Government Sets Ambitious Target: Extreme Poverty to 0 Percent by 2026

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Cultural Affairs (Minister for PMK) Muhaimin Iskandar, also known as Cak Imin, said the government has set an ambitious target to achieve extreme poverty at 0 percent by 2026. ‘The government has set an ambitious and measurable target of extreme poverty at 0 percent by 2026. Alongside this, we are optimistic and confident that national poverty will fall to as low as 5 percent by 2029,’ Cak Imin said at the event on the Role of Local Governments in Optimising the Implementation of Poverty Alleviation and the Eradication of Extreme Poverty held at the Office of the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture, Central Jakarta, Wednesday 4 March 2026.

Cak Imin emphasised the importance of poverty indicators in local development planning so that policies implemented are precisely targeted and have a direct impact on the community.

‘If we want people to continue rising in status and dignity, then empowering communities is the key,’ he said.

Cak Imin said the success of policies is determined by leadership capacity and the commitment of regional governments.

The government is now entering a new paradigm as a stage in Indonesia’s welfare development. He added that if we want the public to keep rising and dignified, community empowerment is the key.

‘With this paradigm, people will not only receive aid but will be encouraged to become agents of development,’ he said.

According to the Kemenko PMK website, extreme poverty is the condition in which people are unable to meet their basic needs.

These basic needs include food, clean water, adequate sanitation, health, housing, education, and information access.

Under the 2021 standard of Badan Pusat Statistik (BPS), a person is categorised as extremely poor if daily living costs fall below the extreme poverty line; equivalent to USD 1.9 PPP (Purchasing Power Parity).

The PPP figure is defined using an ‘absolute poverty measure’ that is consistent across countries and over time. In other words, a person is categorised as extremely poor if their expenditure is below Rp 10,739 per person per day or Rp 322,170 per person per month.

According to BPS data released on Monday (27 July 2025), the number of people in extreme poverty in Indonesia as of March 2025 reached 2.38 million people.

That figure accounted for 0.85 percent of the total Indonesian population. The number was down by 400,000 from September 2024 and down by 1.18 million from March 2024.