Magnitude of poor families: Bicol poverty series (2)

TABLE 2 provides data on the magnitude of poverty in each locality.

From the table, it is evident that population matters. For instance, Camarines Sur and Albay account for 55% of the total number of households in the region; consequently, 1 out of every 2 households below poverty line is found in these two provinces. Almost 1 of every 3 of these live in Camarines Sur, which has the highest number of households in poverty notwithstanding the fact that it only ranks 4th in terms of incidence.

The same can be said of Legazpi City, which has the highest number of households among the seven Bicol cities. It also has the biggest number of poor families, more than double that of Naga – owing to having 4,000 more households and a poverty incidence almost twice as high.