By Christine Fabro
Fisherfolk and farmers remained the poorest sectors in terms of poverty incidence in 2021, latest data from Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) revealed.
Preliminary estimates of the 2021 poverty statistics released on Friday, March 24, noted that the fisherfolk sector logged a 30.6% poverty incidence rate, while farmers registered a 30% rate.
Children and individuals residing in rural areas were also among the poorest sectors with 26.4% and 25.7% poverty incidence rates, respectively.
According to PSA, these four sectors registered the highest poverty incidences in 2015 and 2018.
PSA also noted that there were significant increases in the poverty incidence comparing 2018 and 2021 data, with fisherfolk having the largest increase at 4.4 percentage points.
Moreover, children and persons aged 15 years and above with disability both posted an increase of 2.5 percentage points, while individuals residing in urban areas logged a 2.3 percentage-point increase.
On the other hand, farmers posted a significant reduction in its poverty incidence of -1.6 percentage points.
Data also indicated that individuals residing in urban areas (11.6%), senior citizens (10.3%), and migrant and formal sector workers (10.2%) had the lowest poverty incidences among the basic sectors in 2021. – gb