The Philippine Statistics Authority’s latest numbers initially look like the best poverty statistics the country has produced in decades.
Poverty incidence among individuals fell to 9.7 percent in 2025, down from 18.1 percent in 2021; among families, it dropped to 6.4 percent, the first time this figure has fallen into single digits.
Officials at the Department of Economy, Planning, and Development have framed this as vindication as 8.8 million Filipinos, they say, were lifted out of poverty in four years.
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