Navigating Indonesia's Poverty Landscape: Declining Numbers but Rising Inequallity Challenges Ahead

Badan Pusat Statistik (BPS) on March 2023 reported that there is 25,9 million poor people in Indonesia. Based on that report, the number of poverty in indonesia has already decreased for about 460 thousand people than September 2022 and 260 thousand people than March last year. The percentage is also decreased in a year, from 9,54% in March 2022 become 9,36% in March 2023. Although poverty rates have fallen, inequality, as measured by the Gini ratio, has actually increased. According to BPS, the Gini ratio in March 2023 was 0.388. The Gini ratio is used to measure the degree of inequality in public spending. The higher the Gini coefficient, the greater the inequality within a region. Indonesia's Gini ratio increased from 0.381 in September 2022 to 0.384 in March 2023. When the Gini ratio reached 0.380 in September 2019, the rise in inequality levels exceeded the pre-pandemic situation. The number of poverty in Indonesia has become an inherent problem in this country. The high number of poor people and the inequality of the Indonesians are the problems that the government and the state still cannot solve. As next year will be held election, the next president is expected to immediately solve this problem so that the poverty number in Indonesia can continue decreasing, and Indonesian citizens will become more prosperous.