Poverty Is in Its Lowest in Decades Here

In two years, Jamaica’s poverty prevalence went from 17% to 8%, the lowest figure ever recorded in 35 years. Through social and economic programs, low-income families rose above the poverty line.

“Vital support was through the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education, the Social Pension Programme, Poor Relief Programme, and targeted interventions aimed at generating youth employment and encouraging small-scale agriculture,” explains Planning Institute of Jamaica Director General, Dr. Wayne Henry.

In 2021, the poverty prevalence was estimated at 16.7%; in 2023, that estimate dropped to 8.2%. The estimates were computed from the Jamaica Survey of Living Conditions based on data from the Statistical Institute of Jamaica. In 2012, the country’s poverty rate was 19.7%, meaning that nearly one in five Jamaicans was consuming below the poverty line, of which 4% were in extreme poverty. Since then, poverty rates have trended downward. In the Greater Kingston Metropolitan Area, poverty fell from 10.4% in 2021 to 3% in 2023; in other urban centres, that rate went from 15.5% to 9%, and in rural areas, the rate went from 22.1% to 11.5% for the same period. This decline in poverty was driven by many factors, including the increase in the national minimum wage, Jamaica’s recovery from COVID-19, the improvement of macroeconomic stability, the rise in employment, and the strengthening of social protection programs. As for extreme poverty, also known as food poverty, the rate fell from 5.8% in 2021 to 2.8% in 2023.