The Philippines is a country that is home to over 100 million people, all of which reside in more than 7,017 country’s islands.

As of late 2015, it was estimated that 21.6 percent of the population in the Philippines lives in poverty. This percentage has been reduced from 26.6 percent back in 2006, and many other changes have been made to improve the living conditions in the country. Other goals are also set to reduce the poverty number further. In the text below, these goals and changes are described.

Top 10 Facts about Living Conditions in the Philippines

1. In the Philippines, bottom 10 percent of the population survive on the annual income of $1,641. The average annual income of Filipino families is about $5,000 a year and these families spent a little over $4,000 on needed expenses in a year. That is nearly three times the annual income of the poor families.
2. Those with more family members are more at risk of poverty in the Philippines. They have to make more money to survive in a nation that is flooded with inflation, lacks income equality among different sectors and lacks jobs in general. An estimated four out of 10 people that are poor have jobs but they are usually paid less due to the lack of a proper education.
3. Being a nation that consists of islands surrounded by water, the Philippines is always at risk for environmental threats and natural disasters. The country is prone to tropical storms, earthquakes, tsunamis, flooding and volcanic eruptions. Luckily, government officials have the help of USAID and different nongovernmental organizations that aid the country in efforts to reduce the impact of these disasters.
4. In some areas, only about 30 percent of children complete their education. This can be mostly credited to a lack of financial funds in the household. Some children have to drop out of school to help the family financially by working in menial labor jobs. This prevents them from securing a higher paying job in the future.
5. The country is currently going through a record high inflation crisis that is greatly affecting the cost of food. The Philippines has an inflation rate of 6.4 percent, the highest in 90 years as noted by Reuters. This inflation has caused the cost of food prices to rise by 8.5 percent. As an example, in order to afford 25 kilos of the cheapest rice, families must secure $60 of their monthly household budgets.
6. The Philippines is one country that utilizes child laborers for some of its industries. While the Philippines hasn’t outlawed the use of child labor, it has taken moderate steps to ensure the safety of child workers in certain fields and completely abolishing the use of child labor in others. In 2017, the government made crucial changes to the employment and working guidelines of children in the agriculture sector.
7. There is a large crisis on the island of Mindanao, one of the three largest islands of the country, where two feuding groups of people have left the island in complete disarray. The battles between them left communities damages and displaced many people that left the war-torn area or have had their homes destroyed. The effects have caused the island to become one of the most poverty-ridden areas in the Philippines.
8. Those facing poverty conditions in the Philippines sometimes have no access to electricity, water and proper sanitation facilities, just a few of the basic necessities human beings need. They are also expected to have less access to things like health care and education, which plays a dominant role in one’s ability to get out of the life of poverty. Lack of education is often a large determinant in a household’s financial instability.
9. The country has strict laws involving the incarceration of children. With the rising cost of food and the number of children suffering from malnourishment, many are turning to a life of drug-related crimes to make ends meet. These children are often caught and punished severely at the hands of the Philippines’ criminal justice system. Children often go through different forms of torture and endure lack of food and adequate accommodations.
10. The government is implementing a long-term solution to tackle the poverty conditions people are facing. The plan is set to reduce poverty to at least 15 percent by the year 2022. The strategy is set to focus on creating new and higher-paying jobs, prioritize health care and help the poverty situation on Mindanao to open up valuable resources.

Poverty-reducing efforts have been made by the government to decrease the number of those that suffer from poverty in the Philippines.

In order to ensure the end to the vicious cycle, the country needs to consider education reform to better educate the youth of the country and keep them out of the corrections system.

They will also need to put an end to the feud in Mindanao if they have any hope in securing the funds to turn their poverty reduction dreams into a reality.

– Catherine Wilson
Photo: Flickr