KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/3 August) – The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) still posted the lowest average annual family income in the latest survey released by the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB).
The 2009 Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES), which the NSCB regional office publicized recently, showed that ARMM had the lowest family income at P113,000, not even half of the P356,000 income families in the National Capital Region earned during the period.
In 2006, annual average family income in the ARMM was P89,000, also the lowest among the Philippine regions, data showed.
Families in the NCR had the highest income among the country’s 17 regions. The top five regions with highest annual family income came from Luzon.
For Southwestern Mindanao (Region 12), Herlita Caraan, regional NSCB chief, said the annual average family income was at P154,000, third among Mindanao’s six regions.
This represents an increase of 35.1 percent over their incomes three years ago. In 2006, the average income of families in Region 12 was P114,000, she added.
Among the Mindanao regions, Southern Mindanao (Region 11) posted the highest average family income at P166,000, followed closely by Northern Mindanao (Region 10) with P165,000, SOCCSKSARGEN (Region 12), Caraga (Region 13) with P149,000 and Zamboanga Peninsula (Region9) with P144,000.
On family expenditures, the FIES report showed that families in Region 12 spent, on the average, about P132,000 in 2009 – a significant increase of 37.5 percent over the P96,000 average expenditure posted in 2006. Family savings consequently went up from P18,000 in 2006 to P22,000 in 2009.
By source of income, 45.1 percent of the families in Region 12 derived their incomes from salaries/wages while 36.7 percent sourced their income from entrepreneurial activities.
Some 18.2 percent of the families sourced their income from other sources such as cash receipts, rentals, dividends, pensions/retirement benefits, goods and services received as gifts and others.
The FIES report also revealed that a significant number of families (35.8 percent) in Region 12 had incomes ranging from P100,000 to 249,999. Majority of the families in the higher income brackets mainly sourced their incomes from salaries and wages.
About 51.4 percent of families in the P250,000 and above income bracket reported salaries/wages as their chief source of income. The same was also the case for 50.4 percent of families in the P100,000 to 249,999 income bracket.
Families in the lower income brackets, on the other hand, relied on entrepreneurial activities to finance their needs.
About 39.5 percent of families earning less than 40,000 annually reported deriving their income from entrepreneurial activities. About 45 percent of families in the P40,000 to P59,999 and P60,000 to P99,999 income brackets were into entrepreneurial activities to eke out a living.
In terms of expenses, the biggest chunk of family expenditures (45.8 percent) went to food, followed by house rentals (7.6 percent), transportation and communication (7.2 percent) and fuel, light and water (5.5 percent). Expenses for education and medical care only got 4.2 percent and 3.8 percent, respectively.
At the national level, the average family income was estimated at P206,000 while average family expenditure was at P176,000. Average family savings was estimated at P31,000.
The FIES is a nationwide survey undertaken by the National Statistics Office every three years. It is the main source of data on family income and expenditures which include levels of consumption by item of expenditure as well as sources of income be it in cash or in kind.
The FIES is a major source of data used by the NSCB for estimating the official poverty statistics in the country. (Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews)