What Are Desils? Understanding Indonesia's Welfare Classification for Social Assistance
Social Affairs Minister Syaifullah Yusuf (Gus Ipul) has stated that his ministry has distributed Social Assistance under the Family Hope Programme (PKH) and Non-Cash Food Assistance (BPNT), also known as the basic food programme, for the third quarter covering the July–September 2026 period.
“Our social assistance distribution in the third quarter continues to progress. More than 7 million beneficiary families have been reached for PKH and more than 12 million for non-cash food assistance or basic food aid,” said Social Affairs Minister Saifullah Yusuf (Gus Ipul) during a press conference at the Ministry of Social Affairs office in Jakarta on Wednesday (5/8), as quoted from the ministry’s website.
Gus Ipul said the distribution of social assistance is based on data updated by Statistics Indonesia (BPS). The data is always dynamic, updated every three months, and the results are submitted to the Ministry of Social Affairs on the 10th of each distribution month.
Gus Ipul explained that there are several reasons why a beneficiary family’s assistance may be transferred, besides demographic factors such as death, including changes in decile status.
In addition, some beneficiary families have been suspended because they were identified as engaging in online gambling transactions based on data from the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK).
List of decile criteria
For the provision of social assistance, the government prioritises distributing aid to communities classified in deciles 1 to 4. The decile grouping in social assistance distribution illustrates the level of community welfare in tiers, from the most vulnerable group to the most established group.
There are 10 decile criteria established by the government. The details are as follows:
Decile 1: Very poor group, or the poorest 10 percent
Decile 2: Poor group
Decile 3: Near-poor group
Decile 4: Vulnerable poor group
Decile 5: Relatively stable lower-middle group
Decile 6: Middle group
Decile 7: Upper-middle group
Decile 8: Established group
Decile 9: Wealthy group
Decile 10: Very wealthy group
How to check decile criteria via mobile phone
In addition, citizens can check decile criteria directly without having to visit government offices such as sub-district offices or social services.
Citizens can check their decile status and social assistance membership independently through official services of the Ministry of Social Affairs or local government via a mobile phone with a browser or the official website of the relevant service.
The method is to enter the 16-digit National Identity Number (NIK) as shown on the e-KTP through the official website cekbansos.kemensos.go.id. Enter the special letter code or captcha consisting of four letters provided, then click the Search Data button.
Update on third-quarter social assistance distribution
Gus Ipul provided an update on beneficiary family data for third-quarter social assistance. For basic food assistance, there are 15,215,415 beneficiary families from the second quarter continuing into the third quarter, and 3,043,419 beneficiary families whose assistance has been transferred. This brings the total to 18,258,834 beneficiary families receiving basic food assistance.
Meanwhile, for PKH social assistance, there are 8,359,853 beneficiary families from the second quarter continuing into the third quarter.
Quoting from Antara, a decile is a grouping of family welfare levels used as one of the bases for determining the targets of government social assistance programmes.
“The data is sourced from the National Single Social and Economic Data (DTSEN), which includes various socio-economic indicators of the community,” according to the Ministry of Social Affairs.
In the DTSEN system, there are 10 decile groups, each containing 10 percent of families in Indonesia. Decile 1 represents the group of families with the lowest 10 percent welfare level, while decile 10 is the group with the highest welfare level.