HIGHER incomes alone will not be enough to lift Filipinos out of poverty as gaps in education, housing, water and sanitation continue to affect families across the country.
The Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) first Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), released on Thursday, found that approximately 12.4 percent of Filipino households were “multidimensionally poor.”
At the individual level, 12.8 percent were classified as such.
The index comprises 14 indicators grouped into four dimensions: education; health and nutrition; housing, water and sanitation; and employment. Deprivation in more than one dimension means that a household, and by extension its members, is multidimensionally poor.
“The MPI shows that poverty is not just about what people earn,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said in a statement.
“It is also about whether Filipinos have access to essential services that allow them to live productive and dignified lives,” he added.
The MPI highlights forms of deprivation that are not captured by income-based poverty statistics, showing that a household’s economic condition can also be shaped by whether its members have access to education, decent housing and basic services.
Balisacan said the MPI would complement the existing income-based poverty estimates produced by the PSA through its Family Income and Expenditure Survey.
The PSA Board approved the national methodology for the MPI in May 2025.
Education emerged as the biggest contributor to multidimensional poverty, accounting for 40.7 percent of the individual-level MPI.
This was followed by housing, water and sanitation, which accounted for 31.3 percent of overall multidimensional poverty.
Health and nutrition contributed 18.5 percent, while employment accounted for the remaining 9.5 percent.
Balisacan said the value of the MPI was its ability to show “where needs are greatest” and where government interventions could have the biggest impact.
“By assessing the specific deprivations, we can improve the targeting of programs, strengthen coordination across sectors, and make public investments more effective,” he said.
Within the education dimension, the MPI considers both school attendance and educational attainment.
A household is considered deprived in terms of school attendance when any child aged five to 17 is not currently attending school. It is also considered deprived when no household member aged 19 or older has completed secondary education.
Educational attainment deprivation was high at 20.2 percent, which the PSA said that many Philippine households did not have at least one member who completed high school.
The PSA also found that 38.7 percent of the total population were deprived in terms of housing materials, the highest among all indicators.
This was followed by deprivation in internet access at 26.4 percent, sanitation or toilet facilities at 24.1 percent and ownership of assets at 21.8 percent.
Balisacan said the government was committed to tackling poverty in all areas through programs such as adult literacy, affordable public housing, public-private partnerships and efforts to improve food production and distribution.
“We are increasing investments in human capital, expanding affordable housing, improving access to health care, and strengthening food security to improve the quality of life of all Filipinos,” he said.