THE country’s poverty incidence hit 18.1 percent in 2021, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Monday, August 15, 2022.In a report, the PSA said around 19.99 million Filipinos lived below the poverty threshold of about P12,030 per month for a family of five in 2021, higher that the 16.7 percent poverty incidence in 2018.It was also higher than the target range of 15.5 to 17.5 percent.The PSA defined poverty incidence as the proportion of Filipinos whose per capita income cannot sufficiently meet the individuals basic food and non-food needs.The subsistence incidence, which is the proportion of Filipinos whose income is not enough to meet even just the basic food needs, also increased to 5.9 percent in 2021 from 5.2 percent in 2018.The PSA said 3.50 million Filipino families or 13.2 percent of the population were considered poor in 2021.The subsistence incidence among families was observed at 3.9 percent, which is equivalent to 1.04 million poor families below the food poverty line.Earlier, National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) chairman Arsenio Balisacan attributed the increase of poverty rate to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.The administration of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. is aiming to bring down the country’s poverty rate to nine percent by 2028. (SunStar Philippines)