Caraga poverty rate drops to 7.8% in 2025

SAN FRANCISCO, Agusan del Sur — Poverty incidence among families in Caraga (Region 13) dropped to 7.8 percent in 2025, according to preliminary results of the 2025 Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) released on Monday by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

The official report, issued by the PSA Regional Statistical Services Office-13 (Caraga), showed that the region’s poverty rate fell by 7.1 percentage points from 14.9 percent in 2023.

The improvement brought Caraga much closer to the national average.

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Across the country, family poverty incidence fell from 10.9 percent in 2023 to 6.4 percent in 2025. While Caraga’s rate remained slightly above the national average, the regional-national gap narrowed from 4.0 percentage points in 2023 to 1.4 percentage points in 2025.

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In terms of actual numbers, the estimated count of poor Caraganon families shrank to 58,400 in 2025—a reduction of roughly 44,720 families from the 103,120 recorded in 2023.

In 2021, the figure stood at 171,900 families.

The gains were achieved despite the rising cost of living, Guillermo Lipio Jr., PSA Caraga OIC regional director, said.

To not be classified as poor, a family of five in Caraga needs to earn at least P13,370 per month in 2025 to cover essential food and non-food needs. This represented an 8.5 percent increase from the P12,319 threshold in 2023.

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The national monthly poverty threshold for a family of five was higher at P14,634.

The report similarly documented steep declines in subsistence incidence, which measures the proportion of families whose income falls short of meeting basic nutritional requirements.

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Food poverty in the region fell to 1.3 percent in 2025 from 3.4 percent in 2023 and 9.0 percent in 2021. Caraga’s subsistence rate is now nearly at par with the national average of 1.2 percent, leaving a gap of only 0.1 percentage point.

The number of food-poor families in Caraga plummeted to 9,450, down by about 14,270 from 23,720 in 2023.

The monthly food threshold for a family of five in the region climbed toP9,474 in 2025, up 10.2 percent from P8,594 in 2023. The national monthly food threshold stands at P10,161.

While all five provinces in Caraga posted lower poverty rates compared to 2023 and 2021, geographical differences remained pronounced.

Surigao del Sur posted the lowest family poverty incidence in the region at 4.0 percent, followed by Agusan del Norte at 5.5 percent and Surigao del Norte at 5.6 percent.

At the other end of the spectrum, Dinagat Islands registered the highest poverty incidence at 15.5 percent, followed closely by Agusan del Sur at 13.9 percent.

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In terms of headcounts, Agusan del Sur accounted for the largest pool of poor families at 27,200, followed by Agusan del Norte (11,400), Surigao del Norte (8,310), Surigao del Sur (6,890) and Dinagat Islands (4,590).