Roughly one in eight Filipino households, or about 12 percent, are facing multiple deprivations in areas such as education, housing, water, sanitation, and other essential services. This is the finding of the Philippines’ first official Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), released on August 27, 2026, by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) and announced by the Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DEPDev). Although their income does not categorize them as poor, these households still struggle with overlapping challenges.
At the individual level, about 13 percent of Filipinos are multidimensionally poor, translating to a national MPI score of 0.045, slightly higher than the household-level score of 0.042, DEPDev said in the release. The PSA reported the population-level multidimensional poverty rate at 12.8 percent for 2024, drawing from the same dataset.
“The MPI shows that poverty is not just about what people earn. It is also about whether Filipinos have access to essential services that allow them to live productive and dignified lives,” DEPDev Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said.
The PSA, for its part, said the new index makes clear that income is only part of the picture. “Aside from monetary poverty, Filipinos experience overlapping deprivations in the necessities of life,” the statistics agency said.
Unlike the income-based poverty statistics the PSA has published for decades through the Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES), the MPI does not look at earnings at all. Instead, it applies the internationally recognized Alkire-Foster methodology to identify households deprived across multiple indicators grouped into four dimensions: education; health and nutrition; housing, water, and sanitation; and employment. A household is classified as “multidimensionally poor” once its combined deprivations cross a defined threshold, regardless of how much cash it receives.
This year’s release marks the first to feature the official seal of the PSA Board. It uses data collected nationwide through the 2024 Community-Based Monitoring System (CBMS), a household-level census conducted by local government units, rather than a smaller sample survey. The PSA Board approved the national MPI methodology in June 2025, following years of preparatory work.
In the 2024 results, education was identified as the most prevalent challenge, with many adults aged 19 and older unable to complete high school. Additionally, issues related to housing, water, and sanitation were among the most significant deprivations. Many affected households were found living in makeshift dwellings and lacking access to adequate basic services.
The MPI was released just six days after the PSA reported that income-based poverty incidence reached a record low of 9.7 percent in 2025, down from 15.5 percent in 2023. This improvement suggested that an estimated 6.5 million Filipinos were lifted out of poverty during that time. DEPDev emphasized that the two measures are designed to complement each other, rather than compete. “The MPI serves as a complement to the existing income-based poverty estimates released by the PSA through the Family Income and Expenditure Survey,” stated Balisacan.
The DEPDev chief stated that the government will use the new index to improve the targeting of anti-poverty programs. These programs include initiatives for adult literacy, affordable public housing projects developed through public-private partnerships, an expansion of the “Walang Gutom Kitchens” feeding program, and measures to enhance food production and distribution systems.
“By assessing the specific deprivations, we can improve the targeting of programs, strengthen coordination across sectors, and make public investments more effective,” Balisacan said, as he added that the effort is guided by the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028 and the long-term AmBisyon Natin 2040 vision, both of which call for stepped-up investment in human capital, affordable housing, universal healthcare and food security. Editor, Armin A. Amio
