Poverty Alleviation

KOMPAS/TOTOK WIJAYANTO

A resident collects water at a densely populated area in Muara Angke, Penjaringan, North Jakarta, on Thursday (16/1/2020). Statistics Indonesia (BPS) data shows that 9.22 percent of Indonesia’s population live in poverty as of September 2019, or a total of 24.79 million people. The poverty rate is 0.19 percentage points lower than the figure in March 2019.

We need to understand both the poor and poverty itself to accelerate poverty alleviation and overcome the prosperity gap.

According to Statistics Indonesia (BPS) last week, as of September 2019, the poverty rate in rural and urban areas had decreased to 9.22 percent or 24.79 million people from 9.66 percent in September 2018 – down 0.88 million people. The aspect that needs attention is the relatively high poverty rate in rural areas, which is 12.60 percent. The rate in urban areas is 6.56 percent.