COLOMBO, May 8 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka has identified more than 1.6 million families as living in poverty, according to recent data from the Welfare Benefits Board, Rural Development, Social Security and Community Empowerment Minister Upali Pannilage told Parliament on Thursday.
The households, classified as "extremely poor," "poor," "vulnerable," or "transitional" under the board's updated poverty assessment, are eligible for benefits under the Aswesuma welfare program.
The announcement comes as Sri Lanka's official poverty line rose to 16,690 Sri Lankan rupees (51.67 U.S. dollars) per person per month in March 2026, up from 16,571 rupees in February, according to the Department of Census and Statistics. The figure remained slightly below the 16,730 rupees recorded in January.
The poverty line represents the minimum monthly expenditure required by a person to meet basic needs. It is updated monthly based on movements in the National Consumer Price Index, using 2021 as the base year, while the basic-needs framework is based on the 2012/13 Household Income and Expenditure Survey.
Under the 2026 budget, the government has allocated 25 billion rupees for the Praja Shakthi National Program, a community empowerment initiative aimed at poverty eradication. (1 Sri Lankan rupee equals 0.0031 U.S. dollars) ■
