Java Is Home Of The Poor

The National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) recorded that there is still unequal distribution of poverty in Indonesia. 55.83 percent of 31.02 million poor people are living in Java, based on the database in 2010. Spokesperson of Bappenas, Prasetiojono Widjojo, said that Java sits on top of the list followed by Sumatra.

Meanwhile, Bali and East Nusa Tenggara and Sulawesi are listed on the third and fourth positions respectively. Sulawesi is rated at 7.6 percent, Bali and Nusa Tenggara are at 7.1 percent, Kalimantan is at 3.3 percent, Papua is at 3.3 percent and Maluku is at 1.5 percent.

Bappenas also recorded that significant discrepancy of poverty rate still occurs in which 17 out of 33 provinces are rated under the national standards.

Provinces that still record poverty rate twice as much as the national standards are Papua (36.80 percent), West Papua (34.88 percent), and Maluku (27.74 percent). As for Sumatra, those provinces having poverty rate higher than the national standards include Aceh, South Sumatra, Bengkulu, and Lampung.

In Java and Bali, provinces whose poverty rate is beyond the national standards are Central Java, Yogyakarta, East Java.

Moreover, the poverty rate in rural areas is significantly higher than it is in the cities. The poverty rate in the hinterlands hits 16.56 percent while in the cities the figure touches 9.87 percent.

However, Presetijono said that by utilizing the valid national poverty standards, the poverty rate in general tends to decrease between 1976 and 1996.

The economic crisis  in 1997/1998 was the key factor which increased the poverty rate in Indonesia.

In several areas, the poverty gap index is still high at West Papua (11.52 percent), Papua (11.51 percent), Maluku (6.94 percent), Gorontalo (6.26 percent), Aceh (4.87 percent), Central Sulawesi (4.8 percent), Yogyakarta (4.74 percent), and East Nusa Tenggara (4.47 percent).

source : vivanews