April 27, 2026 | 04:26 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian Coordinator Minister for Community Empowerment Muhaimin Iskandar claimed that the rate of extreme poverty in the country has decreased from 1.26 percent of the total poor population in March 2024 to 0.78 percent in September 2025. He said this achievement is part of the implementation of Presidential Instruction 8 of 2025, which focuses on optimizing poverty alleviation and eradicating extreme poverty.
"About 0.48 percent of the extreme poor population has moved up the ladder," said Muhaimin while leading a ministerial-level meeting to evaluate the performance of poverty alleviation at the Plaza of the Manpower Social Security Organizing Agency in Jakarta on Monday, April 27, 2026.
In accordance with the Decree of the Minister Coordinator for Human Development and Culture Number 32 of 2022, extreme poverty is a situation that completely disconnects an individual from the social and economic system. The World Bank defines extreme poverty based on per capita expenditure. People living on less than USD1.9 PPP (Purchasing Power Parity) per day, or around Rp10,739 per person per day, are categorized as extremely poor. This means a family of four with a monthly expenditure below Rp1,288,680 falls into the category of extreme poverty.
The ministerial meeting was attended by several members of the Red and White Cabinet, including Minister of Social Affairs Saifullah Yusuf; Minister of Religious Affairs Nasaruddin Umar; Minister of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises Maman Abdurahman; Minister of Economy and Creative Teuku Riefky Harsya; Minister of State Apparatus Empowerment and Bureaucratic Reform Rini Widyantini; and Head of the National Nutrition Agency Dadan Hindayana.
Muhaimin stated that the number of people living in extreme poverty in Indonesia has decreased from 3.56 million to 2.2 million. He said the government intervened by providing them with social assistance.
The Chairperson of the National Awakening Party stated that several social assistance programs have targeted 8.56 million poor families or 93.6 percent of the total target. "56.7 percent of them receive more than one intervention program at once," Muhaimin said.
One of the intervention programs is the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG). He mentioned that MBG has reached 61.9 million beneficiaries so far.
Muhaimin explained that the government has allocated a total of Rp503.2 trillion from the State Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBN) to implement poverty alleviation programs, including support from the regional government budget amounting to Rp129 trillion.
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