10 Indonesian Provinces with the Highest Poverty Rates in September 2021

The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) recorded the national poverty line in September 2021 at Rp 486,170 per capita per month. The average poor household has 4.5 members.

Therefore, the poverty line per poor household is Rp 2,190,000 per month. If a household's expenditure is less than Rp 2,190,000 per month, it is classified as poor.

By province, Papua had the highest poverty rate. The number of poor people in Papua increased by 24,050 to 944,490 in September 2021 from March 2021. The poverty rate in the province also increased by 0.52 percentage points to 27.38% in September 2021 from March 2021. This means that 1 in 4 people in Indonesia's easternmost province lives below the poverty line.

Papua's poverty rate is far above the national average of 9.71% in September 2021 and is the highest among the 34 provinces.

The next provinces with the highest poverty rates are West Papua at 21.82% in September 2021, followed by West Nusa Tenggara at 20.44%, Maluku at 16.3%, and Aceh at 15.53%.

Gorontalo is ranked sixth with the highest poverty rate at 15.41%. Following are Bengkulu at 14.43%, East Nusa Tenggara at 13.83%, and South Sumatra and Central Sulawesi at 12.79% and 12.18% respectively.