Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 26) — Almost half of Filipino families consider themselves poor, a survey by the Social Weather Stations published on Sunday revealed.
The survey, which covered the period June 23-26 and covered 1,200 adults nationwide, showed 48% of families rated themselves as poor. Some 29% of families, meanwhile, considered themselves as borderline poor and the remaining 23% said they were not poor.
SWS noted these results are similar to the ones released the month prior where 49% felt poor, 33% felt borderline poor and 17% felt not poor.
“The movement of the Self-Rated Poor is compatible with the series of official poverty incidence rates. Still, it is both more up-to-date and revealing of the volatility of poverty during intermediate points of time,” said the pollster.
The survey further revealed that the number of families feeling poor rose the highest in Visayas to a whopping 70% this June from May’s 56% rate.
Families self-rating as poor likewise rose in Metro Manila but at a milder rate: from 39% in May, it went up to 43% in June.
In areas outside the capital region, however, the rate of families considering themselves poor went down from 45% in May to 38% in June. The same decline was observed in Mindanao, where 51% of families rated themselves as poor down from 59% in May.
Less families self-rating as borderline food-poor
The survey likewise found that 32% of Filipino families found themselves food-poor in June, similar to the rate logged in May.
However, the rate of families considering themselves borderline food-poor fell to 38% from 45%. More families also self-rated as not poor at 29%, from 23% the month prior.
Less families rated themselves as food-poor in Metro Manila and Mindanao, while rates in Balance Luzon and Visayas went up, the results revealed. Balance Luzon refers to areas in Luzon that are outside Metro Manila.
SWS noted the capital region logged a “sharp” decline in borderline food-poor families coupled with a rise in not poor-food ones. Meanwhile, the number of food-poor families in Mindanao fell but there was an increase in borderline food-poor families.
7% families “newly poor”
SWS also announced a 7% rate of families identifying themselves as newly poor, meaning they were not poor one to four years ago. This corresponds to 1.8 million families out of the estimated 12 million poor families in June.
Some 4.1% were usually poor, or were non-poor for at least five years ago, while 36.2% never experienced being non-poor, said the survey agency.
“Of the estimated 13.2 million Non-Poor families in June 2021, 4.3 million were Newly Non-Poor, 2.5 million were Usually Non-Poor, and 6.3 million were Always Non-Poor,” said SWS.
