A new measure from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that a substantial number of Filipinos remained ‘multidimensionally poor’ in 2024.
The agency’s newly released Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) showed that 12.8 percent of Filipinos were multidimensionally poor, equivalent to roughly 14.4 million people based on the country’s 2024 population.
The MPI measures poverty through deprivations in education, health and nutrition, housing, water and sanitation, and employment.
Education accounted for the largest share of multidimensional poverty at 40.7 percent, followed by housing, water and sanitation at 31.3 percent, health and nutrition at 18.5 percent, and employment at 9.5 percent.
Among the 17 indicators, educational attainment and housing materials each had a 10.7 percent censored headcount ratio, the highest among the indicators.
The PSA also found that some forms of deprivation were widespread across the population, including among people who were not classified as multidimensionally poor.
Housing-material deprivation affected 38.7 percent of Filipinos, the highest among the indicators. This was followed by lack of internet access at 26.4 percent, sanitation or toilet facility deprivation at 24.1 percent, ownership of assets at 21.8 percent, and educational-attainment deprivation at 20.2 percent.
These are uncensored deprivation rates, which cover all Filipinos experiencing a particular deprivation regardless of whether they are classified as multidimensionally poor.
The censored headcount ratio, meanwhile, counts only those who are both deprived in a particular indicator and classified as multidimensionally poor.
For instance, while 38.7 percent of Filipinos were deprived in housing materials, 10.7 percent were both deprived in housing materials and multidimensionally poor.
The PSA reported an MPI of 0.045 and an average deprivation intensity of 34.7 percent at the individual level. This means that among those classified as multidimensionally poor, the average share of weighted indicators in which they were deprived was 34.7 percent.
At the household level, the MPI headcount ratio was 12.4 percent, with an MPI of 0.042 and deprivation intensity of 33.9 percent.
The MPI uses 17 indicators across four dimensions. A household is considered multidimensionally poor when its combined deprivation score exceeds the 0.25 poverty cutoff.
‘Useful measure’
For De La Salle University economist Ma. Ella C. Oplas, the MPI provides a useful measure of poverty beyond income by showing where people experience deprivation.
She said the measure could help government identify where people are most deprived and direct resources toward areas such as education, health and living standards.
Oplas noted that being poor based on income should not necessarily mean being deprived of basic services, as government programs should help economically disadvantaged households gain better access to these services.
‘The MPI tells us how effective the government is in addressing the deprivations experienced by people and households. A person may be poor in terms of income, but should not necessarily be deprived because the government should have programs that provide better access to basic services for economically disadvantaged people,’ Oplas told the BusinessMirror.
She said the MPI is best used to assess how effectively government programs provide access to basic services, noting that poverty should not be a reason for people to remain deprived of health, education and better living standards.
The 2024 estimates of MPI were based on preliminary results from the 2024 Community-Based Monitoring System (CBMS).
The PSA excluded Las Piñas, Pasay, Iloilo and General Santos from the national estimate as their data were still undergoing validation. City-level MPI results for the four highly urbanized cities will be provided once available.