Rice Remains the Largest Contributor to the Poverty Line

Over the past 10 years, Indonesia's poverty rate has decreased, reaching its lowest point since the 1998 monetary crisis. Based on data from the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS), the number of poor people decreased by 1.82 million (0.82%) in the last year, reaching 9.82% of the population. This single-digit poverty rate is a first in history, and the target is to further reduce it to 8.5-9.5% by 2019.

The poverty line (PL) or poverty threshold is the minimum income level considered necessary to achieve a sufficient standard of living in a particular region. During the period September 2017–March 2018, the PL increased by 3.63%, from Rp 387,160/capita/month to Rp 401,220/capita/month.

Food commodities still dominate the poverty line, accounting for 73.48%, while non-food commodities account for only 26.52%. The ten main commodity contributors to the poverty line are almost the same for both rural and urban populations, with only minor differences. Rice remains the largest contributor to the PL for both urban and rural communities. For urban communities, electricity is among the top ten contributors to the PL, with a contribution of 3.89%. For rural communities, sugar is among the top ten contributors, with a contribution of 3.07%.