PHL child poverty rates underestimated

The Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) said current methods of measuring child poverty tend to produce estimates on the low side, misleading policymakers responsible for resource-allocation decisions.

“The stark divergence between standard poverty measures and our individual-level estimates reveals that current methodologies may significantly understate the extent and depth of poverty, particularly among vulnerable demographic groups,” PIDS said in a report this month.

In the “Measuring Poverty within Filipino Households: Examining of Resource Sharing and Economies of Scale” study, PIDS found that child poverty rates could be up to twice as high as the official estimate of 57% in 2021.

PIDS said although the county is seeing progress in reducing overall poverty rates, “a substantial portion of child deprivation may be hidden by household-level measurement approaches.”

These underestimates particularly occur in larger households and those with complex family structures, it said.

“Gender disparities in resource allocation emerge as another critical measurement challenge,” the report found, adding that adult women’s poverty rates are consistently higher than provided by household-level measures. 

This suggests that “conventional approaches” may be “masking” significant gender-based inequalities in access to resources, it said.

Official statistics also put poverty rates at 30.0% for farmers and 30.6% for fisherfolk in 2021, while PIDS findings suggest rates ranging from 25-29% and 24-28% respectively.

“Our findings suggest that targeting mechanisms based on household-level poverty measures may be insufficient for reaching all individuals experiencing deprivation, with this inadequacy varying significantly across different vulnerable groups,” it said.

It cited programs such as the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program that may need to add “more nuanced targeting criteria” factoring in household composition and sector-specific patterns of intra-household inequality.

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Source: Business World

PHL has over 1 million working children

The number of children working in the country fell by 26% to 1.09 million in 2023, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.

PSA data showed the number of working children, aged between five and 17 years old, dropped by over 383,000 in 2023 from about 1.48 million in 2022.

The share of children doing work fell to 3.5% of the child population in 2023, lower than 4.7% in the previous year.

The term “working children” covers all children engaged in any form of economic activity regardless of their age or the nature of the work, PSA said.

Out of the 1.09 million working children, boys made up 59.1% of the total, while girls accounted for 40.9%.

The service sector employed 50% of the working children, slightly higher than 49.5% in 2022.   

The agriculture sector’s share of child workers went up to 43.7% in 2023 from 43.2% in 2022.

Industry had the smallest share of working children at 6.3% in 2023, slipping from 7.3% in 2022.

In 2023, 73.7% of working children logged 20 hours or less of work each week, PSA said. This was lower than 75.6% a year earlier.

Meanwhile, the number of working children involved in “child labor” was estimated at about 678,000 in 2023, dropping from about 828,000 a year earlier.

Child labor is defined by the PSA as working children who are engaged in hazardous work or whose work exceeds 40 hours.

The statistics agency estimated that 62% of the total number of working children in 2023 were engaged in child labor. The ratio was 56% in 2022 and 68.4% in 2021.

Of the estimated 678,000 working children engaged in child labor in 2023, 62.1% or 422,000 were boys, while 37.9% or 257,000 were girls.

Agriculture had the highest share of child laborers at 65.3%, followed by services (30.7%) and industry (4%).

Earlier, Labor Undersecretary Benjo Santos M. Benavidez said the agency is working to eliminate child labor and prevent child labor practices.

Source: Business World

Two million Filipino children living in severe food poverty

Around two million Filipino  children are living in severe food poverty, putting them at risk of malnutrition, according to a new report by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

In a report entitled “Child Food Poverty: Nutrition deprivation in early childhood,” UNICEF said 18% of Filipino children under five years old, equivalent to two million, are considered severely food poor since they consume two or fewer of the eight major food groups a day.

The eight food groups include breastmilk, grains and roots, pulses and nuts, dairy products, meat, poultry and fish, eggs, Vitamin A-rich fruits and vegetables, and other fruits and vegetables.

“Four out of five children in this situation are fed only breastmilk/milk and/or a starchy staple, such as rice, corn, or wheat. Less than 10% of these children are fed fruits and vegetables. And less than 5% are fed nutrient-dense foods such as eggs, fish, poultry, or meat,” it said.

At the same time, 35% of Filipino children under five are living in “moderate food poverty” which means they consume three to four food groups a day.

“Children living in severe food poverty are children living on the brink. This can have an irreversible negative impact on their survival, growth, and brain development. Children who consume just rice and some vegetable soup a day are up to 50% more likely to experience severe forms of malnutrition,” UNICEF Representative to Philippines Oyunsaikhan Dendevnorov said in a statement.

UNICEF said there are 440 million children under five years old that are living in food poverty around the world. Of this total, 181 million children are living in severe food poverty.

The Philippines is one of 20 countries that account for 65% of the children living in severe food poverty globally, it said.

“Almost two-thirds of the total number of children living in severe child food poverty are concentrated in just 20 of these countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Somalia, South Africa, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania and Yemen,” it said.

Severe food poverty is not just driven by the inability to buy nutritious food, but also the failure to sustain positive feeding practices.

“Nearly half (46%) of all cases of severe child food poverty are among poor households where income poverty is likely to be a major driver, while 54% — or 97 million children — live in relatively wealthier households, among whom poor food environments and feeding practices are the main drivers of food poverty in early childhood,” it said.

An “alarming” proportion of children in severe food poverty are consuming more “cheap, nutrient-poor” ultra-processed foods and sugar-sweetened beverages, UNICEF said.

“Consumption of unhealthy products was particularly high in Egypt, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Nepal and the Philippines, where more than one in five children consumed an unhealthy food and/or sweet beverage — despite these children consuming two or fewer food groups per day,” it said.

To address food poverty, UNICEF urged the government to ensure the availability of affordable food products and to use health systems to deliver nutrition services to prevent and treat malnutrition in early childhood.

The government should also provide cash, food or voucher subsidies to support poorer households, UNICEF said.

Child-food-poverty-2024.pdf

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Source: Business World