“Urban poverty is 45% more than rural poverty in the country. There are more poor people in the cities than in rural areas,” he told the Dewan Rakyat today.

Mustapa, also known as Tok Pa, said the government would update the eKasih database to ensure that only those categorised as poor and hardcore poor were listed.

The move was in line with the government’s intention to eliminate hardcore poverty by 2025.

He said the implementation coordination unit of the Prime Minister’s Department would update the database next year.

“The figures in the eKasih list are important for the government to help those in need,” he added.

Under current eKasih data, he noted that 550,000 people were poor and of the number, 262,000 were categorised as hardcore poor.

The household income for hardcore poverty is RM1,169 a month.

Mustapa said the government would kickstart a pilot project in January to eliminate hardcore poverty in the country by adopting two areas in each state. For Sabah and Sarawak, the government may focus on four areas in each state.

The project would be a holistic approach with NGOs, universities, companies, district offices, state governments, agencies and the Islamic department sitting together to uplift the economy of the identified areas.

Sometimes, up to 30 NGOs would focus on one area, while agencies and companies focused on other areas.

“We will identify the areas at the end of this year and start the project in January,” he said when wrapping up his ministry’s response to the Supply Bill 2022.