BASED on the official figures published by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the proportion of individuals in the Philippines with income below the poverty threshold was estimated at 18.1 percent, or approximately 20 million Filipinos. The monthly poverty threshold, again using PSA's data, was pegged at P12,030.

However, sourcing from the CIA World Factbook, the population living below the poverty line in the Philippines is at 21.6 percent. This places the Philippines at 73rd place among 172 countries and economies relative to the percentage of the population living below the poverty line. (Turkmenistan is at the top with only 0.2 percent; followed by Taiwan with a mere 1.5 percent; and Syria is at the bottom with 82.5 percent.)