POVERTY incidence among families in Davao Region fell to 5.5% in 2025, the lowest among Mindanao regions, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Tuesday.
This figure means about 55 in 1,000 families in the region had incomes below the amount needed to afford their minimum basic food and non-food needs.
During the full-year 2025 official poverty statistics dissemination forum on Tuesday at the Grand Regal Hotel, Baby Jean Alid, PSA XI OIC, said this is a significant change from 11.3% in 2023.
Alid reported that the number of poor families dropped to 82,250 in 2025 from about 165,000 in 2023.
Alid noted that the decline was largely driven by faster income growth among low-income households relative to the rising cost of basic food and non-food commodities.
The average poverty threshold for a family of five was P13,908 per month in 2025, 5.9% higher than in 2023 and 18.8% higher than in 2021. Families earning below this amount are considered poor.
Among the population, poverty incidence was 8.1%, down from 16% in 2023 and 16.8% in 2021.
Meanwhile, about 447,670 residents were considered poor in 2025, compared with 884,830 in 2023 and 900,170 in 2021.
The PSA reported that the income of families in the first decile, where poverty incidence among families is concentrated, grew 33% in 2025.
“This growth was faster than the rise in prices of basic food and non-food needs, which brought the poverty incidence down by 5.8 percentage points,” Alid said.
Subsistence incidence among families, or those whose income could not cover even basic food needs, was 0.8% in 2025, or 8 in every 1,000 families.
This is lower than the national estimate of 1.2%. The number of food-poor families fell to 11,940 from 42,660 in 2023 and 45,350 in 2021.
Among the population, subsistence incidence was 1.3%, or about 72,730 residents, down from 258,250 in 2023.
PSA calculated that the food threshold for a family of five was P9,686 per month, up 5.7%, or P492, from P9,194 in 2023.
Provincial rates
Notably, Davao Oriental posted the highest poverty incidence among families in 2025 at 12.1%, dropping from 29.1% in 2023.
It was followed by Davao Occidental at 10.9%, Davao del Sur at 7.6%, Davao City at 4.5%, Davao del Norte at 2.9%, and Davao de Oro at 2.8%.
Davao del Sur’s 7.6% excludes Davao City, the region’s only highly urbanized city (HUC), but with the city included, the province’s rate was 5.3%.
Davao Oriental also had the highest poverty threshold among the provinces at P14,674 per month for a family of five and the highest food threshold at P10,104.
Meanwhile, Davao de Oro had the lowest at P13,201 and P9,182, respectively.
Davao City had the highest subsistence incidence among families at 1.1%, followed by Davao del Norte at 0.9%, Davao del Sur and Davao Oriental at 0.7% each, Davao Occidental at 0.4%, and Davao de Oro at 0.1%.
The PSA surveyed 9,453 families in 2025, up from 9,172 in 2023, gathered over 21 days from July 8, 2025, and for the second semester, over 21 days from Jan. 8, 2026.
