President Prabowo Subianto claims that the absolute poverty rate in Indonesia has declined. He stated this during his speech at the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI) Congress in Central Java.
“The head of BPS reported to me that unemployment has decreased, and absolute poverty has declined—these are BPS’s own figures,” said Prabowo.
On this occasion, Prabowo also denied claims that Indonesia is in an economic downturn. He argued that such narratives are deliberately spread by parties aiming to undermine national morale.
“The bottom line is, we are on the right track. Efforts to portray Indonesia as struggling, in darkness, or as an economic failure are attempts to demoralize us—and that is simply untrue,” he emphasized.
Previously, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) released data in May 2025 showing that Indonesia’s open unemployment rate (TPT) as of February 2025 had fallen to 4.76 percent.
This figure marks a 0.06 percent decrease from February 2024, when it stood at 4.82 percent.
Meanwhile, Indonesia’s poverty rate as of September 2024 was recorded at 8.57 percent, or approximately 24.08 million people. This represents a 0.46 percent drop from the May 2024 figure.
However, the BPS data differs significantly from a World Bank report that sparked public debate.
In its Macro Poverty Outlook document, the World Bank stated that over 60.3 percent of Indonesia’s population, equivalent to 171.8 million people, lived below the poverty line in 2024.
The discrepancy was later clarified by BPS. According to the national statistics agency, the difference arises from variations in methodology and poverty line standards.
The World Bank uses a Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) standard of $6.85 per day, which is the median poverty line for 37 upper-middle-income countries.
Meanwhile, BPS employs the Cost of Basic Needs (CBN) approach, which more accurately reflects the conditions of Indonesian society.
