Southeast Sulawesi Cuts Number Of Poor People

Kendari, Southeast Sulawsesi, July 2 (Antara) - Southeast Sulawesi has succeeded in reducing poverty by 14,620 people in a year between March 2012 and March 2013, the regional office of the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) said. By March 2013, the number of people categorized as poor totaled 301,710 people or 12.83 percent of the total population of the province, chief of the regional office of BPS Adi Nugroho said here on Tuesday. The decline in the number of poor people in the province was attributable mainly to rural people. The number of poor people in rural areas declined 14,789 but in urban area the number rose 160 people. The percentage of the number of poor people did not change much between the urban and rural areas. In March 2012, most poor people lived in rural areas reaching 284,770 or making up 90.02 percent of the total number of poor people in the province. In March 2013 , the number of poor people in the rural areas dropped to 269,990 or 89.47 percent of the total number of poor people in the province. Adi said in the period of March 2012-March 2013 , the poverty line increased 4.66 percent from an income per capita of Rp196,306 per month to Rp204,406 in per capital income by March 2013.