The poverty line, is the minimum level of income deemed necessary to achieve an adequate standard of living in a given country. The common international poverty line has been roughly estimated to $1 a day, or more exactly $1.08 at 1993 purchasing-power parity (PPP).
The concept of a "standard" takes into account not only the material standard of living, but also other more intangible aspects such as leisure, safety, cultural resources, social life, physical health, environmental quality issues etc.
The 2006 official poverty statistics for the basic sectors shows that fishermen, farmers, and children comprised the poorest three sectors in 2006 with poverty incidences of 49.9%, 44.0%, and 40.8%, respectively. All sectors posted increases in poverty incidence between the period 2003 and 2006.
Also, the Philippines National Statistics Office (PNSO) Figures shows that the total Population in August 2007 reaches to 88.57M, with a Projected Population of 92.23M for 2009. Unemployment in July 2009 is 7.6% with Underemployment of 19.8% for the same year.
A July 2004 study on the UNDP Philippines website states that “most Filipinos especially in the rural areas barely survive on little more than fifty pesos a day (the international extreme poverty threshold is defined as $1 a day).
In effect, the $1 per day international poverty line was worth P12.31 per day in 2003. This is the equivalent of just P4,490 per year, less than $83 (using the BSP 2003 exchange rate).
For Expatriates, The cost of living in the Philippines is very low compared to other country, that is why more and more Expats are now living in the Philippines. This is due to the peso significantly losing much of its value since the Asian Financial Crisis.
If you have 200,000 Australian dollars, (That is almost 29 million pesos). You can live like a king here in the Philippines. A modest house will cost you 2 million pesos (Less than 56,000 Australian dollars) and if you are like you will receive your pension here directly from your government.
For Filipinos, the cost of living will be higher and higher for the coming days, months and years, most alarmingly because of the latest devastation brought by typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng. According to the latest government assessment, the Philippines needs 1 year to recover from this destruction.
This means, the cost of living for Filipinos will be more costly for the coming days.
