More than half of the Sisbén IV population is in a situation of severe poverty.

On March 15, the Ministry of National Planning revealed the figures of Sisbén IV, which has been in operation for a year, according to this organization, 291 million Colombians are already registered in the database, which indicates a 24% increase in the database since 23.5 million people were registered in March 2021.

With this data, the government classified the homes of the country to improve the social programs that the country offers to the poorest people. What he found is that 65.8% of registered people are in severe poverty situations and are distributed as follows:

According to Sisbén IV, there are 8.8 million people in group A, which is extremely poor, and group B has 10.4 million Colombians registered in moderate poverty. These two groups account for 65.8% of those registered as poor.

However, within these figures they do not include group C, which is a vulnerable household with 7.6 million people, or a poor group D, which is not vulnerable, where 2.4 million people are registered.

This record helps Sisben IV to identify people in need in the state.DNP statement, unconditional cash transfers in conditions of extreme poverty and poverty in the operating year of this system were delivered a total of $11.5 trillion to more than 3.8 million households, which is expected to gradually increase to 4 million households this month after President Ivan Duke announced on February 22.”

In addition, within the Family in Action program, more than 1.3 million families belonging to groups A to B 4 have been registered, which will be included in the fourth phase of this program from 2023. It is said that this will improve the targeting process of this program and reach families with children under the age of 18 who need help the most.

“For the closure of President Iván Duque's government, it is expected that 98% of Colombians living in poverty and extreme poverty, that is, those belonging to group A and B, 98% of Colombians will be in poverty and extreme poverty at the Sisbén IV base.

According to the National Planning Department, this new system brought “technical order” as it helped to change the previous model of conducting paper surveys to doing it with a mobile device. “It allows scanning of ID cards and identification cards, improving the quality of recorded information, allowing georeferencing of homes and using this information in the construction of maps of potential beneficiaries of social programs by municipalities.

In addition, it is possible to update news or changes requested by citizens within a maximum of 6 days after being sent to DNP.

Sisbén IV also has the Citizen Portal, a “website that facilitates survey requests and updating information of households and their members”. The portal aims to be a technical and transparency tool that avoids intermediaries from requesting processes. The Sisbén IV database is centralized, “ensuring data processing and protection and preventing information from being modified for political purposes.”

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