Overcoming Poverty and Inequality in the Philippines : Past, Present, and Prospects for the Future

In the past three decades, the Philippines has made remarkable progress in reducing poverty. Driven by high growth rates and structural transformation, the poverty rate fell by two-thirds, from 49.2 percent in 1985 to 16.7 percent in 2018. By 2018, the middle class had expanded to nearly 12 million people and the economically secure population had risen to 44 million. This report is intended to inform public debate and policymaking on inequality in the Philippines. It synthesizes core findings from background analyses of the patterns of inequality and poverty and provides policy pointers. The analysis uses a wealth of data from a variety of sources (detailed in Appendix A). In what follows, section two discusses the poverty and inequality impacts of COVID-19. Section three analyzes what has been driving poverty and inequality over the past three decades. Section four discusses the structural causes of current inequality; and section five examines how they affect recovery patterns. The last section discusses how policy can promote equality and inclusive recovery.