The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) releases updates on the 2023 Full Year Official Poverty Statistics based on the preliminary results of the 2023 Family Income and Expenditure Survey. It was initially released last 22 July 2024 covering data at the national level. Estimates of poverty disaggregated at the regional, provincial, and highly urbanized city levels are included in the updated report.

Poverty Threshold

Poverty Threshold is the minimum income needed for a family/individual to meet the basic food and non-food requirements. In 2023, a family with five members in Quezon province needed at least PhP 12,108 per month to meet their minimum basic food and non-food needs. Notably, Quezon had the lowest poverty threshold among the provinces in CALABARZON, below the regional average of Php 15,457 and national average of Php 13,873.

The average poverty threshold in 2023 increased by 7.0% from Php11,313 in 2021, and by 27.4% from the pre-pandemic level of Php9,502.

Poverty Incidence and Magnitude of Poor Families

In 2018, poverty incidence among families in the province was estimated at 9.3 percent. It grew to 16.3 percent in 2021 and declined to 6.9 percent in 2023. The 6.9 percent poverty incidence in 2023 means that 69 out of 1,000 families in province do not have enough income to meet their basic food and non-food needs.

In terms of magnitude, the number of poor families in Quezon province decreased significantly from 89.04 thousand in 2021 to 39.01 thousand in 2023, a drop of 50.03 thousand or 56.0 percent.

Excluding Lucena City, Quezon’s poverty incidence in 2023 was at 7.5 percent, equivalent to 37.04 thousand poor families.

Poverty Incidence and Magnitude of Poor Population

Among population, poverty incidence in Quezon province was posted at 10.2 percent which means that 102 for every 1,000 individuals in the province were considered poor. This represents a significant decline from 21.6 percent in 2021. The total number of poor individuals decreased from 493,000 to 237,700, a reduction of 255,300.

Quezon province (excluding Lucena City) reported a poverty incidence of 11.0% among its population in 2023, equivalent to 223,540 poor residents. (J.Milo/PSA-Quezon)

(SGD.) AIRENE A. PUCYUTAN 
Chief Statistical Specialist

NDP/JPM