Family of 5 needs PhP12,859 a Month to stay out of Poverty

According to the 2023 estimates released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), each resident of Davao del Sur needed PhP2,572 to meet his/her monthly basic needs and stay out of poverty. Consequently, a family of five members in Davao del Sur, the average Filipino household size, needed a total annual income of PhP154,305, or a monthly income of PhP12,859 to cover their basic food and non-food expenses. This equates to a single wage earner in a five-member family living in Davao del Sur needing to earn PhP423 per day to lift the entire family out of poverty. This translates to an annual per capita poverty threshold of PhP30,861 for 2023, reflecting a 5.3 percent increase from the 2021 level of PhP29,300. Of this minimum annual per capita income requirement in 2023, 70% was allocated for basic food needs, while the remaining 30% was allocated for other essential needs.

A Family of 5 needs PhP9,023 a Month to meet Basic Food Needs

A family in Davao del Sur with five members required an annual income of PhP108,275 or PhP297 daily income for them not to experience hunger. This translates to an annual per capita food threshold of PhP21,655 marks a 5.7 percent increase from the 2021 level of PhP20,487. The increases in per capita poverty threshold in Davao del Sur indicate an annual inflation rate of about 2.65 percent while the increases in per capita food thresholds in Davao del Sur indicate an average annual inflation rate of about 2.85 percent between 2021 and 2023. All the Annual Per Capita Poverty Thresholds (in PhP) for the Philippines, Region XI, and the Province of Davao del Sur have shown an increase from 2021 to 2023.

Moreover, all the Annual Per Capita of Food Thresholds of the Philippines, Region XI, and the Province of Davao del Sur increased from 2021 to 2023. In the comparison of the Annual Per Capital Poverty Threshold between the whole Davao Region and the Province of Davao del Sur, the Percent Change from year 2021 to 2023 have closed values with 21.5 percent and 20.5 percent respectively. Moreover, the Annual Per Capita Food Threshold also have closed values having Davao Region with 21.9 percent and the province of Davao del Sur with 21.4 percent.

10 out of 100 families in Davao del Sur are poor

The poverty incidence of families in Davao del Sur was estimated at 10.1 percent, or roughly 10 out of 100 families were estimated to be poor in 2023. The estimate was lower than the 2021 poverty incidence which was estimated at 13.0 percent. This translates to an estimated number of poor families in Davao del Sur of 21,070 families which is lower by 16.9 percent from 25,352 in 2021. Furthermore, the 2023 estimated magnitude of poor families in Davao del Sur comprises 12.7 percent of the Davao Region’s poor families.
 

2 out of 10 families in Davao del Sur are food poor

Meanwhile, the proportion of families in Davao del Sur who are in extreme poverty whose incomes are not sufficient to meet the basic food needs stood at 1.6 percent, which is 1.6 percentage points lower than the 3.2 percent estimate in 2021. Consequently, the 2021 annual estimated number of extremely subsistence poor families significantly decreased by 45.3 percent from 6,250 in 2021 to 3,420 in 2023. Furthermore, the estimated magnitude of subsistence poor families in Davao del Sur comprises 8.0 percent of the whole Davao region’s subsistence poor families of 42,660 families.
 

About 15 out of 100 Davaoeños in Davao del Sur are poor

The latest poverty estimates also indicated that about 14.3 percent Davaoeños in Davao del Sur were not able to meet the basic food and non-food requirements in 2023. The figure was 3.3 percentage points lower compared to the 2021 estimate of 17.6 percent. However, the magnitude of the poor population decreased by 15.5 percent from 123,944 in 2021 to 104,730 in 2023.
 

Additionally, in 2023 the subsistence incidence among individuals stood at 5.3 percent, an increase of 0.3 percentage points from the previous estimate of 5.0 percent. The magnitude of Davaoeños in Davao del Sur who were not able to meet basic food requirements also decreased by 46.2 percent from 35,040 in 2021 to 18,840 in 2023.

Davao del Sur ranks 4th among Provinces in Davao Region with lowest Annual Poverty Incidence

Among the provinces in Davao Region, Davao del Sur, ranked 4th with the lowest poverty incidences among individuals with 14.3 percent annual poverty incidence among population in 2023. Furthermore, Davao del Sur has the third lowest annual magnitude of poor population with 104,730 in 2023. Davao del Sur having 1.6 percent, ranked second with the lowest estimated subsistence incidence among families in comparison of all provinces in Davao Region. Furthermore, it ranked third with the lowest subsistence incidence among population in 2023 having 5.3 percent.

Between 2021 and 2023, the provinces of Davao de Oro, Davao Occidental, and Davao del Sur experienced a reduction in the magnitude of poor families. On the other hand, the provinces of Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental, and the city of Davao have an increase in the magnitude of poor families. Furthermore, the magnitude of poor population in Davao de Oro, Davao Occidental, and Davao del Sur decreased by 2.5 percent, 37.5 percent, and 4.2 percent, respectively. While the magnitude of poor population in Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental, and Davao City increased by 19.3 percent, 48.3 percent, and 13.3 percent, respectively.

Of the 165,410 poor families in the Davao Region as of 2023, 30.0 percent were families in City of Davao, and then, 27.1 percent were families in Davao Oriental, 12.7 percent were families in Davao del Sur, 11.5 percent were families in Davao del Norte,10.3 percent were families in Davao Occidental, and 8.4 percent were families in Davao de Oro. In addition, of the 884,830 poor population in Davao region, 27.3 percent were in Davao Oriental, 27.2 percent were in Davao City, 13.5 percent were in Davao del Norte, 11.8 percent were in Davao del Sur, 11.0 percent were in Davao Occidental, and 9.1 percent were in Davao de Oro.

Income Gap, Poverty Gap, and Severity of Poverty

The PSA also releases other poverty-related statistics such as income gap, poverty gap, and severity of poverty. In 2023, on the average, the incomes of poor Davaoeño families in Davao del Sur were short by 16.9 percent. This means that on the average, an additional monthly income of about PhP2,173.18 is needed by a poor family with five members in order to stay out of poverty. Moreover, the poverty gap of families in Davao del Sur is 1.7 decreased by 1.0 from the poverty gap in 2021. Likewise, the severity of poverty was reduced by 0.4.
 

Technical Notes:

Food threshold is the minimum income required to meet basic food needs and satisfy the nutritional requirements set by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) to ensure that one remains economically and socially productive. It is used to measure extreme or subsistence poverty.

Income Gap measures the average income required by the poor to get out of poverty, expressed relative to the poverty threshold.

Poverty Gap refers to the income shortfall (expressed in proportion to the poverty threshold) of families with income below the poverty threshold, divided by the total number of families.

Poverty Incidence is the proportion of families/ individuals with per capita income/expenditure less than the per capita poverty threshold to the total number of families/individuals.

Poverty Threshold is a similar concept, expanded to include basic non-food needs such as clothing, housing, transportation, health, and education expenses.

Severity of Poverty is the total of the squared income shortfall (expressed in proportion to the poverty threshold) of families with income below the poverty threshold, divided by the total number of families. This is a poverty measure that is sensitive to income distribution among the poor.

Subsistence Incidence is the proportion of families/ individuals with per capita income/expenditure less than the per capita food threshold to the total number of families/individuals
 

Approved for Release:

JESSIE A. MADULIUN
(Chief Statistical Specialist)
Officer-In-Charge
Davao del Sur Provincial Statistical Office