The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Thursday announced that the country's poverty rate declined last year despite experiencing domestic and external challenges.

Latest PSA data showed that the Philippines' poverty rate dropped to 15.5 percent in 2023 from 18.1 percent in 2021 while increasing food prices hindered the further decline in the number of underprivileged people in the country.

The latest figures translate to 17.54 million individuals living below the poverty line in 2023, a 2.4 million decline from what the PSA recorded in 2021 at 19 million. There were also 155 Filipinos out of 1000 who came from poor families. 

If a person's income is insufficient to cover their fundamental necessities for food and non-food items, the PSA labels them as "poor."

Also, data from PSA showed that the poverty incidence - or the proportion of a population living below the poverty line - in 2023 was found to be 10.9 percent, lower than the 13.2 percent recorded in 2021.

This means that there were 2.99 million poor Filipino families who does not have enough income to meet their basic food and non-food needs as of 2023.