According to the recently released OFFICIAL POVERTY STATISTICS OF THE PHILIPPINES – 1st Semester 2021 of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), Isabela City’s poverty incidence ranked second lowest in Region 9 in 2021 at 23.7% from 53.1% in 2018.
Ano ang poverty incidence? Ang poverty incidence ay tumutukoy sa bahagi ng kabuuang populasyon o kabuuang bilang ng pamilya na kumikita nang mas mababa pa sa poverty threshold na P12,030 na kita
Comparative Figures (2018 to 2021):
Zamboanga Peninsula: 32.4% 30.9%
BARMM: 55.9% 39.4%
Zamboanga del Norte: 41.5% 53.6%
Zamboanga del Sur: 35.8% 29.7%
Zamboanga City: 12.3% 7.9%
Zamboanga Sibugay: 36.1% 29.7%
Isabela City: 53.1% 23.7%
Basilan: 65.5% 46.7% (excl. Isabela City)
Lanao del Sur: 68% 11.4%
Maguindanao: 48.6% 37.1%
Sulu: 66.7% 71.9%
Tawi-Tawi: 17.7% 39.5%
For ISABELA CITY:
Poverty Incidence among Families:
2018 – 53.1%
2021 – 23.7%
29.4 percentage points
Magnitude of Poor Families:
2018 – 12.4%
2021 – 6.2%
6.2 percentage points
Income Gap:
2018 – 34.9%
2021 – 24.4%
10.5 percentage points
Poverty Gap:
2018 – 18.6%
2021 – 5.8%
12.8 percentage points
Severity of Poverty:
2018 – 9.1%
2021 – 2.1%
7 percentage points
Food gap:
2018 – 29.3%
2021 – 7%
22.3 percentage points
Highlights:
Isabela City went from the highest poverty incidence in 2018 to 2nd lowest poverty incidence in 2021 in Region 9 (Note: figures for Dapitan, Dipolog, Lamitan and Pagadian cities are included in their respective provinces’ data sets)
Isabela City numbers improved across the board between 2018 and 2021, showing that it has weathered the worst effects of the pandemic which started in early 2020.
Among poverty clusters (provinces with similar levels of poverty incidence, magnitude, etc.), Isabela City* is grouped with Cluster 3, which includes:
LUZON:
Abra
Ifugao
Isabela
Zambales
Aurora
Quezon
Camarines Norte
Occidental Mindoro
Masbate
Sorsogon
VISAYAS:
Cebu
Bohol
Negros Occidental
Antique
Southern Leyte
Northern Samar
Biliran
MINDANAO:
Isabela City*
Misamis Occidental
Sultan Kudarat
South Cotabato
Davao de Oro (Compostela Valley)
Davao Oriental
(Note: * Isabela City is a component city of Basilan Province, however, it is under the administrative jurisdiction of Region 9 Zamboanga Peninsula, thus excluding its data from the provincial data sets, and is reported separately to regional offices of executive departments in Region 9.)