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Bella Cariaso - The Philippine Star
April 25, 2026 | 12:00am
The PIDS cited studies presented during a webinar, where researchers said poverty data based on household averages can mask real conditions, where not all members benefit equally from income.
STAR / Edd Gumban
MANILA, Philippines — Filipinos classified as “non-poor” may actually be living in poverty, the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) said yesterday, as current measurement methods fail to capture how resources are shared within households.
The PIDS cited studies presented during a webinar, where researchers said poverty data based on household averages can mask real conditions, where not all members benefit equally from income.
“Official figures assume that every household member receives an equal slice of income. This design makes intra-household inequality invisible, and systematically misses the gender gap,” PIDS supervising research specialist Deanne Lorraine Cabalfin said.
Using household survey data in a study entitled “Measuring Poverty within Filipino Households: Examining Resources Sharing and Economic Scale,” the researchers found that women receive only 25 to 43 percent of household resources, while children may receive as little as seven to 19 percent each, especially in larger families.
“Many children that may be living in non-poor households may, in fact, be considered poor,” Cabalfin said.
The findings suggest that individuals, particularly women and children, may experience deprivation even if their households are not classified as poor in official statistics.
BRAC International Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative development practitioner Christian Deloria said this reflects a broader pattern seen not only in the Philippines but globally, where many households remain trapped just above the poverty line.
PIDS senior research fellow Jose Ramon Albert said that many families who are not officially classified as poor today could still fall into poverty, particularly among low-income households, rural communities and even segments of the middle class.
“Our point here is that we don’t just need to reduce poverty, but we need to prevent households from becoming poor in the future,” Albert said.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development said the findings highlight the need to strengthen social protection systems.
