Poverty worsened in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) between 2003 and 2006. As per the latest estimates of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the poverty incidence of families in CAR rose from 25.8 percent in 2003 to 28.8 percent in 2006. Poverty incidence of families is the proportion of poor families to total families. In magnitude, the total number of poor families grew by 20.8 percent and stood at 87,050 families in 2006.

Similarly, poverty incidence of population, which is the proportion of poor individuals to the total population in the region, increased from 32.2 percent in 2003 to 34.5 percent in 2006. In magnitude, the total number of poor individuals grew by 13.9 percent to reach 506,823 individuals in 2006.

The poverty line or the poverty threshold, which refers to the annual per capita income required or the amount to be spent to satisfy basic food requirements and other non-food basic needs, was higher in 2006 at P16,810. This means that the average person in CAR whose annual income falls below this level will be considered poor. Likewise, a family of five would need at least P84,050 annually in order not to be considered poor.

On one hand, the poverty situation in Benguet, Mt. Province and Kalinga improved with the decline in poverty incidence of families and population in 2006. Benguet is the most improved in terms of poverty incidence among families with a decline of 2.8 percentage points and a drop by 18.4 percent in the number of poor families between 2003 and 2006. On the other hand, the poverty situation in Abra, Apayao and Ifugao worsened with poverty incidence of families and population all posting higher rates in 2006. Apayao had the highest poverty incidence among families in CAR with a poverty rate of 57.5, followed by Abra at 50.1 percent and Ifugao at 30.9 percent. Abra had the largest number of poor families in the region with 22,484 families living below the poverty line.