I think the issue of poverty depends which threshold you are looking at. If you base it through World Bank, the international poverty line is at $1.25 (USD) at 2005 PPP (Purchasing Power Parity), then the figure of people considered poor would be around 30% in the Philippines. If you measure it through the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) metrics then it would be around 25.1 % (Check UNDP Human and income poverty: developing countries / Population living below $1.25 a day (%) Human Development Index) for 2009, while CIA calculates that poverty in the Philippines stand at around 32.9%.

Meanwhile, as recently as this year, I found this report from the Oxford University,

“With the support of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) has released the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), which noted that only 13 percent or 11.2 million Filipinos are poor.

The old Human Poverty Index showed that 23 percent of Filipinos live on $1.25 a day and 45 percent on $2 a day, with the national poverty line at 25 percent of 88.7 million Filipinos as of 2009.”

I think, Oxford University and UNDP are more competent sources of information, IMHO. The poverty figures in the Philippines are obviously inflated to cater to some people and groups’ need to receive additional overseas funding/donations for their, uhm, “projects” and of course, poverty makes great headlines and entertainment for everyone. Sick, sick, sick – Schadenfreude.

Cheers,

Ryan

why dont you try to go here in gensan,Mindanao and see some peacefull living of people even though we live w/ MILF.

i as a student here in gensan,my fellow classmates and countrymen try to help how to get rid of those words of being critize people like you insted of giving us a bad words to our country,try to help other people on earth,maybe its a big break for you.goodluck on you.

have a great travel everyone!

peace on earth!

WTF? You mentioned earlier that The Philippines’ poverty is rampant. Now you claim Filipinos believe they live in enchanted kingdom? You don’t make sense.

The majority of Filipinos know they are poor for a very long time…perhaps centuries. You have only lived in the Philippines for a couple of years from a wealthy country. You do the math. So don’t tell Filipinos to open their eyes. They live it.

Perhaps next time, along with your camera, bring some school supplies, medicine, or do someting about it not just take pictures and sell them and tell the world about it. People know, we don’t need to see your pictures.

The area is really nice. Nature is well preserved and pristine enough to satisfy your taste of yearly getaway-dose from nosy and noisy manila.

Thats PINK BEACH in bicol. Just google it.

With that said, I just wanted to add some data, to possibly confirm what Gabrielle said about 90% of the country being poor:

In 2006, the official poverty incidence of the Philippines is 32.9 (or 33) percent of the population. But take note that, this means that 33% of the population is living below the poverty line of about P35 per day per person. (And what kind of life can P35 a day give?)

The relevant data, I think, is that a household with 2 working members who earn a total income of about P15,000 a month (gross) is already in the top 10 percent of households.

So if by “poor” you mean a household earning less than P15,000 a month (roughly, less than P100 per day per person in a family of 5), then I think Gabrielle has the right to say that 90% of Philippine population is poor. And it looks like that most, if not all, who have made comments here, including myself, belong to the top 10%.

Just wanted to share this piece of information because it certainly startled me when I first knew about this and has shaken me to do something more concrete for the 90%. In line with the theme of this site, I believe that highlighting the positive characteristics of this country, which this article has done, can boost tourism, foreign investments, etc. and thus, can somehow help alleviate poverty. Cheers to Scott, to all those who promote the Philippines and help our less fortunate countrymen! Mabuhay tayong lahat.

(Data taken from the Family Income and Expenditure Survey 2006 conducted by the National Statistics Office.)

Try this one this is awesome and really rare.

Pink Beach in Bicol Sorsogon.

Must visit place.