Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 18) — A national survey on self-rated poverty showed that 43%, or around 10.9 million Filipino families, considered themselves “poor.”
Of the estimated 10.9 million self-rated poor families in April, 1.5 million were “newly poor,” 1.1 million were “usually poor,” and 8.2 million were “always poor.”
It found out that the number of Filipino families who felt poor increased in Mindanao from 43% to 60% and in Metro Manila from 25% to 32%. But it fell in the Visayas from 59% to 48%, and in Balance Luzon from 41% to 35%.
According to the SWS, the national median self-rated poverty threshold (SRP Threshold) — or the average monthly budget a family needs to not see itself as poor — went up from ₱12,000 to ₱15,000.
However, the SWS said the threshold “remained sluggish for several years despite considerable inflation.”
“This indicates that poor families have been lowering their living standards, i.e., belt-tightening,” it said.
The survey interviewed 1,440 adults last April 19-27, with questions “directed to household heads.”
The number of self-rated poor families rose in April from 10.7 million in December 2021, according to the Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey released Wednesday.
