The Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) has reported that the prevalence of poverty has increased by 5 percent when compared to 2019. In 2021 it was estimated at 16.7 per cent.

PIOJ notes that the Jamaica Survey of Living Conditions showed that rural areas recorded the highest rate of poverty at 22.1 per cent, followed by other urban centres at 15.5 per cent and the Greater Kingston Metropolitan Area, at 10.4 percent.
 
This is so, when compared with 2019, as the prevalence of poverty in the Greater Kingston Metropolitan Area rose by 5.7 percentage points and rural areas by 7.9 percentage points.
 
The PIOJ reported that it remains unchanged in other urban centres.
 
According to Dr. Wayne Henry, Director General of the Planning Institute of Jamaica, the COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected incomes and “consumption and is in keeping with global and regional expectations and experiences.”

He, however, added that this impact is tempered by positive movements in the macro economy as well as social interventions by the government and the private sector, as reflected in the improvement in real GDP and employment.
 
Dr. Henry added that the poverty rate is expected to decline given the continued improvement in the economy. 

Nonetheless, the 2021 edition of the Jamaica Survey of Living Conditions, which tracks the effects of social and economic programmes and policies, is being finalised and will be made available to the public after it is tabled in Parliament, later this year.