The national poverty rate settled at 9.7 percent last year, the lowest figure ever recorded, as roughly 6.5 million Filipinos rose above the poverty line between 2023 and 2025. By headcount, the population living beneath the threshold fell to 11.08 million from 17.54 million two years earlier, according to data the Philippine Statistics Authority disclosed a day earlier.
The result cleared the single-digit poverty goal laid out in the Philippine Development Plan a full three years before its deadline. The 2023 rate had stood at 15.5 percent, itself down from the 18.1 percent logged in 2021.
“For the first time, fewer than one in 10 Filipinos is living below the poverty line,” said Arsenio Balisacan, secretary of the Department of Economy, Planning and Development.
Balisacan tied the milestone to a mix of broadening economic activity and social protection measures. “Reaching this milestone ahead of schedule demonstrates that expanding economic opportunities, complemented by effective social protection, can make a meaningful difference in people’s lives,” he said.
Rising earnings did much of the work. PSA figures showed household incomes climbed about 22 percent across all income groups between 2023 and 2025, far outpacing the five percent cumulative rise in prices over the same stretch — a gain the government said reached beyond any single segment of the population.
Behind the improvement was a run of steady output, cooler price increases, and a labor market that held up. DEPDev reported that gross domestic product expanded by an average of 5.1 percent across 2024 and 2025, inflation settled near 2.5 percent, and joblessness averaged four percent over that period.
Whether the momentum holds is now in question. Balisacan cautioned that the pace of improvement could ease this year as pressures build, though he stopped short of predicting any backsliding. “Current developments may slow the pace of poverty reduction, but early indications do not point to a reversal of the gains we have achieved,” he said. He had noted on an earlier occasion that persistent inflation carried the risk of slowing or undoing the progress.
Price growth remains a concern on that front. Overall inflation cooled to 6.2 percent in July from 6.4 percent the month before, yet it stayed well past the two to four percent band the government aims for. The January-to-July average landed at five percent, also above target.
Analysts have pointed to sluggish expansion as a second obstacle. Second-quarter GDP rose just 2.3 percent — the softest showing in half a decade — with the conflict in the Middle East and a controversy over flood control projects dragging on both spending and investment. Growth for the first six months averaged 2.6 percent, trailing the administration’s revised annual target of 3.5 to 4.5 percent.
Balisacan framed the coming period as one of consolidation. “As we enter the final years of the administration, our priority is to ensure that families who have moved out of poverty do not fall back into it. Sustaining these gains will require a swift recovery in economic growth; continued efforts to increase investment, productivity, and job creation; upskilling and reskilling for emerging sectors and timely support for businesses and workers affected by economic and climate-related disruptions,” he said.
