Number of Poor Indonesians Drops, BPS Reports
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15 July 2019 16:01 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) recorded the percentage of poor people in March 2019 declined by 0.25 percent or 529.900 people compared to that of September 2018. Presently, there are still 25.14 million Indonesians stricken by poverty.
BPS head Suhariyanto said the drop was attributable to the issuance of several cards by the government, including Kartu Indonesia Pintar (Indonesia Smart Card) and Kartu Indonesia Sehat (Indonesia Health Card).
“There are also social assistances and other policies. This is a consoling trend,” said Suhariyanto at the BPS office, Central Jakarta, Monday, July 15.
In September 2018, the agency recorded the number of the poor in urban areas reached 6.89 percent of the total population, and the figure slipped to 6.69 percent in March. Meanwhile, the poverty rate in rural areas was recorded at 13.10 percent in September and tumbled to 12.85 percent this year’s March.
Read: Bappenas Positive on Reducing Poverty Rate and Gini Ratio
Out of 28 provinces, Papua is the poorest since the rate reached 27.5 percent, followed by West Papua, East Nusa Tenggara, Maluku, Gorontalo, and Aceh, respectively. Meanwhile, the province that has the lowest poverty rate is Jakarta at 3.4 percent, followed by Bali at 3.7 percent.
Suhariyanto explained the poverty line per March 2019 was Rp425,250 per capita income per month. Based on the trend per March 2019, BPS recorded the average poor households had 4.68 family members. Hence, the poverty line per household was Rp1.9 million per family per month.
FRANCISCA CHRISTY ROSANA