Top 20% PH families earn 8x the income of bottom 20%

Despite its general economic gains, the Philippines still faces stark poverty and, with it, income inequality. According to official statistics released on April 23, the total income of top 20% families is 8 times the total income of bottom 20% families in the first 6 months of 2012. The bottom 30% only accounted for 6% of the country’s national income. During the period, poverty incidence stood at 27.9%, virtually unchanged from the same period in 2006 and 2009.  The government considers a Filipino poor if he or she earns less than the poverty threshold. In the 1st semester of 2012, poverty threshold for a family of 5 was at P5,458 per month to meet basic food needs, or P7,821 to include non-food needs, such as clothing, housing, transportation, health, and education expenses, among others.


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