College of Arts and Sciences, University of the Philippines Los Baños, College, Laguna

ABSTRACT Table 1. Pearson’s Coefficient (R) of the Philippines and its

Regions
This paper explored the fractal nature of the annual family
income distribution data which appears in the 2006 Family In- Region R
come and Expenditure Survey (FIES) by the Philippine Na- ARMM Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao 0.8686
tional Statistics Office. The fractal nature was investigated by VI Western Visayas 0.9147
determining the degree of the power law behaviour and frac- XIII Caraga 0.9156
tal dimension of Cumulative Family Annual Income vs. Cumu-
VIII Eastern Visayas 0.9169
lative Number of Family graph for each region in the
Philippines. The said fractal dimensions were correlated with V Bicol Region 0.9181
the different socio-economic parameters. The fractal dimen- IVB Mimaropa 0.9186
sions show strong correlation (R > 0.8) with average family in- XII Soccsksargen 0.9229
come, average family expenditure, and employment. II Cagayan Valley 0.9293
Fractal dimension is a good indicator of income distribution X Northern Mindanao 0.9310
inequality among Filipino families. Since, fractal nature IX Zamboanga Peninsula 0.9354
assumes scale invariance, it is also possible to see how re-
I Ilocos Region 0.9458
gional family income distributions are reflected in the na-
tional family income distribution. XI Davao Region 0.9472
CAR Cordillera Administrative Region 0.9503
MODEL FORMULATION Philippines 0.9536
The income classes are grouped as follows: (1) Below VII Central Visayas 0.9638
40,000.00, (2) 40,000.00 to 59,999.00, (3) 60,000.00 to 99,999.00, (4) III Central Luzon 0.9649
100,000.00 to 249,000.00 and (5) 250,000.00 and above. For a IVA Calabarzon 0.9758
power law graph, the equation should be
NCR National Capital Region 0.9833
I = k Na (Equation 1)
It is noteworthy to state that five out of the top six regions
where with highest value of R belong to the regions with top urban
I is the cumulative family annual income centers, they are as follows: NCR (1st) , IVA (2nd), III (3rd), VII
N is the cumulative number of family (4th) and XI (6th). NCR is country’s capital and the most ur-
k is a constant banized region having 16 cities and 1 municipality. Regions
a is the power law exponent or the fractal dimension IVA and III are nearby regions of NCR which are located
south and north of NCR, respectively. Both regions are few
Equation 1 cab be rewritten as,
minutes-drive from NCR. Region VII houses the metropolis
ln(I) = ln(k) + a ln(N) (Equation 2)
of Visayas (Central Philippines), in which Metro Cebu is lo-
Equation 2 shows linear relation between ln(N) and ln(I) cated. Region XI is Davao Region which houses Davao City,
which has a slope that is equivalent to the value of fractal di- the premier city of Mindanao (Southern Philippines).
mension. The slope of Equation 2 can be computed using
Table 2. Correlation of Region’s Fractal Dimension and
linear regression. Also, Equation 2 suggests that the degree of
Degree of Power Law Behaviour with other parameters in the
fitness of the Cumulative Family Income (I) and Cumulative
2006 Family Income and Expenditure Survey
Number of Family (N) to a power law equation can be com-
puted by calculating the degree of linearity (Person’s Coeffi- Parameters R
cient, R) that exists between ln(N) and ln(I). Total Annual Family Income 0.8956
The nearness of the value of R to number one shows that the Ave. Annual Family Income 0.8779
Cumulative Family Income—Cumulative Number of Family
Total Family Expenditure 0.8872
graph has a high degree of power law behaviour showing the
fractality of the income distribution. Ave. Family Expenditure 0.8908
Number of Families 0.7552
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Fractal Dimension of the Philippines and its Regions Table 3. Correlation of Region’s Fractal Dimension and
Degree of Power Law Behaviour with other parameters re-
Fractal Dimension (a) leased by the National Statistics Office
Parameters Correlation Coefficient
Philippines
ARMM 3 NCR 2007 Population 0.7508
XIII CAR
2 2000 Population 0.7475
XII I 1995 Population 0.7720
1
XI II 2003 Functional Literacy 0.6179
0 2003 Functional Literacy
X III (Male)
0.7070
2003 Functional Literacy
IX IVA 0.4833
(Female)
VIII IVB 2006 Employment -0.8711
VII V
VI 2006 Underemployment -0.5641

The fractal dimension of the Philippines is 1.21 comparable

It is also important to point out that based from the same
to the fractal dimension of the Cordillera Administrative Re-
FIES survey, that the National Capital Region has the highest
gion (CAR) which is 1.20. The top five regions (NCR, III, IVA,
total annual family income, average annual family income,
I, II) with highest fractal dimension are from Luzon (Northern
total family expenditure, and average family expenditure
Philippines). The National Capital Region posses the highest
while the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao has the
fractal dimension of 2.90 which is a large led from the second
lowest.
placer which is Region III (a=1.81). Region IX (Zamboanga
Peninsula) has the lowest fractal dimension of 0.72. Higher
This study shows that the income distribution in the differ-
value of fractal dimension signifies that the income distribu-
ent regions of the Philippines as reflected in the 2006 Family
tion favour higher income earners than the lower income
Income and Expenditure Survey is fractal, i.e. it follows
earners.
power law and scale invariance. Such distribution can be
quantitatively described using fractal dimension and can be
Poster Presentation, 2nd CAS Student-Faculty Conference
December 14, 2009 correlated with the different socio-economic parameters.
University of the Philippines Los Baños