold in 2023 was at PHP12,319 from PHP11,390 in 2021.
At the sub-national level, the National Capital Region remained the least poor among the regions, with a poverty incidence among families estimated at 1.1 percent in 2023.
Region IX (Zamboanga Peninsula) recorded the highest poverty incidence among families at 24.2 percent, followed by the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao at 23.5 percent and Negros Island Region at 22.6 percent, the PSA news release said. (PNA)
