THE Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) announced on Aug. 21 that poverty incidence across the population declined significantly to 9.7 percent in 2025, or 11.08 million Filipinos, from 15.5 percent in 2023, or 17.54 million Filipinos. This is a significant drop of 5.8 percentage points. Poor families were also reduced to 6.4 percent last year, or 1.90 million families, from 10.9 percent, or about 2.99 million families, in 2023 — a drop of 4.5 percentage points.