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NEWS REPORTS 

POLICE REPORTS 

Kalinga family poverty drops 23%; Only 2 in 100 families remain below basic-needs threshold

Writer:  Mark Moises Calayan
Mark Moises Calayan
21 hours ago
2 min read

TABUK CITY, Kalinga — The number of families in Kalinga living below the poverty threshold continued to decline in 2025, with the province’s family poverty incidence dropping by 23.1%.


According to  the latest Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data released during the forum in Bahuio City on November 10, Kalinga’s poverty incidence was at 2.6% in 2023. Two years later, it dropped to 2%.


The 2% figure means that about two out of every 100 families in the province had incomes insufficient to meet their basic food and non-food needs, while approximately 98 out of 100 were above the official poverty threshold.


Based on the 2025 Full-Year Official Poverty Statistics released on August 26, 2026, a family of five in the Cordillera needed at least P14,511 per month to meet its minimum basic needs, including food, clothing, housing, transportation, health and education expenses.


Kalinga’s family poverty incidence has steadily declined, from 5.6% in 2021 to 2.6% in 2023 and 2% in 2025.


There is no separate 2024 provincial poverty-incidence estimate in the PSA’s published official statistics. The agency uses 2021, 2023 and 2025 as reference years for its provincial poverty estimates.


The province also recorded a decline in poverty incidence among individuals, from 4.3% in 2023 to 3.8% in 2025. This measures the proportion of people living in families whose income falls below the poverty threshold.


The figures were presented by Aldrin Federico R. Bahit Jr., chief statistical specialist of PSA-Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), during the 2025 Full-Year Official Poverty Statistics Regional Dissemination Forum in Baguio City on November 10, 2026.


Across the region, family poverty incidence also declined to 2.7% in 2025 from 4.4% in 2023. This means that about three out of every 100 families in CAR had incomes below the amount needed to meet their basic needs.


Poverty incidence among individuals in the region likewise decreased to 4.5% in 2025 from 7% in 2023 and 9.9% in 2021. The number of poor individuals also dropped to 86,150 in 2025 from 129,000 in 2023 and 181,000 in 2021.


Despite the overall improvement, poverty levels continued to vary across CAR provinces and Baguio City.


Mountain Province recorded the highest family poverty incidence at 8.8%, followed by Ifugao at 6.3%, Abra at 4%, Apayao at 3.6%, and Kalinga at 2%. Benguet posted 0.7%, while Baguio City recorded the lowest at 0.1%.


In terms of individuals, Mountain Province also had the highest poverty incidence at 14.2%, followed by Ifugao at 9.6%, Abra at 6.6%, Apayao at 4.5%, Kalinga at 3.8%, Benguet at 1.9%, and Baguio City at 0.1%.


Meanwhile, subsistence incidence among families, which measures the proportion of families whose income is insufficient to meet their basic food needs, declined to 0.2% in 2025 from 0.7% in 2023 and 1.4% in 2021.


The estimates were based on the 2025 Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES), which collected household income and expenditure data during the first and second semesters of 2025.

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