14 million Filipino families rate themselves ‘poor’: Survey
More than half of Filipino families rated themselves as “poor” while 39 % considered themselves “food poor,” according to the Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey conducted from March 26 - 29.
Results of the latest survey found that 51 % or 14 million Filipino families consider themselves “poor,” similar to the 51 Percent or 12.9 families in December 2022.
Meanwhile, 30 % of Filipino families rated themselves as “borderline” poor, placing themselves on a horizontal line dividing “poor” and “not poor.” Only 19 % rated themselves as “not poor.”
The steady nationwide self-rated poverty scores between December last year and this March were due to increases in Metro Manila (from 32 % to 40 %) and the Visayas (from 58 % to 65 %), combined with a decline in Luzon outside of Manila (from 49 % to 43 %) and a steady score in Mindanao (from 59 % to 62 %).
The First Quarter SWS also asked respondents, “Based on the type of food eaten by your family, where would you place your family on this card?” SWS results showed 39 % or 10.6 million Filipino families consider themselves “food poor,” an increase from 34 % or 8.7 million in December 2022.
The survey also revealed that 35 % of Filipino families rated themselves as “borderline food poor,” placing themselves on a horizontal line dividing food poor and not food-poor, and 26 % rated themselves as “not food poor.”
Increases in all areas
The rise in self-rated food poor percentage from December last year up to this March was due to increases in all areas, more significantly in the Visayas (from 38 % to 45 %) and Mindanao (from 45 % to 52 %) than in Metro Manila (rose slightly from 29 % to 33 %) and Luzon outside Metro Manila (rose slightly from 28 % to 31 %).
The survey used in-person interviews with 1,200 adults and had a margin of error of plus-minus 2.8 % for national percentages.
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Asia News Network
