SIQUIJOR, Siquijor, Nov. 28 (PIA) -- In 2021, Siquijor recorded the lowest poverty statistics among the provinces in Central Visayas.

This was disclosed by Regional Director Engr. Ariel Florendo of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) as he shared the 2021 full year poverty statistics of the Siquijor province during the PSA Provincial Dissemination Forum held at Coco Grove Beach Resort.

Based on the 2021 Family and Income expenditure Survey (FEIS), poverty incidence among families in Siquijor was estimated at 2.2%in 2021, a decrease of 5.0 percentage points from the recorded 7.2% in 2018.

This translates to around 550 families here considered to be poor in 2021 from an estimate of 1,730 in 2018.

Florendo said poverty incidence among families in Siquijor was observed to be lower than the regional poverty incidence among families which was estimated  at 22.1% in 2021 and 13.4%  in 2018.

PSA-Siquijor Chief Statistical Specialist Aurelia Canda explained that poverty incidence refers to the proportion of families/individuals with per capita income less than the per capita poverty threshold to the total number of families /individuals.

Florendo reported that the poverty incidence in 2021 was estimated at 3.4%, which means that an estimated three out of 100 Siquijodnons have income below the amount needed to buy their basic food and non-food needs.

There was a notable decrease compared to the 2018 result with 10.40%  poverty incidence or 104 out of 1,000 Siquijodnons considered to be poor.

According to the report, the number of poor Siquijodnons dropped from an estimated 10,720 in 2018 to 3,400 in 2021, which means that a decrease of 6,870 populations who were poor in 2018 became non-poor in 2021.

The PSA report further showed that the subsistence incidence among Filipino families in Siquijor was estimated at 0.0% in 2021, which means that Siquijodnon families have enough income to meet their basic food needs. 

In 2018, the subsistence incidence among Siquijodnon families was estimated at 1.9% or 19 out of 1,000 families in Siquijor have income below the food threshold.

Among the population in Siquijor in 2021, the subsistence incidence was estimated at 0.0%, which means that almost none of the Siquijodnons were categorized as food poor with income below the amount needed to buy the basic food needs.  

In 2018, the subsistence incidence was recorded at 3.4%, which means that in every 1,000 population, 34 Siquijodnons were considered as food poor.

Subsistence Incidence refers to the proportion of families or individuals with per capita income less than the per capita food threshold to the total number of families/individuals.

Poverty Threshold, on the other hand, is the minimum income required for a family/individual to meet the basic food and non-food needs such as clothing, fuel, light and water, housing, rental of occupied dwelling units, transportation and communication, health and education expenses, non-durable furnishing, household operations and personal care and effects and also known as the Poverty Line in which people whose income falls below the specified amount are considered poor.

In 2021, among the provinces in Central Visayas, the poverty threshold for a family of five in Siquijor Province registered the lowest average with an estimate of P10,668 in a month, which is equivalent to 0.2 percentage point decrease from the 2018 poverty threshold estimate at P10,687 in a month. 

Moreover, the average food threshold for a family of five for the province in 2021 registered the lowest estimate at P7,436 in a month.

This means that a family with five members in Siquijor needed around P7,436 on the average per month to meet their basic food needs.

This is equivalent to 0.3 percentage point decrease from the 2018 estimate of P7,456 in a month. 

Among the four provinces in Central Visayas, only Siquijor remains to be least poor that is categorized under Cluster 5 or the group of provinces with relatively low poverty incidence for two consecutive reference years of 2018 and 2021. (RAC/PIA7 Siquijor with reports from PSA)