Answer:
As of 2018, a quarter of the 105 million Philippine population lived in poverty, that is, over 26 million people.[7] Through various anti-poverty programs, such as the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform, Lingap Para sa Mahirap, and the Social Reform Agenda, the Philippines has been through a long battle to ameliorate that statistic. Despite these governmental efforts, the Millennium Development Goal milestone of reduction in poverty has been a slow process.[8] The poor in the Philippines are most likely self-employed farmers, fishermen, or other agricultural workers. Three-quarters of these people live in severe disaster-risk areas that are highly rural. In 2015, about 58 percent of poor households have more that six members. Education overall has improved over time; from the ages of 15–24, over 75 percent have completed secondary education or above in 2015.[9] Specifically in poor households, however, over 60 percent of families have education only up to elementary school.[10] Of those who live in poverty, in 2012, 18.4 million people accounted for extreme poverty, living with about $1.25 per day. The challenges that such people face are vulnerability to natural disasters, weak governance, inadequate health services, lack of natural resources and more. The poor face an expensive process of recovering from vulnerability, just to face another conflict which then restarts the cycle.[11]
Causes of poverty Edit
As of 2015, with one fifth of the population living below the poverty line the desire to reduce poverty was a priority.The poorest populations work in agriculture and live in areas prone to natural disasters compared to the wealthier population. There is an inadequate number of available good jobs, and a lack of investment in education that leads to such a high inequality of income. However, the government has plans focused on reducing poverty with objectives of improving the lives of the poorest segments of the population.[12]
Poverty occurs for many reasons, but in the Philippines there are recurring factors that have slowed the development progress. Economic growth is low compared to neighboring countries. GDP growth is comparable, however, GDP per capita in relation to the increase of population is much slower.[13] Poverty directly impacts economic growth due to constraints in credit and the underdevelopment of the financial market and inequality in income and assets. Another cause of poverty in the Philippines is the rise of unmanaged population growth. Because the poor tend to have bigger families, they are unable to access health services or sex education, which leads to more children and the continuation of that cycle.[14] The pattern of growth is common in rural areas, but there has been a rise in poverty in urban areas. Cities in the Philippines have been faced with an increase in poverty due to lack of well-paid employment.[11] One of the main causes of poverty in the Philippines is the vulnerability to natural disasters. Natural disasters in the Philippines have caused US$23 billion in damages since 1990, which continues to delay the development process.[10] According to the DW, the Philippines is the most vulnerable country to typhoons, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions in the world.[15] The frequent occurrences cost the country lives, illness, malnutrition, and denial of education and health services. Filipino farmers are some of the most vulnerable, because floods and landslides severely affect their crops and income.[16] Another cause of poverty is the lack of research on poverty and the effective policies to implement in order to prevent further damage. This lack of research has caused deficient targeting in poverty programs, and unsuccessful current processes. Until more research is done as to how exactly tackle the poverty trap, programs will not be effective.
