Dear eFOI user,
Thank you for your request dated Sept. 5, 2024, made under Executive Order No. 2 (s. 2016) on Freedom of Information in the Executive Branch.
Your request
You requested the following:
- Latest official income ranges for social classes as prescribed by your organization or the PSA [Philippine Statistics Authority]
Response to your request
Your FOI request has been approved. A PIDS Discussion Paper (DP) released in 2020, titled "Poverty, the Middle Class, and Income Distribution amid COVID-19" by Jose Ramon G. Albert, Michael Ralph M. Abrigo, Francis Mark A. Quimba, and Jana Flor V. Vizmanos, includes a table (specifically, Table 7) that presents the income groups. This document is available for download at the following link: https://pidswebs.pids.gov.ph/CDN/PUBLICATIONS/pidsdps2022.pdf.
Should you require the most recent data, please refer to the updated table below on income groups, derived from the FIES 2021 (an updated version of PIDS DP 2020-22, Table 7):
Income group
Definition
Range of Monthly Family Incomes (for a Family Size of 5 members) in 2021 prices
Size of Income Group (i.e. Number of Households)
Number of Households
Number of Persons
Poor
Per capita income less than official poverty threshold
Less than PhP 12,030 per month
3.6 million
20.4 million
Low income (but not poor)
Per capita incomes between the poverty line and twice the poverty line
Between PhP 12,030 to PhP 24,060 per month
9.9 million
45.6 million
Lower middle income
Per capita incomes between twice the poverty line and four times the poverty line
Between PhP 24,060 to PhP 48,120 per month
8.3 million
31.1 million
Middle middle class
Per capita incomes between four times the poverty line and seven times the poverty line
Between PhP 48,120 to PhP 84,210 per month
3.1 million
10 million
Upper middle income
Per capita incomes between seven times the poverty line and twelve times the poverty line
Between PhP 84,210 to PhP 144,360 per month
1.1 million
3.2 million
Upper income (but not rich)
Per capita incomes between twelve times the poverty line and twenty times the poverty line
Between PhP 144,360 to PhP 240,600
288 thousand
747 thousand
Rich
Per capita incomes at least equal to twenty times the poverty line
At least PhP 240,600
115 thousand
301 thousand
Please feel free to check other PIDS publications that are available on our website (https://www.pids.gov.ph/publications). Also, you may want to visit the Socioeconomic Research Portal for the Philippines (SERP-P) website (https://serp-p.pids.gov.ph/) to access research papers produced not only by PIDS, but also by other academic and research institutions.
Your right to request a review
If you are dissatisfied with our response to your FOI request, you have the option to request an internal review. To initiate this process, kindly submit your written appeal for review addressed to [insert name of Secretary and postal/e-mail address]. Please provide a detailed explanation of your dissatisfaction with our response within 15 calendar days from the date of receiving this response. We will conduct the review and communicate the outcome within 30 calendar days from the receipt of your review request.
Should you remain unsatisfied with the review outcome, you retain the right to appeal to the Office of the President under Administrative Order No. 22 (s. 2011).
Please help us improve our service by answering this feedback form: https://forms.gle/tg4MxTnGz9zVUkgs8.
Thank you.
Respectfully,
Novie Salcedo
FOI Officer
Philippine Institute for Development Studies
